Get The Kids Iinvolved With Nutrition
As a parent, you may want your kids to eat the healthiest food possible, but nutrition for children goes way beyond what’s being served for dinner.
With the summer holidays fast approaching and more time spent at home, there couldn’t be a better time to get your kids involved with healthy eating!
Read Clarissa’s top healthy eating activities for kids (and kidults!) below.
PLAY FOODIE GAMES
Getting kids to have fun with their food can be a great way to foster healthy relationships with food. Some of my favourite kids’ games include:
- Guess the origin of X food – bring in Kiwis, Mangoes, Okra and even spices! You might learn a thing or two!
- Name 10 foods with the colour X – can you name 10 foods that are blue?
- Foodie blindfold taste test with older kids – get them smelling, feeling and tasting healthy foods to guess what they are
INVOLVE THEM IN RECIPE CHOICE
Pick your favourite healthy cook-books and ask your kids to sticky note a recipe for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner that they would like to make together. If you give them only healthy recipes, they will find something to pick! I love using the Jamie Oliver website or Jamie Oliver’s SuperFood Family Classic Cookbook.
GROW YOUR OWN
Remember growing watercress as a youngster? Well these days, kids have got it good! Now it’s easy to grow everything from basil, mint and rosemary to tomatoes, peppers and strawberries, all in your windowsill! Pick seeds of choice or a baby plant, get your hands on some earth and an appropriately sized plant pot (kids can decorate/paint them for extra ownership!) and teach your kids how to sow the seeds and water them.
TEACH THEM THE SKILLS
Children are more likely to be fascinated in healthy foods if you make nutrition fun. Many kids love helping their parent’s do the food shop. Why not ask them to pick a healthy food on each aisle to cook with or ask them for their ideas?
Meal prep can be another great way to introduce foodie skills! Ask little ones to wash salad leaves, mix flours or batter or pick herbs you want to use. Older kids can take on more complicated tasks such as peeling, chopping and measuring.
AWARD GOLD STARS
Fussy kids at home? Set up a reward chart on the kitchen fridge and encourage your kids to try something new to win a gold star. After a set number of stars, let them choose something non-food related as a win!
MAKE HEALTHY TREATS
Take a classic and make it healthy! Kids love choc chip cookies? Try an oat based cookie with brown sugar and dark chocolate chips (Check out Clarissa’s signature choc chip cookie recipe) Chocolate brownie fans? Get them to try out Deliciously Ella’s Sweet Potato Brownies (fussy kid alert? Maybe do the beetroot bit without them, they will never know the difference!).
