Children particularly need to eat fresh fruit and vegetables as they:

• Contain many vitamins and minerals that are essential for healthy bone and cell development
• Play an important part in supporting the energy levels required for active minds and healthy bodies
• Provide lots of "roughage" which helps the digestive system
• Help with maintenance of healthy body weight
• Help to support the immune system and protect against disease

Here you will find great recipes that have been developed to suit children's taste buds. Kids under parental guidance can prepare many of these recipes. You will also find tips to encourage kids to enjoy fruit and vegetables as well as suggestions for quick snacks.

Here are some tips to encourage kids to enjoy fruit and vegetables.

• Teach kids to use a peeler as early as possible.
• Vary the fruits in your kitchen bowl and, between meals, slice some and arrange them creatively on a small plate for them.
• Put sticks of raw vegetables in school lunch boxes.
• Prepare vegetables in different ways, raw, sliced, grated, steamed etc. They are sure to like them one way or another.
• Teach kids the names of fruits and vegetables and treat them to their wonderful aromas and textures.
• Take your kids shopping for fruits and vegetables and ask them to help you choose your purchases. Let them choose something special from time to time and you may be pleasantly surprised.
• Kids just love fruit salad. You need at least 3 or 4 different fruits to create a good fruit salad. A fruit salad will keep longer if it's covered with liquid such as fresh orange juice or juice blended with berries. Add a little sugar or honey to the liquid to help preserve the fruits.
• Fruit and vegetables provide the ideal healthy alternative for quick snacks and they are environmentally friendly - just think, a banana comes in its own wrapper, so too does an orange and a mandarin, and all fruit peels are totally recyclable. An important point for today's socially conscious kid!