Convincing
kids to eat healthy foods when they’re constantly bombarded with
marketing tactics promoting preservative-laden novelty items isn’t easy,
but it can be done. There are a variety of ways to make healthier fare
more fun, encouraging kids to eat better while still allowing them to
enjoy their food. Childhood is the time when eating habits are
established, so helping kids make healthier choices on their own is one
of the best things you can do for them. These 15 tactics can add some
visual spice to run of the mill foods, saving the long-term health of
your kids and your pocketbook in the process.
- Cookie Cutters Aren’t Just for Cookies – Turning an ordinary, wholesome sandwich into something exciting can be as easy as making fun shapes with a cookie cutter.
- Buy Baby Varieties – There’s something inherently
fun about miniature food. As an added bonus, the strong flavors that can
cause kids to turn up their noses with foods such as veggies may not be
as pronounced in baby varieties because they’re often harvested before
the taste profile fully matures.
- Learn Food Origami – Turning radishes into roses
and boiled egg slices into daisies are just two examples of ways that
creative knife work turns ordinary food into a treat.
- Dress Up Lunch Bags – Who says that lunch bags have
to be brown? Decorate them together with stamps or drawings to make the
contents within seem more special.
- Make Faces – Making a face out of a food item is a whimsical way to encourage kids to eat things they might ordinarily refuse.
- Create Animal Shapes – When in doubt, make food
look like an animal. With a bit of imagination and some creative prep,
you can turn an ordinary snack into something exceptional.
- Play With Your Food – Your mother may have
forbidden the idea of playing with your food, but that doesn’t mean you
have to. An inverted apple slice with toothpicks through the bottom and a
single grape on each end of the toothpick turns ordinary fruits into a
car kids can enjoy playing with before they chow down.
- Sweet Sushi – Fruit leathers are healthier than
rolled up gummy fruit treats and can make adorable wrappings for “sushi”
made of crushed rice cereal.
- Freeze! – Frozen foods are just more fun than those
at room temperature! Before serving foods that are frozen solid, make
sure that all of your pint-sized diners are able to chew them without
difficulty to prevent choking.
- Get Experimental – You can draw inspiration from a
variety of sources, but there’s nothing like coming up with your own
innovative food design. If cooking is a hobby of yours, you may even
find that the process is fun and soothing.
- Splashes of Color – The primary draw of many
processed foods marketed to kids is the bright coloring. Unfortunately,
those attractive hues are almost always the result of chemical dyes and
additives. Take a cue from the food manufacturers and make your kids
meals colorful. Steamed vegetables tend to hold their color when they’ve
been blanched, so work with the natural colors of the veggies and come
up with a fun arrangement.
- Take a Dip – Even the most pedestrian foods become
fun when dipping is part of the eating process. You don’t have to opt
for fat and preservative filled processed dips, either. Organic
offerings and hummus are great choices.
- Creative Containers – Kids love things that are
just their size, so buying small containers or ones with a unique twist
can make mealtime more fun. Small ramekins, re-purposed containers and
other innovative methods of plating can make an everyday snack seem new
and exciting.
- Toppings are Tops! – If it can be squirted, shaken,
sprinkled or dusted over food, kids will almost always love it.
Sometimes the addition of a few fun toppings alone can be enough to
convince kids that a run-of-the-mill meal is something special.
- Group Prep – When kids have a hand in preparing
their food, they’re automatically more invested in it and less likely to
think that it’s boring. Letting little ones assist with assembly may
create more work when it’s time for clean-up, but it keeps them engaged
and involved with the preparation of their food. It’s also a great way
to spend quality time together, passing on basic food prep skills and
tricks.
If you’re running low on inspiration, there’s no shortage of
kid-centric recipes and plating ideas on the Internet. Entire blogs are
dedicated to the idea of fun kid-cuisine and are filled with techniques
for every skill level.
This post was proposed to me for publication by Sophie Leake. If you want to know more about it please go to the underlined sight:
