3 Easy Ways to Make Healthy Eating Fun for Kids

Along with being nice to their siblings, one of the most important things small children need to learn is how to make healthy food choices. Navigating the food scene can be tricky for parents, but when your kids actually want to eat their broccoli, you can focus on more important battles, like getting them to clean up their bedrooms.

We’ve got some tips to help you make healthy eating more fun for your little ones:

Think small. Tiny hands and mouths often appreciate tiny foods. Not only are they more fun for your kids, but they’re also fun to make. If you’re in too much of a hurry to cobble together some magnificently microscopic multigrain pancakes, creating a plate of baby carrots, grape tomatoes and other tiny veggies can work just as well.

Connect foods to heroes. When Timmy won’t eat an apple no matter how much you beg, you may be able to convince him by connecting apple eating to one of his personal heroes. Modeling the type of eating you’d like to see in your children can go a long way, too, since they often will naturally mimic their parents.

Let your child cook. Inviting your kids into the kitchen may sound like a recipe for disaster, but if children learn early how much fun cooking is, they’re going to be even more excited to try their own creations. Even very small children can help stir soups or handle whole ingredients — you might want to wait until they’re a little older to teach knife handling skills.

Kids can be surprisingly open to healthy food, but only if they don’t see that healthy food as a punishment. Never try to force new food on your children, instead, give them some time to adjust to tastes that might be much more bitter or unusual to a kid’s palate. It might take a couple of tries, but if you remain positive and show your child that eating a vegetable or whole grain isn’t going to kill them, they’ll come around.

If you keep a garden or have been thinking about container gardening, it can be a great way to get kids interested in food. Start with easy plants that will give them a lot of success, like green beans, and your children will be eager to start a meal with the vegetables they grew themselves just outside the kitchen door.