Get your Children Eating More Vegetables with The See & Eat Project

7.12.20

Paid Partnership

Despite all three littles eating anything and everything when we were weaning, getting them to eat certain foods now can be a real struggle. Five year old Parker in particular is incredibly fussy when it comes to meals, especially if they include vegetables that he has decided are 'yucky' or 'sooo gross'. I know that we're not the only parents who struggle though, which is why the See & Eat project was created.

Currently being led by the University of Reading and supported by the British Nutrition Foundation, the See & Eat project has just launched a new website that features a range of evidence-based activities and eBooks. These have been designed to help parents and carers to encourage young children to try - and hopefully enjoy - a wider variety of vegetables. All of the content on the website is available completely free of charge, and is available in English, Italian, Finnish, Polish, Dutch and French to ensure as many people can benefit as possible.




Books are something we introduced at a very early age with our three, and they quickly became a really important part of our daily routine. I know this is the case for many other families too, which is why See & Eat are using eBooks in their project. 24 eBooks have been created based on research that showed that visual familiarity in the form of picture books, can be an effective way to increase a child's willingness to try different vegetables. The interactive books and can be viewed (and even edited to add pictures and audio) using the app Our Story 2, on both a tablet or smartphone under adult supervision. 

I downloaded a range of the books to the app and let the littles decide which ones they wanted to read. Mushrooms are a particular issue in our house, so it was great to go through the book with them and show them where they come from and the different types you can get. The wording is simple and perfect for little ones to understand and Parker especially liked that he could read it himself. I printed off the vegetable colouring sheets from the website too, hoping that by them seeing what they look like, and becoming more familiar with them, it will encourage the littles to be more experimental with there vegetable choices.




Of course reading a book won't create miracles, but they are a great start to introducing different vegetables in a fun and simple way. Getting the conversation going and being positive about different food choices really can make a difference. You can even go one step further and let your little one help in the kitchen; cooking each vegetable you come across in the books or even growing your own in a vegetable garden. You never know what might happen!

The See & Eat project is funded by European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Food, is being led by Professor Carmel Houston-Price at the University of Reading and is supported by partners including the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF).

3 comments :

  1. What a great initiative to try and create healthy habits in little ones. I guess it acts a bit like social proof a bit doesn't it? Mushrooms also an issue in this house too!

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  2. This sounds like a wonderful idea. It's so important to get them eating fruits and veg and trying new things.

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  3. This sounds like a fab idea. My boys are absolutely awful for trying to get to eat veg, so I'll try anything now.

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