Last updated: 25-09-2025. From web page: ###Food and nutrition curriculum support.

Ideas for fruit messaging

For 3-4 year olds

Introduction

I would avoid going into too much about scientific names of particular antioxidants, and also avoid highlighting particular health claims or one fruit over another. The key with messaging around fruit (and vegetables) is to focus on getting a good variety into the diet. One way to do this is to think about getting lots of different colours into the diet (you may have heard of ‘eat a rainbow’; whilst this isn’t a public health message, the concept can help people to think about variety, and is also an easy way for children to remember to eat more fruit).

My advice would be for each week, rather than focussing on the specific fruit and any specific benefits that fruit confers, to include:

A) One message about why fruit in general is good for us

One for each week from the following (I’ve added an adult message and the same message in child-friendly language):

Adult message	Child message	Activity ideas
We should eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables each day	5 pieces of fruit and vegetables each day helps keep us healthy	Use fruit (real / pretend / laminated print outs) and get children to pick different fruits and sort into when they might like to include these at meals and snack times Choose 5 fruits to stick to a piece of paper showing their favourites Stick pictures of fruit to a rainbow Books, e.g. Oliver’s Fruit Salad; Handa’s Surprise
Fruits and vegetables contain fibre which helps keep our digestive system healthy, and reduce risk of constipation	Fruit is a great source of fibre and helps us poo	Make digestive tract illustration using a polythene sheet made into a tube. Get children to put squeezed fruits in one end to illustrate the mouth, and then squeeze them through to the other end. (You could also use a large piping bag or pair of tights with actual unsqueezed fruits)
Fruits are great for snacking because they are low in calories and only contain natural sugar	Fruits are really healthy snack	Talk about favourite fruits to snack on
Fruits contain a range of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants which help protect against diseases like cancer and heart disease	Fruits contains lots of vitamins and minerals, which help protect against getting poorly when we’re older	Make fruit stamps in the shape of hearts and bones (using cookie cutters), and do some fruit stamping with red and white paint to illustrate healthy hearts and healthy bones
Fruits contains lots of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants which help reduce inflammation and support our immune system	Fruits contains lots of vitamins and minerals, which help protect us from illnesses like colds	Talk about the different illnesses children commonly get – e.g. coughs and colds, and that fruits can have magic powers to help us not to get ill as often or to recover quicker. Craft activity to make / design / colour-in super power fruits
Fruit is an excellent source of fluid, which helps contribute to keeping us hydrated	Fruit contains lots of water, so helps keep us hydrated	Demonstrate how much fluid you can squeeze out of fruit, but squeezing it using a piece of muslin or thin tea towel. Kiwi would work well for this, as it’s particularly juicy

B) Highlighting one message about the colour of this fruit and picking out a part of the body this helps keep healthy

Key message is still in terms of eating a variety – pick one for each week from the following (you have a couple of yellow fruit, so added extra options). Again, I’ve added an adult message and the same message in child-friendly language:

Colour	Part of the body	Adult message	Child message	Activity ideas
Red (pomegranate)	Heart	Red fruits contain antioxidants such as ellagic acid which may help protect against heart disease and has been reported to help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol	Helps keep our hearts healthy	Cut out some heart shapes from card. Use pre-dried pomegranate seeds (can dry out in an air-fryer) to stick onto the heart shapes Talk about why our hearts are important and what their function is
Orange (papaya)	Eyes – daytime vision	Orange fruits contain nutrients including lutein and beta-carotene, which help keep our vision healthy	A really good source of vitamin A which helps us to see more clearly	Talk about why we need our eyes Eye spy game Simple scavenger hunt
Yellow (pineapple)	Eyes – seeing in the dark	Yellow fruits also contain beta-carotene, which is a form of vitamin A, which helps our body make the hormones it needs to work well.	A really good source of vitamin A which helps us to see in the dark	Talk about why we need to be able to see in the dark Activity adding googly eyes to card people, and sticking to dark card / paper background to demonstrate seeing in the dark
Yellow (mango)	Skin	Yellow fruits contain lots of vitamin C and beta-carotene, a form of vitamin A, which helps us keep our skin healthy	Fruit can help us have healthy skin	Talk about what skin does and why we need our skin Use the skin on our hands to touch the different parts of the mango (skin, flesh and seed) and discuss what it feels like
Green (kiwi)	Bones	Contains vitamins and minerals, like vitamin K which help keep our bones strong.	Helps our bones stay healthy	Talk about why we need our bones. What would happen if we didn’t have bones or a skeleton? Fruit stamping onto printed skeletons or bones using sliced kiwis and green paint
Purple (passion fruit)	Brain	Purple fruits are purple because they contain anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant, that has many health benefits, including keeping the brain healthy	Fruit can help keep our brains healthy	Talk about what we need our brains for, e.g. making decisions, feeling emotions, memory, controlling our bodies Memory game (kim’s game) to demonstrate the importance of memory What fruit did you eat yesterday? (to demonstrate memory recall)

Ideas for card / handout to share with parents / carers

Key messages can be added from above, once decided which week is which. You may want to also include some of the discussion questions from the activity ideas. I’ve also added any additional messages that are useful / relevant

Fruit	Additional messages	Recipe ideas	Continuing the conversation – questions to discuss with child*
Pineapple	Tinned fruits are just as good as fresh. Tinned pineapple in natural juice is a great way to include more pineapple in your diet	Cheese and pineapple cubes on sticks Add pineapple to stir fry	What does the outside of a pineapple feel like and why is it spiky? Start a sticker chart to count how many fruit portions you and your child eat across a day
Mango	Dried fruits also count towards your 5-a-day, but should only be included at a mealtime. Dried mango is a great option for packed lunches.	Add fresh mango in a chicken curry	Why does a mango have a large seed? Start a sticker chart to count how many fruit portions you and your child eat across a day
Passion fruit	-	Add passion fruit to scotch pancake mixture or to make breakfast muffins.	What does a passion fruit look like inside, and what does the inside feel like in your mouth? Does it remind you of jelly? Start a sticker chart to count how many fruit portions you and your child eat across a day
Kiwi	We often forget to add fruit in at breakfast time. Why try adding some chopped fruit into porridge or weatabix? Kiwi fruit would work well for this	Make ‘kiwi wraps’ for lunch. Spread 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and 1 tablespoon of cream cheese onto a wholemeal tortilla wrap, and add ½ kiwi, (thinly-sliced). Roll up and enjoy	What does a kiwi fruit feel like and why does it feel this way? Start a sticker chart to count how many fruit portions you and your child eat across a day
Pomegranate	-	Add pomegranate seeds into a side salad Add pomegranates into yoghurt	Why do pomegranates have so many seeds? Start a sticker chart to count how many fruit portions you and your child eat across a day
Papaya	-	Make ‘papaya boats’: Slice papaya lengthways into a wedge shape, scoop out the seeds and add yoghurt and other small fruits (like berries) to decorate. Children can even add a sail by decorating a piece of paper and attaching it to a cocktail stick	What words would you use to describe what papaya feels like when you eat it? It is soft like butter? Sweet and juicy like melon? Start a sticker chart to count how many fruit portions you and your child eat across a day

* Continuing the conversation – questions to discuss with child: have suggested one question about the look / feel of the fruit, one about exploring the health message, one about the colour message, and a generic one each week about sticker chart