We are huge fans of Innocent Smoothies, I love them, the kids love them and even Daddy has been known to have the odd one or two.  We heard that there was going to be an Innocent Fruit and Veg Fest at their very prestigious Fruit Towers and decided to head on down to London to find out what all the fun was about.

Our Day At Innocent HQ Fruit Towers

Princess and I were up really early, in fact about an hour earlier than we needed to be as 3 year olds get very excited about heading of for an adventure with Mummy on a train.  There was no fear of being late for the 7.10am from Nottingham to London St Pancras, and I know all the businessmen were delighted that a small person was going to be joining them on there work commute.

Child on trainPrincess got stuck right into her Cbeebies Magazine right after her jam sandwich breakfast, and we did activities all the way to London.  It was a real treat to get this time with her, without the 1 year old trying to get involved with proceedings.

Filled with lots of questions, like ‘Is London new Mummy?’ Princess was feeling really enthusiastic about her pending adventure.  We jumped on the tube and headed to Ladbroke Grove where we were soon to arrive at Fruit Towers.

I must admit I never quite know how Princess is going to be at these events.  Sometimes she can be shy and overwhelmed and other times she gets stuck right in.  I needn’t have worried though, as this was one of those times when she just wanted to explore and play.  Fruit Towers has what I can only describe as a great vibe.  It’s relaxed, friendly and a great space to bring a load of kids together to have a lot of healthy fun.

child doing printing with vegetablesThere were people on hand to help with some vegetable printing.  Painting is always such a big hit isn’t it?  She also made faces with peppers, cucumbers, carrots and lots more fun colourful veg.  Princess made alien faces, and this was a really popular table with all the kids.

children doing vegetable craftsIt was lovely to watch her have so much fun, with something as simple as fruit and veg.  Kids learn so much through play, and when it comes to food it’s not just about how it tastes, it’s about the texture, how it smells and the bright colours too.  It was a lovely way of getting them to enjoy all the healthy things children need in their diet in a different way.

Now, the biggest hit of all wasn’t the painting, or the face making but in fact it was the coconut shy.  The kids kept this activity busy all morning, and poor Kevin was forever picking up coconuts for these children just to knock them down again.  Give children a target, and something to throw at it and it will keep them busy for hours.
child playing coconut shyNot only did we have a lot of fun at Innocent HQ, but we also got some great tips on how to encourage children to be healthy and eat more fruit and vegetables.  I’m always thinking about what my children are eating, and whether they are getting their quota of 5 portions a day.  I don’t think we manage it every single day, but the point is it’s something we are always conscious of trying to improve.  Here’s some of the advice we’ll be trying out to help us hit the mark more often.

Tips To Encourage Children To Eat More Fruit And Vegetables

  1. Include some fruit or veg at every meal, and offer it at snack time too.
  2. Use ‘in season’ fruit and veg as these are often cheaper.
  3. Make sure your children see you eating fruit and veg too, this is something we aren’t great at to be honest.  I’m not great with fruit, and Daddy isn’t a huge fan of vegetables either!
  4. Make fruit and vegetables fun by making them into faces on pizzas or making them into scenes.
  5. Get your kids involved in the weekly shop, if they pick a few things they are more likely to try them.  You never know, you might end up trying something new too.
  6. Grow some fruit and veg of your own, kids get really excited about eating something they’ve helped grow themselves.
  7. Add loads of vegetables to things like pastas sauce, curry or stews.  This will make them taste great.

There’s also Innocent’s new fruit and veg smoothies too, to get a quick healthy hit.  There’s strawberries, apples and beetroot or zingy pineapples, apples and carrots to choose from, both utterly delicious in Princess’s book!  Here’s some thoughts on the new fruit & veg smoothies for kids straight from Fruit Towers:

Things you might like to know about our new fruit & veg smoothies for kids

  • They are a naturally delicious way to get a portion of fruit and veg into your little ones
  • Each smoothie contains one of their 5-a-day
  • With a wide variety of ingredients such as beetroot, carrots, apples and pumpkin, they’re a great way to enjoy lots of different fruits and veg
  • Crammed full of 100% pure crushed fruit and veg
  • We’re the only kids fruit & veg smoothies on the market and available from all good supermarkets
  • Perfect for lunchboxes
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89 COMMENTS

  1. Give them plenty of choice so they will eat the ones they like,never force a child to eat something they don’t like,there are lots of alternatives.

  2. I usually make both fruit and veg smoothies also can be cut up small and added to various dishes and they don’t notice them .

