Eat it!

About four years ago we implemented a fruit and vegetable only snack for the early learning center at my school. As leadership I often field questions from parents regarding our program and I have heard it every year, "That snack just won't work for my kid. They just refuse to eat fruits and vegetables."
A few weeks later I get, "How did you do it? What's your secret? How do you get them to eat fruits and vegetables?!?"

My top 5 Resources for helping kids to make good food choices

1. BrainPOP: Movies, quizzes, games and more

I discovered Moby and Annie waaaaay back in 1999 when I was working in Korea and fell in love. It's a great company FULL of cool resources, lesson plans and more!
Plus the kids look up to Moby and Annie. True.
Click on the images to get started today!

BrainPOP is for big kids too! Click on the image to get you started for your older learners to discover how they can stay healthy and fit by having proper nutrition.

Follow on Twitter
@katyamuses
@mr_isaacs
@mikewatanabe
@agardnahh
@karistubbs
@timandmoby
@AnnieAndMoby

2. Meatless Monday: Recipes, community, videos & Campaigns

Click on the image to get started today!

Follow on Twitter
@MeatlessMonday
@KidsCookMonday

Meatless Monday began in 2003, launched in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In May, 2009, Ghent, Belgium, became the first non-U.S. city to go meatless.

Now schools everywhere are signing pledges to help the Earth and go meat free one day a week!

Meatless Monday is now active in 34 countries and growing because every nation can bring its unique culture, customs and cuisine to the table in meat free and vegetarian dishes.  See the Global Meatless Monday map on Pinterest.

3. Open-Minded: A book that investigates kids taking action

A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change." -United Nations (SOURCE)

If you are thinking: "Hogwash!" Then let Mark and Sarah take you and your children on a journey!

Mark eats meat. Sarah does not. This sounds like the perfect recipe for a disaster! Can Mark and Sarah learn to be more open-minded and overcome their differences or will their different perspectives destroy their friendship?

Kids inherently feel connected to others. This book helps them discover the impact of their choices.

Click on the image to buy it on Amazon.

4. Top Marks: Interactive white board games

Sort the foods on the plate to see which food groups they belong to. Click on the image to play!

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/interactive.aspx?cat=62 Get all the games here.

Select items for a healthy lunchbox by dragging and dropping the various foods. Click on the image to play!

5. Nutrition Explorations: Online games

Little D's Nutrition Expedition® nutrition program is designed for lower elementary students.  To identify and classify foods into the Five Food Groups and identify the health benefit of each food group. Click on the image to play!

Arianna's Nutrition Expedition™ nutrition program is designed for upper elementary students. To identify and classify foods into the Five Food Groups, create nutritious Combination Foods and identify the health benefit of each food group. Click on the image to play!

http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/kids.php Get all the games here.

BONUS!!

But WHY do we need to eat right? To keep our bodies healthy, of course. But what is IN our bodies? Click on the image and find out!

Meet The Organs! from Sean Bokenkamp on Vimeo.

So there is no real secret for getting kids to eat healthy. I model healthy eating habits and talk about when I have made bad choices.  I provide a variety of fruits and veggies each day, teach the kids why it is important to eat that pesky tomato, tell them I love them and want them to be healthy, and more often than not, with persistence and consistency they eat it.
And the funny thing is...
they like it.

Good luck!
Tosca Killoran