The aim is to encourage children to eat a healthy diet, to exercise and feel good. Since 2001 more than 850,000 year 2 and year 5 students have taken part in “Buddy with your Body”. The class gets to visit the fruit and vegetable section of an ICA store, where they are invited to taste fruit and vegetables during a fun, colourful lesson. The teaching material is published on ICA.se, and since 2011 it has also covered environmental and climate perspectives for students in year 5. The material includes experiments and exercises, teaching notes linked to the curriculum, classroom posters and information for parents. A similar project in the Baltic countries, “Supervaikai”, is teaching children the importance of eating right and exercising.

Another activity for children aged 3–12 is the “Paprica Club”, promoted at all Swedish ICA Kvantum stores. Its aim is to get kids interested in fruit and vegetables, and keen to eat them. The children get a specially produced magazine with fruit and vegetable ideas and are treated to fruit in the stores. In 2013 the “Paprica Club” also launched an app with recipes and games linked to fruit and vegetables.

Rimi Baltic in Estonia has the health programme “For your health”, which was started in 2012. One element of the programme is “Vitamin Trips” for children in Rimi stores, during which preschool children and schoolchildren have an hour-long study visit to a fruit and vegetable section. More than 2,000 children have already enjoyed “Vitamin Trips”.

In Latvia, Rimi Baltic has been working for some years with special health chef Normunds Baranovskis on the “Aikāgaršo” health project, which aims to increase understanding of a balanced diet and better eating habits. This includes visits to schools, meeting students from years 3 to 8 and teaching them how to prepare healthy food.  All the students’ recipes have also been published in a digital cookbook on Rimi’s website. In Lithuania, Rimi Baltic has the “Superkids” initiative. Its work includes encouraging parents to involve their children in cooking.