Colour-packed salads for healthy active minds!

Taken from www.cbc.ca

Salads can be boring and intimidating for children, but we know that eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is important!  How can we make salad interesting for children?

• Try packing it with colour!  The more choices children have within a salad, the more likely they are to try it.  Making it brights and colourful can make it more tempting to try, especially for little ones.  Try tying it to a lesson about colours for children who are still trying to learn and remember all the different colours.  For older kids use the chart posted in a previous post about eating through the rainbow and have them try to remember what each coloured fruit or vegetable has in it for our bodies.

Taken from www.cottoecrudo.com

• Try putting both fruit and vegetables in salad together! You can minimize the lettuce and add other things to liven it up, add more flavour and make it more interesting.  Somethings that can go great in salads are:
• Beets
• Cherries
• Oranges
• Strawberries
• Peppers of all colours
• blueberries
• Apples
• Grapes
• Advocados
• raisins/craisins
• Corn
• Beans
• Chick peas 
• Edamame
• Peas
• Try adding low-fat yogurt to the salad instead of traditional dressing.  It is a healthy option and sometimes sweetening it up can appeal to kids.
• Salad can be fun, don't be afraid to try new things!  Getting kids to participate in making salad can make them more likely to try it!