Incorporating nutrition education into the school curriculum acts as an important way to reinforce the importance of eating healthy foods. By using fruits and vegetables as examples in a classroom setting gets children more comfortable with foods they may have never tried. The Let’s Move campaign has several suggestions on their website on how to bring nutrition into the classroom. For young children they suggest using fruits and vegetable to serve as examples when learning colors. As children get older they can learn what calories are in science class and how those convert into energy in the body. Science classes can also focus on the nutritional value of foods.
Hands on activities with healthy foods encourages the students to pick the same foods out in the grocery store. To learn more about the Farm to School Program, an example of hands on healthy food education, click here. To see more on how nutrition education can impact society as a whole click here.
For More Information:
Let’s Move Curriculum Suggestions
Nutrition Education in Schools: Experiences and Challenges