Please tell us your ideas for getting children to eat more fruit - you could win £250 in supermarket vouchers

[HelenMumsnet]

Hello.

Do your children like fruit? Do they eat all sorts - or just the regulation daily banana?

ZESPRI Kiwifruit would love to hear your ideas for getting children to eat more fruit - whether your kids only just manage their five a day or are such fruit fiends, they could tell a kiwi from a kumquat at 40 paces.

Everyone who sends in an idea, tip or suggestion will be entered into a prize draw to win £250 in vouchers for a supermarket of their choice.*

Please note that your tips may be published on Mumsnet at a later date.

Thanks and good luck! MNHQ

*Participating supermarkets include Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys, Morrison, M&S and Waitrose

Present 'choosing whatever you like from the fruit bowl' as a fantastic treat at snacktime

Grow it yourself if possible!

Have fruit with you for snacks when you're out and about. Even if they're reluctant they'll eat fruit when they're hungry.

Big, beautiful crystal bowl with lovely fruit salad with wide variety of fruits - and the whole family sitting down together to share it.

Fruit smoothies - make one and then let them guess what's in it. From an early age teach them to help make/prepare the fruit/smoothies too.

Buy fruit in season - as local as possible. English Strawberries in June are fantastic, but out-of-season/flown half way across the world never taste as delicious, and they lose the novelty value.

In winter - when there's not so much choice - use more canned fruit, frozen and dried fruit.

ROUTINES! Especially if they don't eat much veg, just have a routine that they eat a portion of fruit at every meal.

Feed them fruit and veg from the off. Can't argue with what you know. Works for my two.

And if the supermarkets didn't offer us seriouly crap, unripe, picked too soon chilled airfreighted fruit that tastes like cardboard and cotton wool there wouldn't be a problem getting children to eat it.

Sell locally produce locally sourced, picked and sold when properly ripe. I live in the middle of Kent surrounded by orchards and the supermarkets sell imported appples cheaper than the local ones. Insanity.

My dc have a piece of fruit after every meal, and the fruit bowl is free for them to access it when they want but they love (at the end of the week when the fruit is a bit sad looking) fruit salad and ice-cream, means the last of the fruit gets used up and the dc think they are getting a treat by getting a wee scoop of ice-cream!

.

Let children help choose it. My 2 year old DS regualary tells me what he wants in the shop!

I always have fruit available and have fed them fruit from as soon as they were weaned so it's not hard getting them to eat plenty, mine love little boxes of raisins so I bought the boxes once and then just refill the boxes from a huge bag which is much cheaper!

hear hear seeker most fruit tastes of nothing so you can't blame children for not eating it.

What do you think you might spend your vouchers on?

Take them to farms that offer pick your own. Seeing that fruit comes from something other than a plastic punnet, and being able to explore the plants, smells, textures and tastes was incredibly good for getting my son to eat more fruit and veg, because he then also wanted to help prepare it, whether we were making jam, fruit salad or stuffed courgettes.

We now also grow a few things, but it was the PYO place that really got him started, as he could see so many other people who were enjoying it and looking forward to getting their merchandise home. Hell, he even eats salad these days!

Introduce new fruit or previously disliked fruit in a Fruit Fondue. You can use melted chocolate if it's a naughty treat, or yoghurt for something a bit more healthy. Lots of fun.

My son loves the blender/juicer and dreaming up exotic combinations. Beetroot, carrot and apple juice was surprisingly good!!! Fruit-wise you can enjoy a green 'Shrek Smoothie'... banana, apple juice and kiwifruit whizzed up with some ice.

1. Grow your own! DD1 (4yo) gets sooo excited about picking and eating her "own" strawberries (mind you, she did love strawberries already).

1. Make smoothies as a weekend treat. I started doing this in order to get my DH to consume fruit occasionally(!) but it works well for the children too, especially as DD1 now likes to help.

1. Don't offer the same fruit too often - it stops being a treat.

1. Occasionally make a game of it and find funny ways to eat things, eg stick your fingers inside raspberries and wiggle them about (remember how we all used to eat hula hoops?) or bite the end off a piece of satsuma and see if you can suck the juice out. I don't recommend doing this all the time though (oh the mess...)

1. Say "Oh there's only one here. I think I'd like that." Rarely fails to provoke an instant "I want it! Can I have it please Mummy?" I love the fact that DD usually follows this with "You can have a little bit..."

Let them choose what they want when you are shopping. Get other children to eat fruit in front of them. And Humzingers work for my fruit-fussy 4 yr old

Nice ripe seasonal fruit - ensure what you are serving actually does taste nice
Lead by example
We have fruit everyday after tea. On the rare occasions that we have a dessert the fruit is still offered first.
When hungry between meal times fruit is always offered as the first solution.
Grow fruit in the garden, nothing better than just picked fruit.
Allow children to choose when out shopping, dd1 is more likely to try something new that she has chosen

Notsure how good my advice is dd1 loves fruit so much the whole family call her a fruitbat, not sure if it is nature or nurture though iyswim

Be careful to always offer good quality fruit - fresh and ripe. A bite of something nasty can put child off trying it again.

I peel, chop it and put it in a little toddlers feeding pot (v small) and pop it in their lunch box. The feeding pots take up v little room, keep it fresh and don't overwhelm the children.

kiwi's look great on a pavolva desert. Also good in a fruit salad just a few slices for colour.

Always offer fruit as "Kiwi/banana/apple/pear/whatever crisps". Using a sharp knife or a potato peeler slice the fruit into really thin slices. If you remove the pips but include the centre of fruit with cores then you'll get a lovely star shape in the middle of some of the slices. Don't use overripe fruit for this.