It can often be a battle getting kids to eat healthy; but if you want to see your children’s diet improve, your kitchen is a natural source of inspiration. So, instead of asking your kids to keep out of the kitchen, encourage them to join you when choosing and preparing meals and you might find they are more willing to try healthy foods, rather than grabbing treats and junk food. Here are a few easy kitchen projects to encourage children to make healthy choices in the kitchen:
Make your own recipe book
Print out your favourite recipes from the Internet cookery sites, cut ideas from magazines or let your kids write and illustrate their own recipes. Then pop everything into a colourful ring binder to keep in the kitchen when you need a little inspiration.
You could even go a step further and get the whole family involved in creating a meal plan for the week. When kids feel they’ve had input in the decisions around the food they are going to eat, they will be more willing to eat the meals served.
Eat the rainbow
Challenge your kids to eat as many different coloured foods as possible. This encourages them to try different fruits and vegetables and by choosing different colours, you’ll be ensuring they get a full range of vitamins and nutrients. A colourful plate of food is also more appealing than one that is just one colour.
Step back in time
If your kids are studying a particular period of time in their school history lessons, let them research what foods were popular at that time and have a go at recreating dishes from the past.
Eat around the world
Kids can learn about different cultures while enjoying a range of new dishes by finding out what people in different countries eat. You could even host a family party with music and decorations from a particular country to enjoy alongside your meal. From a Mexican fiesta to a Greek mezze, there’s plenty of fun to be found in food from other cultures. Alternatively, find out more about the history and heritage of food in your own country – perhaps eating different ingredients from different regions.
Fire up your fruit bowl
Make supermarket trips more fun by letting kids choose their own fruits to add to the family fruit bowl. Rather than sticking with traditional favourites, you might find that they opt for the more unusual fruits, which in turn will help them try new ingredients.
If you have a glut of fruit to use up at the end of the week, you could turn them into a tasty smoothie, or create a big fruit salad for everyone to enjoy.
Food photography
If you have a gadget-loving child who enjoys taking pictures on their smartphone, why not let them get creative in the kitchen with their camera? They can look at food blogs and social networks for inspiration and then have a go at creating their own beautifully-styled dishes – before serving them up for the family to enjoy.