Life

Nutrition: Get the kids into the kitchen and cook up a summer of fun

All children enjoy baking a cake, or making muffins, but can you make a slightly healthier option
All children enjoy baking a cake, or making muffins, but can you make a slightly healthier option All children enjoy baking a cake, or making muffins, but can you make a slightly healthier option
By Jane McClenaghan

SCHOOL’S out for summer, and while the kids are giddy with excitement about the long weeks of freedom ahead, you might be tearing your hair out trying to think of how you might entertain your little ones over the summer months.

Here are some healthy ideas to get kids creative in the kitchen...

Smoothie making

It's smoothie time
It's smoothie time It's smoothie time

Let the kids loose with a few simple ingredients and let their imagination run wild. Smoothies are a great option for children who are not keen on breakfast, or who would do anything to dodge eating fruit or vegetables, but most children enjoy smoothie making, especially if they are given free rein to create their own recipe. A section of fresh or frozen fruit with some milk or yoghurt is all you need. You can add some creativity with extra ingredients like spices (cinnamon is a good all-rounder), sweetness (honey or maple syrup work best) or additional toppings (cocoa powder, seeds).

Homemade ice pops

Use ice lolly moulds, or re-use little yoghurt pots and try freezing the smoothies to make healthy ice pops.

Set a family challenge

Let the teenagers loose in the kitchen to create a meal for all the family
Let the teenagers loose in the kitchen to create a meal for all the family Let the teenagers loose in the kitchen to create a meal for all the family

Once a week over the summer holidays, let the kids loose in the kitchen to create a meal for all the family. Depending on the age range of your children, this may require a little (or a lot) of supervision – it is a lovely way to get little ones interested in food and cooking. It is also a great way to use different skills like numeracy, literacy and cooking skills.

Make this a rainy day activity and set them the task of researching their recipe from websites or cookbooks, making a shopping list and spending their food budget. You might end up with a weird and wonderful creation, or this could be the start of a budding career as a gourmet chef. No matter what the end result, they will definitely have fun planning and creating.

Remember that every great chef has to do the clearing up and washing dishes, with the help of the rest of the team.

Read more:

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Nutrition: Cut the carbs and fill up on protein and fibre

Nutrition: Join the drive towards a more fit and healthier you...

Explore local foods

Grilled fish fresh from the sea is the epitome of holiday food for many people
Grilled fish fresh from the sea is the epitome of holiday food for many people Grilled fish fresh from the sea is the epitome of holiday food for many people

The more variety in a child’s diet, the better their nutrition is likely to be. Developing a taste for a wide range of foods is a brilliant way to widen a child’s palate, so whether you are holidaying at home or packing your bags for further afield, use your holiday time to explore new flavours and foods that are not a regular part of your midweek family meals.

Take a look at menus, visit local food markets and take a trip to the supermarket to see and taste foods and ingredients that your children can find that are different to what they eat at home. Then, when you get home, try to recreate your new recipes in your own kitchen.

Pack a picnic and head outside

It's a good idea to encourage the kids to make a family picnic
It's a good idea to encourage the kids to make a family picnic It's a good idea to encourage the kids to make a family picnic

The weather may not always be bright and sunny, but there is nothing to stop you getting outside and enjoying the great outdoors. Take a picnic packed with wholemeal pitta pockets or wraps filled with your favourite ingredients, some fruit and yoghurt for dessert, or why not pack a dinnertime picnic?

Some cooked chicken, potato salad, coleslaw and salad makes a tasty tea that tastes even better when eaten outside. Just don’t forget your raincoat and wellies..

Grow something

Farmer planting young seedlings of lettuce salad in the vegetable garden.
Farmer planting young seedlings of lettuce salad in the vegetable garden. Farmer planting young seedlings of lettuce salad in the vegetable garden.

Get into the garden and plant a few seeds at the start of the summer holidays that will grow into tasty salad vegetables through the summer holidays. Salad leaves are so easy and will be ready to eat really quickly. And there is just about enough time to plant peas and beans that will be ready to eat before they head back to school in September.

Bake a cake with interesting ingredients

Be bold with your baking
Be bold with your baking Be bold with your baking

All children enjoy baking a cake, or making muffins, but can you make this slightly healthier. Perhaps a flapjack recipe using oats, dried fruit, seeds and honey, or getting creative with vegetables in muffins and cake (carrot cake, beetroot and chocolate muffins or courgette cake anyone?).

Whatever your plans for the summer holidays, I hope you have loads of fun and are as excited as your children about the downtime ahead. Take it easy and enjoy...