Teaching Children about Nutrition

Teaching children about nutrition will be an important responsibility for you as a child care professional. Proper nutrition is needed for children's health, growth, and development. Behavior and learning ability is related to nutrition. Some studies suggest that young children who have learned healthful food choices may experience lifelong health benefits. Nutrition is the most important part of a well-planned menu. However, many other factors also contribute to a well-planned menu. For instance, scale serving sizes to the children's appetites. Children manage best with small servings. Their appetites often vary from day to day.

Children will eat more if the food appeals to them. Variety, texture, flavor, color, form, temperature, and food preferences all affect how much a child enjoys a meal. Children like variety. A meal with all the same texture or color could be boring for children. Children also enjoy trying new foods. A new food should be added with a meal of familiar and well-liked foods. This is because children may be overwhelmed if given too many new foods at once.

Eat a Rainbow: red strawberries, green spinach, blue berries, yellow pepper, orange carrots, purple grapes

Wrap it up: Use lettuce leaves or a piece of sliced roast beef to wrap brown rice, diced chicken, low fat cheese and veggies

Mini Pizza: Use whole wheat English muffins as a crust and add sauce, low fat cheese, veggies and chopped meat

Use skewers or straws and load them with fruits or veggies. Add a healthy sauce for dipping like Greek yogurt with honey for fruit or hummus for vegetables

Make a checkerboard sandwich using two different breads, cut into squares and flip over so two alternate breads are shown

Be creative and healthy. Let kids get involved and model good choices.

Related Training:
Nutrition: Curriculum Development Tools (.1 CEU/1 Hour)
A Basic Approach to Feeding and Care - 2 hours
Express Nutrition Package - Healthy Choices (2 hours / .2 CEU)
Portions Healthy Choices on the Go (2 hours / .2 CEU)