Early experiences with food have a strong impact on the future
eating habits and health of young children, and the best time
to teach good dietary habits is during the early years.
Poor diet has been associated with the development of many of
the chronic diseases in the United States, including heart disease,
high blood pressure, and diabetes. The food "pyramid"
released by the Department of Agriculture in 1992, suggests
that a healthy diet is one that includes multiple servings of
various grains, fruits, and vegetables per day, and limiting
the intake of saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and sugar.
To learn about nutrition, children should be involved with actual
food--not simply answer questions in workbooks or sing songs
about vegetables. Hands-on nutrition activities help children
develop healthy eating habits and can complement other learning,
for example math, science, language, social development, cooperation,
and respect for culture.
Following are some suggestions for promoting healthy eating
in young children:
More than graham crackers
Help build self-esteem and teach good eating habits by allowing
children to plan, prepare, and serve simple nutritional snacks.
For example, create smiling faces using rice cakes and cheese,
or make frozen banana sticks or applesauce. Introduce new foods
in small portions to encourage children to taste their creations.
Integrate learning activities
Use seed catalogs and real vegetables to examine the edible
parts of various plants, or conduct a taste-test on a variety
of raw and cooked vegetables. Children can then discuss the
nutritional value of each vegetable. Children can also work
together to make vegetable soup and create labels for their
own soup cans.
Learn about different cultures
Choose the cultural heritage of one or more children as a theme
for a day’s meals and snacks. Discuss at mealtimes how
factors such as climate help shape food habits.
Foster creativity
Under adult supervision, young children can bake their own whole
grain breads. Make it fun by shaping the dough into different
animal shapes.
Visit a local farm or farmers’ market
This type of outing will put children in touch with local surroundings
and create an awareness of how food is grown and sold in places
other than a supermarket.
Seeing is believing
Replace some of the unhealthier plastic foods in toy kitchens
with replicas of fruits and vegetables, loaves of bread, and
wedges of cheese. Better yet, replace the unhealthy foods in
your real refrigerator with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Lessons about healthy foods will "stick" more when
you eat healthy too!
Parents, caregivers, and teachers should work together to establish
a mutual understanding of how best to meet each child’s
individual nutritional needs. Teaching children to eat wisely
and moderately is an investment in the future, and establishing
healthy eating habits in the early years is not only important,
but can also be fun.
Reproduced
with permission from the National Association for the Education
of Young Children
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