Tricks For Helping Children Appreciate Their Vegetables

Take your little ones shopping with you. Allow them to choose the fruits and vegetables that they like. This is usually the easiest way even with children as young as 4 years old. Kids learn to eat healthier when they participate in the cooking and the shopping for the whole family.

Children love color. Even with fruits and vegetables, kids will look, then smell, and finally taste. So a variety of color in meals is great. Eating a diversity of foods greatly improves the odds of receiving all the nutrients you and your family require for your best health.

A creative way to get your kids to eat vegetables is to use the food as part of a project. Kids get to count, make shapes, and then eat what they have created. You get the reassurance of knowing that you are adding nutritious foods into their meals.

Kids Recipes for Create My Own Soup

Have the children count the carrots and celery pieces. Let them spell their names with the noodles if you include alphabet noodles. You can find other kid-friendly noodles like car shapes, etc. Create a theme of the soup creation.

Cut stars out of the carrot slices and zucchini (using an aspic cutter) then set aside.

Ingredients:
*1-2 carrots
*1 zucchini
*4 cups low sodium chicken broth
*1/4 cup shaped pasta
*Dash of sage
*3/4 cup chopped, cooked chicken
*Salt and pepper to taste

Bringing it All Together:

*Let the kids help you wash the vegetables. Once finished you can scrub the carrots and zucchini lightly with a vegetable brush.
*Cut the vegetables into 1/4-inch slices.
*Cut stars out of the slices, and set them aside.

*In a medium sized pot, bring the broth to a simmer over medium heat.
*Add the carrot stars and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the carrots start to become tender.
*Add the pasta, zucchini and chicken. Continue cooking the soup for another few minutes, stirring occasionally, just until the pasta is done. Makes 4 servings.

*Let the children search for their names or count the number of shapes in their soup bowl. The children will enjoy the adventure and fun, you will feel excellent knowing they are enjoying their vegetables.

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