  3. Make soups and smoothies. It’s a good way to get them to eat fruit and veg they wouldn’t normally eat. One of my son’s doesn’t like berries on their own but loves them in a smoothie. All of my children will eat just about any veg when it’s blended into soup!

  4. My children loved fruit but with some veg I have had to try all sorts of options to make it appealing. Letting them make their own veggie pizzas was a hit and crudites with dip! Getting kids involved with their cooking has been a big hit with most parents I know too.
    xx

  5. Don’t make fuss about it. “Oh, look it’s a vegetable!” start them early and continue as a part of a healthy diet. If they don’t like the texture, mash, squash or cut in funny shapes. Let your children be involved in picking the fruit and veggies at a shop.

  6. Don’t make a big deal about them. We don’t go, “Make sure you eat your chips” so I don’t go on about “Make sure you eat your veggies” – if you downplay them they don’t see them as anything different.

  7. Get them involved in growing fruit and veg – I’ve managed to get my children to eat cabbage and sprouts by doing this!

  8. Have been quite lucky with my two, always loved fruit & veg, we just make it part of the daily routine with a combination of 100% pure juices and whole fruit!

  9. Never try to hide them in food! I hated that when I was little. When we give out fruit in my classroom, the children are more likely to have a try if I have some first and rave about how tasty it is.

  10. I try to get the girls in the kitchen with me cooking, we add veg and fruit to our baking and make up smoothies in the morning and just get creative?

  11. In the case of my son disguise them, and then disguise them some more, if he even gets a hint of a lump the tongue comes out and thats it, plate of food ignored.. very frustrating.

  12. I never have a problem with fruit, but with veg I sometimes hide it in other foods/make it into sauces or cover it with sauce.

  13. My girls have luckily always liked fruit but had definite favourites o I have tried to ensure they were always in a fruit bowl or packed lunches. Veg is an integral part of all meals, either in salads, pasta bakes, smoothies or in a bowl covered in cream. I go for the seasonal which is usually also the cheapest

  14. Keep offering them with different dips and in different meals eg. spag bol and they will get used to the taste and start enjoying them….. hopefully

  15. Lead by example, make it fun, and don’t force them to eat the types they don’t like as long as they are eating several others.

  16. Have fun! I let my kids play with their food! They help me make it, they taste it, they are involved with it from beginning to plate! We have even started to grow our own carrots in our little garden, hopefully next year we’ll start on the peas! I just think the less pressure you put on kids, the more likely they are to try different things! xxx

  17. Smoothies are a big hit in our house. I have a good one that blends really fine so it’s smooth and not chunky. I do us all a smoothie everyday – mainly fruit but you can also sneak in veg such as spinach, carrot and even kale and you don’t notice it in among the fruit.

  18. We eat fruit and veg as part of our meals, and when I’m at home with the kids, we have morning “fruit time” where fruit is the only option

  19. We have never made a big thing of eating fruit and veg, just encouraged the same as all food. We do tend to graze with fruit and veg and eat a lot raw.

  20. We have our own vegetable patch just for the kids, they love eating the things they’ve grown themselves!

  21. make mealtimes a game – you are a giant, do what giants can do. make them think of the veg as items that giants could eat – like broccoli=trees, carrot cars etc.

  22. I tell my son that Spiderman (his fave) eats all his vegetables to make him big and strong and that normally does the trick!

  23. First of all I would say introduce a variety of fruit and veg, flavours, colours, texture at an early age (from when they are eating baby food). Food can be cut into really small chunks – e.g. small chunks of onion, carrot, mushrooms and peas mixed in a cottage pie so they are not even noticeable.

  24. don’t make abig dealout of it. give them the ones they like, and don’t force the ther ones onto them.

  25. Let your children be involved in the meals, let them chop and wash the vegetables and make up fun names for them. My children are always excited to try the things they have made so this works really well

  26. we dont really have any problems with fruit or veg, all 5 of mine love both. we grow our own veg and find they enjoy it more knowing theyve grown it themselves

  27. The only thing that has really ever worked for me is bribery lol But seriously, my daughter told us the other day that she wants to be a vegetarian because she doesn’t want to eat dead animals. I had to explain to her that vegetarianism involves eating vegetables all the time and she changed her mind.

  28. Take them to Pick Your Own farms and ask them what they like the look of and then prep and cook them together

  29. The kids help me prepare salads and veg, and then they are excited about eating what they have prepared

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