I completely adore berries. Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries. Summer is amazing for me as strawberries are in season. The others I get all year round and I do I eat daily, either on their own as a snack or with a lovely dollop of Greek yoghurt. Delicious! I sadly went off this fab snack in the early stages of pregnancy but happy to say back on it now!
Berries are definitely a healthy food, I try and get my girls to eat!
Benefits of Berries
There are so many health benefits of berries, which makes them such a good part of the diet. They are lower sugar in comparison to other fruits, they are low calorie and low in fat and packed with Vitamin C, an antioxidant. They are believed to support heart health and are a source a fibre. Perfect to snack on!
Berries and Kids
My girls are split with berries. My eldest is not a fan and I have to really use my imagination to get the little monkey to eat any. However her baby sister is like me; will happily snack on blueberries and strawberries and quite likes stealing my raspberries and yoghurt!
We are in October and it’s that time of year when kids are back at school, permanently hungry and need healthy snacks. My gremlin doesn’t have packed lunches yet but she takes snacks for swimming and gymnastics classes but I have friends’ kids who take food in. It’s very difficult to know what to pack! You want your kids to eat but you want them to be healthy too. Some research from British Summer Fruits (the industry that supplies 95% of U.K. grown berries to UK supermarkets) found that 47% find it hard to maintain a healthy snacking routine for their children. This is a large figure! Twenty- three per cent think schools don’t do enough to teach and support healthy eating and 65% have very hungry children when they come home from school.
I can relate to all of the above with the gremlin. She is starving when she comes home, even after a hot lunch! I actually went into her school to do a healthy eating talk for her class when she was in reception and loved it.
Ideas to Get Your Kids to eat More Berries
Berries are an ideal snack for kids and research from the University of Reading showed that eating strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries can improve reaction times, stabilise mood and maintain focus, as well as sustaining cognitive function for hours after consumption. Perfect for school!
Of course some kids are going to love them and inhale a snack like my youngest which is fab! You can buy little tubs and these are perfect to take into school.
For the fussier eaters you may need a little more imagination!!
We decided to try a few recipes for both my girls
Berry Yoghurt Lollies
My eldest isn’t going to eat anything where the berries are whole sadly, so I knew we would be looking at a smoothie or yoghurt for her, so I decided to make some berry lollies for her to try, which would be tasty, cool and refreshing.
I used –
- 50g blueberries
- 50g strawberries
- 50g of raspberries
- 150ml of strawberry flavoured yoghurt (a lot of recipes say use plain Greek or natural which is less sugar but I figured my eldest may eat it, if a little sweeter)
- Some raspberry coulis (small amount)
I was only making a small quantity to test them out but for more, I’d double the ingredients. I simply added all to a blender, blended up and added to some lolly holder. We then froze them and had as a tasty snack!
The gremlin was a good girl and had a try which was good!
Berry Skewers
These are pretty self explanatory. You purchase some skewers and thread through your delicious berries. It makes them look exciting and appetising and my youngest had fun with me picking out the strawberries and blueberries which she loves!!
Blueberry Pancakes
We always love pancakes on a Sunday morning and this is a great way to incorporate berries. You can either blend and serve or have the berries on the side. We decided to use some of the blueberries.
Here is a pancake recipe that my hubby uses regularly:
- 150ml of milk (adjust to consistency so runny to pour in hot pan)
- 100g of self-raising flour
- 35-50g of sugar (you can omit this)
- 1 medium egg
- sprinkle of mixed spices
- a dash of vanilla essence
- a teaspoon of baking powder
This usually makes 6 good sized pancakes.
We decided this morning to serve the blueberries on the side.
Will You Eat More Berries?
I do think you need to be a little creative sometimes with kids and berries, as for some they will absolutely adore them (like my youngest) and other need a little persuasion like my eldest! There are some amazing recipes you can try and we have had some success. Lollies are a lovely after school treat and pancakes are one of our firm Sunday morning favourites.
Healthy and delicious! Why don’t you give them a try?
Would you Like to Win a £25 Smiggles Voucher and Some Seasonal Berries Snackpots?
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Disclosure – this is a collaborative post
My daughter absolutely loves all the fruits from the ‘berry family’ as she calls them! The snack ideas are great thanks as normally I just serve them straight into a bowl and she happily enjoys them but will definitely make it more fun for her with these ideas!
We love berries in our house. We grow blueberries, tayberries and red currants in our little garden and buy the rest.. costs a fortune as the children would eat a punnet in one go! I love them with yoghurt for breakfast too.
Blueberries on top of porridge for breakfast are so nice.
My daughter loves berries in her lunch box – especially blueberries.
Lovely giveaway! We love berries but I must admit we don’t eat enough of them, I love Raspberry’s and blueberry’s with greek yogurt.
What a lovely giveaway! We all love berries in our house – we top them over cereals and yogurt and we eat them pies and tarts too! Smiggle is a great brand – we have lots of their brightly coloured stationary items!
