Scientists at Wageningen University are inviting parents to team up with children’s favourite Miffy to get their children to eat their fruit and veg – and learn their colours at the same time.

The idea is to give children a Miffy sticker in the colour of the fruit or vegetable they have eaten to stick on a sheet, so they are stimulated to eat more, and more varied food – as part of a scientific experiment.

As a bonus, the scientists say, the children are learning the colours of the rainbow at the same time.

Some 95% of children between 4 and 11 are eating less than half the recommended portions of fruit and veg at a period in their lives when healthy eating habits determine much of what will happen later on.

“How children eat when they are little determines their eating patterns when they have grown up,“ researcher Zoë van der Heijden told RTL Nieuws. “Healthy eating habits will prevent child obesity and problems associated with it at a later age,” she said.

The approach is based on other scientific methods which promote a playful way of acquainting small children with a range of fruits and vegetables. “It works to offer food repeatedly,” Van der Heijden said. “It teaches children that to eat is pleasurable and safe, ” she said.

Compared to children between one and three, children between the ages of four to eight are more affected by food neophobia or a fear of eating new things.

Some 12% of Dutch children between two and twelve are overweight and 3% are obese.

The Wageningen scientists not only want to know if Miffy will make children more likely to eat their fruit and veg but also what parents think. “Which factors are having a positive or a negative effect? We can use that to devise new interventions,” Van der Heijden said.

The method doesn’t set any hard and fast rules for parents regarding which fruit or vegetables they should offer their children. “They must do whatever works for their family. Our website has tips but we are more curious about what parents themselves come up with,“ Van der Heijden said.