Most of us housewives have pretty good knowledge of how to make tasty and healthy desserts from fruits and berries. That said, you can add to your recipe books with a wealth of unique and trusty recipes if you visit the site "Kind Fairytales" and have a flick through Vol. One "Fruits and Berries" from "The Fairytale Guide to Healthiness", Why not try out some of the more unusual recipes with your children, like "Apples in their jackets," or "Banana icicles" and let them actively participate in the preparation. Even if the kids are not very fond of apples or cherries, we can assure you they will gladly come to assist their mothers to cook these delicious meals!

It's birthday time for the apples, pears, bananas....

This game works best if you get an invitation together the night before. It can be homemade or bought but you must invite your child to the birthday party of any fruit that you happen to have in your larder. Your child will be amazed and excited at the fact that they have received the invite. Once you have given them the invitation, sit down with them and discuss what present they would like to take with them to the party. The present can be a basket of fruit for example or some kind of doily on which they can draw a picture of the 'birthday boy/girl'. If not, they could just draw a portrait and put it in a nice frame. Bear in mind that you will need to speak for the birthday boy/girl though! Create a scene where you greet the guests and place the presents on a beautiful celebratory table. Allow your child to mingle with the guests, and ask questions etc. Never refuse your children when they ask you to peel frui for them! You should never offend the birthday person!

The Apple, Plum, Pear, Berries.... Beauty Contest

This contest is better played at the harvest time of berries or fruit. Ask your child to sort through the fruits, so that they can make strawberry jam for example. Then ask them to choose the fruit that they think is the most beautiful. The berries can be arranged on different plates or in vases. You won't be able to resist popping the nicest ones in your mouth! After you have finished sorting them out, invite all the family to the 'berry beauty contest.' Announce that the beauty queen and her friends (carefully selected by the jury) will be frozen and then invited to the New Year party. The rest of the berries should be eaten with the applaus of everybody. Make sure that a pair of berries is left behind after the contest. The aim will be to eat these for at the end for an extra vitamin 'pick me up'.

Fruit Portraits

All children love to paint so why not get your child to open up an art studio in his/her room? You can prepare a beautiful scene from which the 'famous young artist' can paint portraits of fruits and berries. Get them to wear an artist's gown and give them a palette of paints to hold. Then offer them paintbrushes, pens and pencils so as to create the perfect 'artistic' atmosphere. Invite all the fruits along to the 'sitting' in your home. Each painting can be done on a separate sheet of canvas and don't forget to get your child to place their signature on the bottom of each one! In between each sitting you must refresh yourselves by tasting some of the fruit and berries whose portraits you find the best... or the worst. If your child gets fed up with painting you could just get them to draw a group portrait or a still life. The main thing is that your child is engaged in the activity and is enthusiastic about eating the apples, pears etc...

Vitamin Doctor

Right, so after you have your portraits of the fruits and berries, you can acquaint your child with their health benefits. If you don't have any diagrams, you could ask for a picture card from a gardener or fruit grower. You can then prepare the game involving the 'fruit doctor.' On the back of each card you can write the health benefits of the fruit. You can look up the benefits in any medical guide on general health. When you have prepared everything, sit your child down with their puppets, toy mice, rabbits etc. and take them on a journey to the country of vitamins and tasty cures. You can be the tour guide. Show them the drawing cards and then read the advice on the back. You could pretend that one of the toys has an illness and then show them how to cure it. To finish the tour, you can sample the vitamins in the form of a juice or fresh fruit of berries.

Tasty Arithmetic

This is a very simple but worthwhile game as it teaches your child to count using not sticks or balls but rather fruits and berries. With these you can demonstrate a range of arithmetic activities. Cut the apples up into segments and count them. Once you have eaten the apple segments add some berries to a plate and increase the number of them so that you have several plates. You can have great fun with cherries or raisins! After the lesson you can taste the tasty arithmetic!