I really wish I could say that I don’t have picky eaters. Yet, it’s very true that getting my kids to eat a balanced meal is a challenge daily battle. I’m not one to count nutrients and try and figure out exactly what they need each day {really, you too?}. Yet there is, without certainty, one food group that I know they are lacking. And that is vegetables. Simply put, whether I cook them, serve them raw, make shapes with them, or grind them up and hide it in their food – they can spot vegetables and the strike begins. Combine that with a chaotic schedule – and it’s a recipe for nutritional disaster! My tactic is to just keep serving a variety of fruits and vegetables, and one day I know they will succumb and try them {fingers crossed}. There is an award winning {Canadian} product that has really helped in this house. It’s called, Today I Ate A Rainbow.
Today I Ate a Rainbow is a very handy {and fun} chart that parents can use to help keep track of daily intake of fruits and vegetables. The complete Rainbow Kit, which we received, includes:
• 1 chart
• 2 sets of square magnets
• 2 sets of circle magnets
• 4 achievement magnets
• 4 fridge magnets
• 1 grocery list
• The Rainbow Bunch Book
The pieces are bright and colorful, just the eye-candy to attract kids and make them want to play with it. Yet, there’s a catch! To place a fruit or vegetable character on the chart – they must eat it first! And yes, my kids do go for it {at least a bite or two of the ‘questionable’ foods}. The goal is to eat all the colors in the rainbow, to make a rainbow and get a reward.
As well, it comes with a color-coded grocery list, for us parents to take when shopping. I tell ya, sometimes shopping with 3 kids is a *tad* stressful, and I end up throwing things in the cart and be-lining for the checkout before I can take a moment and take note if I am purchasing all the things I should be buying. For instance, I have a tendency to ‘buy green’ when it comes to veggies – lettuce, cucumbers, celery, broccoli. This is a great reminder to start ‘buying that rainbow’ thus introducing foods with a variety of nutrients and Phytonutrients. Plus, I started asking the kids to pick their own ‘yellow vegetable’ {for example} when shopping. Then having this choice has also helped at mealtime, they seem to take pride in the fact that they chose to bring it home to eat.
Today I Ate a Rainbow is a great tool for so many reasons. Being that it’s magnetic and can be right there on the fridge, it’s a great reminder. Not only does it encourage a balanced diet in fruits and vegetables, but it also encourages kids to read. In fact, as soon as my daughter noticed the chart, the first thing she did was read it, to see what it was all about. One thing that gets a little complicated with this chart is when you have more than a couple of children. It requires a little more thought and planning when it comes to charting which child ate what. I’m not having a big issue with that just yet, since they seem to play the ‘monkey-see, monkey do’ game and follow each other when eating. I think I’ll have to get another set of magnets and write names on them, if it becomes an issue. But, that’s alright, since you can purchase the items separately as well!
The Rainbow Kit also comes with an illustrated book “The Rainbow Bunch” written by Kia Robertson {creator of Today I Ate A Rainbow}. This is a great read, and helps to reinforce the idea of eating a variety of fruits and vegetables.
The Rainbow Kit sells for $25, and there is free shipping in North America too! The site provides a ton more information like recipes, giveaways and helpful articles on foods and picky eaters as well.
One reader will get their own Rainbow Kit
from Today I Ate A Rainbow!
To Enter, Tell me about your picky child! How do you get them to try a variety of foods? Would something like this help in your house?
For Extra Entries:
- Follow My Chaos {with Google Friend Connect}
- Subscribe to My Organized Chaos via reader or email
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- If you ‘Like’ Today I Ate A Rainbow on Facebook, you get another entry
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- Comment on any of non-giveaway post {tell me which one in a comment here}
- Blog about this giveaway, with a {blog title} link back to me {for 5 extra entries}
- Follow me {@MyChaos} and @eatingarainbow on Twitter & tweet.
*you can tweet once per day*
Feel free to use this Today I Ate A Rainbow Giveaway Tweet.
Closes October 23/2010 at 9pm MST
{ 169 comments }
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This would definitely help in my household. Right now I’m just offering the veggies and crossing my fingers one day they actually eat more than 1 or 2 bites.
