When it comes to the growth and development of your child and their early learning experience, it is crucial to ensure that they have a balanced, well-rounded, and healthy diet. However, managing to persuade your child to actually eat their five a day can often be a struggle.
You might be in the midst of that struggle now, wondering exactly how to get toddlers to eat their veggies. Luckily, there are some tried-and-tested tips to help your child have more fun with vegetables, hopefully encouraging healthier eating habits. Read on to find out more!
1. Get your children more involved in the kitchen and meal preparations
One effective way of encouraging children to eat their five a day is by involving them in the cooking process. Children love to feel like they’re helping you and allowing them to help in the kitchen can help to foster interest in their own meals.
Invite your toddler to join you while you chop vegetables or stir ingredients. You can even create simple tasks that they’d be able to achieve, such as washing vegetables or tearing lettuce leaves. Alternatively, if you have a garden or greenhouse, you could consider growing your own vegetables and your children can get invested before eating the final product!
When children actively participate in preparing meals, they develop a greater appreciation for the food on their plate, and a hands-on approach can make veggies seem less intimidating and more appealing to toddlers.
2. Combine new foods with food they already know
Introducing new vegetables to toddlers out of the blue is never easy, especially if they’re already starting to pick their favourite foods. To make it a little easier, try pairing unfamiliar vegetables with familiar foods that your child already likes.
For example, if your child already likes pasta, try including finely chopped vegetables, like spinach, mushrooms, or carrots, into their favourite pasta sauce. At first, they may not notice them, but if you gradually increase the number, you put in, they will start to identify and get used to the tastes and textures.
If they still refuse to eat the smaller vegetables in the sauce, you could try blending it all together to help introduce the flavours first. This means that they can explore and understand new flavours and textures while still enjoying the comfort of familiar foods.
This can help if you aren’t sure how to sneak fibre into your child’s diet, too!
3. Be a role model by eating healthily yourself
Children often mimic the behaviours of adults, especially their parents, so it’s essential to set a positive example when it comes to healthy eating. Make a conscious effort to include a variety of vegetables in your own meals and demonstrate enthusiasm for trying new foods.
During mealtimes, describe the vegetables on your plate positively, highlighting their colours, textures, and how good they are for you. This can help change the negative ideas your child may have of healthier food.
Encourage your child to take small bites and praise them for their efforts, even if they’re hesitant at first. This encouragement and support can help instil healthy eating habits that will benefit your child for years to come and make them more explorative in future.
4. Let children play with their food
How many times have you heard someone say, “stop playing with your food?” Turns out, playing with their food might help them eventually eat it!
Children are curious and intuitive. By creating a fun and interactive eating experience, maybe by arranging colourful vegetable sticks or shapes on their plate, your child can explore and experiment with different textures.
Also, touching their food will often make a child more inclined to try it as they can get used to the texture, smell, and feel before putting it in their mouth. It can also be helpful to provide dipping sauces or spreads to provide new flavours and encourage the use of your child’s hands.
5. Make fruit a treat instead of unhealthier options
Chocolate, sweets, and cakes are the stereotypical “reward” foods, but you could provide sweet fruits, like strawberries, mangos, and bananas, as a healthier alternative.
By associating these flavours as treats, your child may be more willing to try similar foods, and you can help reduce the number of unhealthy snacks they have each day. You can also do a lot of exciting different things with fruit for your children, including blending them into smoothies and adding them to cereal or yoghurt.
6. Be patient!
Patience is crucial when it comes to encouraging toddlers to eat their veggies. It’s normal for children to be hesitant when trying new foods, and they might often outright refuse it, but don’t be discouraged if progress is slow! Offer small portions of new foods at mealtime and don’t give up, as it may take up to 12-15 exposures for a new food to be accepted.
Try to bring in new fruits and veggies for your children every few days using some of the methods above, without making the experience negative by forcing it on them. Sometimes, your child simply won’t like a particular food, but that shouldn’t put you off trying to give them new fruits and vegetables when possible!
7. Guarantee a Balanced Diet for Your Child with Happy Days Nurseries
We understand the importance of early childhood nutrition, which is why all the food we provide at our nursery is curated by a specialist early-years nutritionist on a four-weekly, seasonal basis.
We ensure that all dietary requirements are catered for and that the children in our care are exposed to a wide range of textures and flavours. We have a dedicated page on our website to help you find out more about our meal time and nutritional practices.
If you’re struggling to get your child to try new flavours, fruits, and vegetables, we are on hand to help. We can help support you and your child in your journey to a healthier diet. Call us on 0800 783 3431 or email enquiries@happydaysnurseries.com for more information!