My little girl, Hannah, loves blueberries. My son, on the other hand, not so much. With July being National Blueberry Month, I thought it would be fun to come up with as many blueberry-loving ideas as I could. After all, what’s not to love about this indigenous flowering plant? Here are 12 kid-friendly ideas for all things blueberry.

1. Blueberry Pickin’ Patch – Kids love anything hands-on. Look on the internet or visit your local Chamber of Commerce to find the nearest blueberry patches. Set a date, load the kids in the car and show them first-hand where to get this delicious fruit.

2. Blueberry Pancakes – It’s Sunday morning and your family is waking up to the smell of delicious blueberry pancakes sizzling on the griddle. If they want to help, drop the batter on the griddle and let your kiddos plop blueberries in the batter (with supervision, of course). This healthy, yummy breakfast will be sure to satisfy everyone’s appetites.

3. Teething Secret – Do you have a little one? A great tip for a teething tot is to freeze a container of blueberries and let her gnaw on them one at a time for instant relief.

4. Flavored Water – Add a little oomph to your water and throw in a couple of blueberries for more flavor.

5. Smoothies – Add fresh blueberries to your smoothie for added antioxidants or better yet, add frozen blueberries with or without ice to get that extra icy texture.

6. Rainbow Platter – Assemble a cute fruit tray and arrange different pieces of fruit by their colors to make a rainbow. Blueberries can be the blue ray in the rainbow and the kids will love that you’ve recreated something so cool!

7. Connect the Blueberries – Get a pint of blueberries and arrange them one-by-one on a piece of construction paper to create a shape (example: circle). Have your son eat the blueberries as he picks them up to draw a line where the blueberry was. When all of the blueberries are gone, your child has had a healthy snack and he’s learned how to create art out of something edible.

8. Growth – Plant a blueberry bush with your children. This will be a great way to teach them how to get their hands dirty while seeing the fruits of their labor for years to come.

9. Ice Cubes – Fill up your ice cube tray and let your daughter put one or two blueberries in each cubicle. Put them in the freezer and voila! Throw them in your next glass of water and now you have a pretty and yummy drink.

10. Jam – Who doesn’t love jam? Find an old family recipe or scope one out on the internet. Do most of the leg work, but let your kids get involved in the kitchen by having them measure out the blueberries to put in the pot for boiling down with sugar and water.

11. Road Race – Let your son line up blueberries on the floor or table to make ‘roads’ where his Matchbox cars can drive along. He’ll love the idea of building his own racetrack and you’ll love the extra time to get things done around the house!

12. Fun Facts – Let school-aged children get on the computer and see how many facts they can find about blueberries. This is a great way to teach them about taking something from the environment and picking it apart to learn all that they can.

Be sure to try some of these ideas for National Blueberry Month. Your kids will have a blast learning about all things blueberries, and you’ll feel good knowing that they’re eating a healthy and nutritious fruit.