Creative Activities with Fruit: Fun and Nutritious Ideas for Kids

Fruit is not only delicious and nutritious, but it also provides lots of creative activities for kids to do. From designing colourful fruit platters to making fun treats like watermelon pizza, using fruit in creative ways can make healthy eating more exciting for kids. In this blog post, we’ll explore some of our favourite  fruity activities that will help engage children and encourage them to eat and enjoy healthy snacks.

Benefits of Creative Fruit Activities

Incorporating fruit into fun activities has multiple benefits:

• Nutritional Value: Fruits are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fibre.
• Encourages Healthy Eating: Making fruit fun and visually appealing can encourage kids to choose healthy snacks.
• Develops Fine Motor Skills: Cutting, arranging, and decorating fruit helps develop fine motor skills.
• Creativity: These activities allow children to get creative and use their imagination.

Watermelon Pizza

One of our favourite fruit activities is making watermelon pizza. It's easy, fun, and perfect for a hot summer day.

Ingredients:

• 1 large watermelon
• Mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)
• Kiwi slices
• Banana slices
• Mint leaves (optional)
• Greek yoghurt or a drizzle of honey (optional)

Instructions:

1. Prepare the Watermelon: Cut the watermelon into thick round slices, about 2-3 cm thick. These will be your "pizza bases." We used a round cookie cutter to help us.. a round glass rim could also work.
2. Arrange the Toppings: Spread Greek yoghurt or drizzle honey on top of the watermelon slices if desired. This step is optional but adds a bit of extra flavour.
3. Decorate: Arrange the mixed berries, kiwi slices, and banana slices on top of the watermelon to resemble pizza toppings. Encourage kids to get creative with this.
4. Serve: Cut the decorated watermelon slices into wedges like a pizza and serve.

Benefits of making watermelon pizza:

• Hydration: Watermelon is over 90% water, making it a great hydrating snack in the summer
• Vitamins and Antioxidants: The mixed fruit toppings provide a range of vitamins and antioxidants and is a healthy snack choice.
• Fun: this activity is really fun and creative

Fruit Platter Designs

Creating and designing fruit platter is such a fun way of kids getting involved in the kitchen and promoting healthy eating at the same time. A fruit platter also makes a great summer dessert idea. Here are some ideas for designing beautiful fruit platters:

Rainbow Fruit Platter

Create a rainbow effect using a variety of colourful fruits.

Ingredients:

• Strawberries or raspberries (red)
• Oranges or mango slices (orange)
• Pineapple or bananas (yellow)
• Kiwi or green grapes (green)
• Blueberries (blue)
• Blackberries (purple)

Instructions:

1. Arrange the Fruit: On a large platter, arrange the fruit in rows or sections by colour to create a rainbow effect.
2. Add Garnishes: Add mint leaves
3. Serve: Serve immediately, providing small forks or skewers for easy picking.

Banana muffins

Dont throw away old bananas... try making banana muffins with them instead... watch how with our video tutorial and follow our recipe below:

Ingredients (makes 12)

• 2 very ripe medium bananas, mashed
• 1 large egg
• 100ml greek yoghurt
• 50ml vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50ml milk
• 250g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C fan and line a muffin tin with 12 cases.
2. Whisk the mashed banana, egg, greek yoghurt, vegetable oil, honey, vanilla extract and milk together.
3. In a separate bowl, stir the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together.
4. Tip the dry ingredients into the wet and fold together until just combined.
5. Divide the mixture evenly between the cases, filling each one almost to the top.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 5-6 minutes until risen and golden.

Rainbow Fruit Kabobs

Fruit kabobs are fun to make and easy to eat.

Ingredients:

• Assorted fruits (strawberries, pineapple chunks, melon balls, grapes)
• Wooden skewers

Instructions:

1. Prepare the Fruit: Wash and cut the fruit into bite-sized pieces.
2. Skewer the Fruit: Let the kids help by threading the fruit onto the skewers, alternating colours and types of fruit for a visually appealing effect.
3. Serve: Serve the kabobs on a platter. You can also provide a yoghurt dip with honey and yoghurt mixed together on the side for extra flavour.

Creative Fruit Faces

Making fruit faces is a fun and engaging activity for younger children. It allows them to use their imagination while creating edible art.

Ingredients:

• Apple slices
• Banana slices
• Grapes
• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Kiwi slices

Instructions:

1. Prepare the Fruit: Slice the fruit into different shapes that can be used to form facial features like eyes/ nose/ mouth.
2. Create Faces: On a plate, let the kids arrange the fruit slices to create faces. For example, use apple slices for a mouth, banana slices for eyes, and grapes for a nose.
3. Serve: Once the faces are complete, the kids can eat their creations… they make a great summer dessert too.

Smoothie Making

Smoothie making is not only a healthy but can make a great creative activity for kids.  They  can experiment with different fruit combinations to make their own unique smoothies.

Ingredients:

• Assorted fruits (bananas, berries, mango, pineapple)
• Greek yoghurt or milk
• Honey or agave syrup (optional)
• Ice cubes

Instructions:

1. Choose Your Fruits: Let the kids choose a variety of fruits to include in their smoothie.
2. Blend: Combine the fruits, yoghurt or milk, and a few ice cubes in a blender. Blend until smooth. Add honey or agave syrup to taste if desired.
3. Serve: Pour the smoothie into glasses and enjoy. You can also add a fun straw or a slice of fruit on the rim for decoration.

Fruit cutting hack

For a bit of fun and a great way of cutting fruit why not watch our fruit cutting hack tutorial here

FREE FRUITY FANS DOWNLOAD

Why not have some crafty fun with our free fruity fan craft download. All you need is some colouring pencils and lollipop sticks.

Conclusion

Creative activities with fruit are an excellent way to get children to enjoy healthy eating. Why not take them to the local market and they can select the fruit they want to use to make it even more interactive.  Whether it's making a watermelon pizza, arranging a colourful fruit platter, blending smoothies, making fruit kabobs or fruitie faces these activities are both fun and nutritious. They encourage kids to explore different fruits and develop a love for healthy snacks. So, grab some fresh fruit, get creative, and enjoy some fruity fun!

Happy creating and eating!