Lovely ideas to eat more berries, all look so tempting! x
I’ve got blackberries in my garden So my granddaughter and I picked some and made Jam and a blackberry and yogurt ice pop
These are really fun ideas, blueberries really don’t last long in our house!
mixing in with yogurt is how I enjoy my berries
These look delicious. I love berries of all kinds.
i love smiggle products so bright and fun
These look delicious. We love berries.
These look great, and I would love to win this.
Yummy , love berries, so versatile, my favourite are blueberries and Sloe
Fabulous post and giveaway, absolutely love berries in this house! Thanks x
Great giveaway – we could make ourselves some jam – great bonding experience with the kids!
I eat berries everyday and make sure the children do too!
great giveaway! this sounds lovely
Very tasty! I often make berry flapjack or add berries to breakfast cereal.
i love smiggle products xxx
My 10 year old daughter loves berries, especially on pancakes!
My son loves his berries …it’s a shame many supermarkets put them up so much when they are out of season.
that pancake recipe looks delicious I’ll have to give that one a go
Berries are a favourite in our house, I just wish they weren’t so expensive!
It’s a shame that berries are so expensive as we all enjoy them. However,
I have just bought a dwarf mulberry tree so can’t wait to try eating the home-grown mulberries.
fantastically perfect surprise for my daughter
We grow lots of soft fruits. Nutritious free food
my son loves berries on his porridge in a morning
Yummy, count me in!
I love berries, thanks for the lovely competition 🙂
Oh yes please it would be great to get the family eating more berries
Big berry lovers in our house. Always our go to flavor for foods like yoghurts and juice too
My kids all love berries, especially when they are made into smoothies.
My son doesn’t need any help eating berries. He absolutely adores them. Thanks for the ideas though!
Great giveaway.
id love to win this!!!
my family love berries, with granola and yoghurt
Lovely prize, thank you
We love berries, whether it’s with yogurt, in baking or even in smoothies
My kids love Smiggle and we all like our berries
I love berries but I think the strawberry is my favourite!
great giveaway – would love to try these lovely pots
Love these ideas. My daughters favourite fruit is strawberries
They look delicious, we eat a lot of berries, especially strawberries, our favourite.
My daughter loved fruit especially blueberries. She will happily eat a punnet in one sitting. She also likes them on porridge
The blueberry pancakes look delicious and nice and healthy.
My daughter would love this 🙂
Fab prize, thanks for the chance.
Love berries especially blueberries, love them in a smoothie and porridge.
My daughters love berries! 🙂
We love berries in our house, I’d say we all eat them every day. Breakfast is a very popular time.
We all love berries, just not all the same ones.
all my grandkids love fruit
I loooove fruit berries are my fave. My daughters adore strawberries and raspberries.
My daughters absolutely adore berries! They could eat them all day, everyday!
My kids both adore blueberries which I am very pleased about x
My daughters love blueberries and strawberries. As soon as the shopping arrives they will grab the blueberries and eat the whole pack.
We love blueberries love to make homemade muffins with them too!
I love blueberries in a simple loaf cake they are delicious in baking
My two children love berries! Blueberries in cereal, strawberries with yoghurt and blackberries as a tasty snack
Very generous and we love berries in this household – even our doggy loves them
We love berries, great in smoothies, or a less healthy berry crumble!
What fab snack ideas!!!!
My grandsons love berries 🙂 Thank you for a fab giveaway
My daughters love there berries thank you for the chance 🙂
Fab post! The smiley face pancakes look like great fun! My Ronan would love that.
I have 2 kids addicted to Smiggle lol.
Would love to try snackpots it looks like something one of my 5 kids may eat. He is 14 and has additional needs so a very fussy eater.
Would love to get my kids to eat more fruit
We love berries, so many ways to add them to food so we get through quite a lot as a family!
Would love to win. My boy Charlie 2 is so fussy but he loves his fruit
mine love berries, blueberries are always on my shopping list
We’re huge berry fans in this house. Especially raspberries and strawberries.
we are raspberry and blueberry fans in our house great in porridge, soothies and with scrummy yoghurt pancakes!
Very useful and informative. Currently I can only manage to get berries into the kids diets via smoothie. Will be trying the pancakes
Some really good ideas there
My daughter loves berries. Even with water and ice, it’s her drink x
My niece loves berries x
love raspberries and strawberries especially with yogurts and overnight oats with berries and yogurts in.
We love berries in our house. We have them on there own and also with natural yoghurt and granola. There a tasty and healthy snack x
Yum – that’s made me wish it was breakfast already. I have some overnight oats with berries waiting for me!
My girls are obsessed with smiggle. They eould love to spend this voucher.
Great ideas! My little boy loves raspberries but any other berries hard to get in him so definitely going to give these ways ago
I love berries and pancakes always go down well! Your lollies look great! 🙂
I love all berries. Putting them in puddings is such a great way to use them