This Simple Hack Will Have Your Toddler Reaching for Fruits & Veggies

If you’re struggling to get your toddler to branch out beyond nuggets and mac and cheese, you aren’t alone. As little ones grow and change, it’s easy for their taste buds to get caught up on their favorites and a disdain to form for the unfamiliar. The trick to fostering an enjoyment for fruits, veggies and more can be as simple as associating the food with something familiar and fun.

In a now viral post, nutritionist and dad Levi Jensen shared an easy hack for getting his daughter to make some healthy snack choices—a few well-placed character stickers. In the video, Jensen is shown placing an Elsa and Anna sticker on a bell pepper, Winnie the Pooh on a banana, the Little Mermaid on a cucumber and more. The result of this quick addition turned out to be pretty dramatic, with his daughter going straight for Elsa, or the bell pepper in this case.

“Did you know that putting characters on food products drastically influences a child’s taste preferences and snack selection,” Jensen noted, citing a Journal of Pediatrics study. In the study, researchers found that children significantly preferred the taste of foods that had popular cartoon characters on the packaging, compared with the same foods without characters, with the majority of children selecting the food sample with a licensed character on it for their snack.

From Paw Patrol Eggos to character Happy Meals, the industry has profited from branding with beloved characters for years. While the study showed the association was weaker for carrots than for gummy fruit snacks and graham crackers, the character placement still packs a punch. Plus, as one mom noted in the comments, it’s a great use for all those stickers sitting around the house!

“Not even joking, I put Elsa stickers on the yogurts they didn’t want and all of a sudden my kids wanted them,” added one parent in the comments. “That’s why they made it illegal to sell food with (popular) cartoons in the Netherlands,” added another user.

And the positive reinforcement possibilities don’t just stop with veggies. “This is how I taught my eldest to go potty, to wear winter clothes and what not back in 2016-17. Toddlers are logical in most illogical ways,” wrote one mom. “I will test that with my husband. I’m going to print Die Hard and put it on broccoli,” joked one user.

If all the hacks and tricks still won’t convince your toddler to branch out to new foods consider these tips from pediatric feeding specialists and registered dietitians on how to deal with picky eaters.