Getting kids involved in growing their own vegetables is a great way to encourage their interest in eating them.

You can get them going with something really easy, such as growing mustard and cress on an old flannel.

Mustard and cress
Start by finding a suitable container – you could just use a saucer. Cut flannel to size and soak in cold water, before placing in/on the container. Sprinkle on the mustard and cress seeds and place on a sunny windowsill where your children can see it and check progress day by day. If possible, get them to sow the mustard and cress seeds separately, in two halves or even two containers so they can compare the tastes.

Water every day or so, to avoid the flannel drying out. After a few days you should have a decent crop. Next is the fun of harvesting the crop – cut what you need with scissors, leaving some remaining for later.

You’ll be very hard pressed to find a child who won’t want to eat their produce – try egg and cress sandwiches as well as adding as a garnish to just about all/any meals.

Pips and seeds
Having grabbed their interest with mustard and cress, you could try reinforcing the link between what your children are eating and what they’re growing.

Encourage the kids to look out for seeds in the foods they’re eating (e.g. tomatoes, cucumber, sweet corn, apples, grapes and peas from the pod) – as well as showing them the seeds that get removed during preparation (e.g. peppers). Raid the spice rack! Coriander seed, sesame seeds, mustard seed and fenugreek seeds can all be germinated, as long as they're not too old.

Simply place seeds on saucer and cover with water. They can watch to see which seeds actually start germinating and compare shoots and speed of growth. Germinated seeds can then be planted out in the garden or in pots indoors. This is a fantastic way to get them taking an interest in eating fruit and vegetables as they look out for seeds from their food to ‘plant’.