I keep on offering my kiddos a variety of veggies and fruits, hoping one day they’ll actually try and eventually enjoy eating more and more of them. Actually fruits aren’t the problem in our household…it’s the green stuff they’re unsure of. This would be great indeed!
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I think this is a great way to remind parents, too, to incorporate a good variety and number of fruits and veggies per day. My girls aren’t terribly picky when it comes to eating fruits and veggies, but I do wonder sometimes if they’re getting enough of a variety every day. This could be a great interactive tool for having kids pick out what veggies and fruit they’d like from the grocery store!
And maybe it could inspire my husband to spend more time in the produce section, too – *wink wink* =)
Thanks for the great giveaway!
Lucky for us our girls love their veggies:) We make sure to always have plenty of fresh cut vegetables available and ready for their little fingers. We introduce new veggies and make sure they try them. You’ll usually find their tastes change over time so something they may have not liked last year they may love this year. They also love to help shop, get them to know what they are buying and let them make some of the decisions:)
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This would be great! My picky eater only likes a few veggies, so I have to hide veggies in baked treats. It works but it would be nice to be able to get her to eat more without hiding them.
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Love, love this!! Would love to see this used in daycares, schools and homes everywhere!
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This would really help in my house! Sometimes we make smoothies and put some greens in them. Thanks for the giveaway.
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My oldest son is beyond picky! He has a few favorites and does not want to try anything different. I used to battle with him about it but I realized what a waste of energy that was. Since most of his favorites are healthy (chicken breast, broccoli, etc.) I’m not too worried. I do try to introduce variety by making it sound exciting and fun but it usually doesn’t work. Iwould love to try this out!
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My guys seem to like the orange veggies, its the rest of the colors they seem to reject (well, ignore would be a better term).
What I’ve been doing lately is making a pot of soup that heavy on the carrots and adding as many other fresh veggies I can find at the farmers market. This way they’ve had chard, kale, parsnips and anything else I can put in. I puree it all up to make a creamless creamy soup and so far so good.
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right now i am just giving them the option, but haven’t really forced them…
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My little one loves fruits but no so much the veggies and we try to add “sauce” to make it more appealing however I think something like this would be helpful at our home.
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I’ve never really had a problem with getting them to eat their fruits or veggies…maybe I lucked out. I found that they especially love broccoli (though just the top) when it’s in Beef and Broccoli and when I make what my daughter calls “Veggie Dips” (which is just canned corn, canned green beans, canned carrot slices and canned sweet peas mixed together and eaten a top a toastada).
I think this would help in my house to remind variety along with quantity.
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My own kids aren’t too picky, but I am a grade six teacher and some of them are SO picky. I see a lot of food being traded or thrown away at lunch. We were looking for something on my blogger account and my students saw your post “Today I ate a rainbow” and were curious. We looked at the link and they got so excited! I know I could use this at home, but I could DEFINITELY use this at school. It fits right in with our Health curriculum, too.
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One of my tricks is smoothies! I put lot of good fruits and veggies in there and he drinks them right up!
My daughter has just recently decided to become a picky eater. The only think that I found she’ll eat without complaining is a “juice” that contains vegetables. This chart sounds like it could really help us.
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I’m HOPING something like this will help with the pickiness around my house! I’m right in the middle of the picky, tantrum-throwing, food-throwing stage with my little guy who’s 2-1/2. When he first started eating solids he LOVED veggies and would eat ANYTHING. Seriously. He would. Now? Not so much. I have no tips. I am at a total loss lol.
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I have the pickiest eater! She’s always been picky. I try to offer one thing at a time, it seems if I offer a variety at one sitting she gets overwhelmed and just pushes the bowls away from her (making my head POP OFF!). She has her favorites so I try something new every few days but make sure I have enough of the favorites around. I love this concept and she’s just at the age where she could understand and we could have fun with it together. I must admit I could use some help myself!
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my kids will eat most anything, but the thing is they like something one day and refuse to eat it the next time I serve it!
Fruit is not a problem but veggies sure are! This would help in my house, for sure! I just keep offering and hope they will eventually eat it but for now, I hide veggies in muffins, bread, pasta and juice!
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