Raising awareness amongst children: Het Groente & Fruit Lab

Raising awareness amongst children: Het Groente & Fruit Lab

Context

It is a well-known fact that children tend not to like eating vegetables. Belgium and the Netherlands are no exception to this rule.
This limited consumption can be explained by various factors: lack of knowledge about these foods, fear of new or pronounced tastes, an overly serious pedagogical approach, and textures that youngsters are not used to.

The aim of the “Het Groente & Fruit Lab” project is to teach children to appreciate and to eat more fruit and vegetables by increasing their knowledge of this food category. This project consisted in creating a fun website, using a language adapted to children aged between 4 and 12 years old. This tool is further proof of the Dutch government’s drive to fight the problem of obesity and to promote consumption of fruit and vegetables.
 

Resources

In the Benelux countries, Professor Louis Veggie, accompanied by his faithful dog Lou, has a mission to teach children about the nutritional value of vegetables, in a fun way.


Since 2008, there is also a website presenting Professor Veggie’s fruit and vegetable laboratory.
The site is full of tips and hints as well as serious and fun ‘good things to know’ about fruit and vegetables. It also proposes educational videos, drawings to colour in, and puzzles, as well as a ‘super-machine’ that informs children about the individual characteristics of certain fruit and vegetables.

This site can be used in two different ways: either children can explore it freely and click to see explanations or watch videos, or teachers can download educational kits available for various different age groups.
In the first year following its launch, an invitation was sent out to all the Dutch and Flemish schools to join the project. To encourage as many establishments as possible to get involved, the participating classes all received the educational kits proposed on the website.


                                    

Results

After sending out 10,000 e-mails, 15% of the schools took up the invitation.  

In total that represents over 39,000 educational kits distributed throughout the Netherlands and Belgium. The schools that replied earliest were offered the opportunity to see their pupils participate in cookery lessons specially designed for children.