Children are much more prone to dehydration than adults because their bodies don’t cool down as efficiently, so it’s essential to create good hydration habits from a young age. Good hydration helps with both mental and physical abilities – ensuring a fun day for all!
Some top tips include:
- Make drinking fun! Let’s face it, drinking water can be pretty boring, and while adding juice makes it taste better, do try to avoid it. Use drinking cups and bottles, fun straws or ice cube shapes that make a glass of water much less dull! Smoothies with lots of ice are also a great hit!
- Don’t wait for a child to tell you they’re thirsty! When they’re feeling thirsty, they’re already a little dehydrated – so offer drinks regularly around the clock. Even if a child refuses a whole cup, encourage a few sips before they go running off to continue their activities.
- Add fruit to water to make fun drinks: Children love chopped strawberries and ice in their drinks, they also love apple slices balanced on the rim of their cups like little mocktails. This is a fun way of encouraging drinking water.
- Make your own ice-pops: Use non-added sugar dilute, water and fruit to create some fun and fabulous hydrating lollies.
- Fruitastic hydration: Keeping hydrated doesn’t have to just mean drinking lots – many fruits and vegetables have a very high water content too! Offer fruit salads made with watermelon and strawberries, or offer snacks of celery and cucumbers and other watery fruits and vegetables.
