PART VI_ The Howof Early Childhood Education—Guidance Siinee earned ah taper ines hang y elemeterenaee ne Faerrerarres In planning meals for young len, itis important to include a variety of healthy foods, take advantage of seasonal fruits and ‘vegetables, and keep foods tasty but simple. foods should be eaten more sparingly than others. The width of the ver: tical stripes notes that people should eat some categories of food, such as oils and meats, less than others. ‘The pyramid provides general guidelines for food choices and amounts in relation to children of different ages. These guidelines cau. tion, however, that nutritional needs vary according to individual fac- tors and that more active children, for instance, need a higher intake of calories because they burn off more calories through their play. Visit wurw.MyPyramid.gov for general expectations and serving amounts for preschool and young primary children. Minimum daily nutritional requirements have been established for the nutrients that children of different ages need for growth, health, and well-being. Nutrients include proteins, fats, specific vitamins, and specific minerals (Figure 14-2). Using this information, you can pro carefully thought-out meals that meet all of these nutritional needs. Providing Nutritious Meals That Children Will Eat Icis challenging to meet children’s nutritional needs, not only in terms of including the needed nutrients in their diets but also because chil- dren often are picky eaters. Let's look at some guidelines that can be helpful for providing nutritious foods that children will eat. Provide variety. A long-range menu (for instance, for a month, ata time) can help ensure that children are not repeatedly be- ing offered the same food items. One useful tool that ensures variety but helps avoid the need for constant meal planning is. a cycle menu. Each cycle contains a set of three to four weekly menus for a particular season, and these menus can be repeated for a three-month period. ‘Take advantage of fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables. Children enjoy watermelon in the summer or grapes in the fall, when these foods are available and inexpensive. Fruit, as part of a snack or as dessert, will provide some important nutrients in children's diets. Similarly fresh vegetables can add enjoy ‘ment as well as a learning experience. Not all children have had the chance to see that peas do not grow in freezer packages oF cans but come in pods! Offer simple foods. Most young children prefer unmixed foods: thus, noodles, hamburger, and broccoli as three separate dishes are preferable to a beef-noodle-broccoli casserole. Generally, young children are suspicious of foods that are not readily rec- ognizable. Introduce children to new foods carefully. Children often reject foods they are not familiar with, so plan with care when ‘you present something new. In fact, young children do not readily accept new foods unless they are sweet (Ventura, Johit= son, & Birch, 2009). 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Because these were not healthy choices, | provided a list of healthy snacks for parents to bring. One day a mom brought 2 big tray of fresh veg etables (cartots, celery, broccoli, and ranch dressing). The children were not pleased to see that snack, and they cer- tainly made their opinions known: "Yuck, that is a disgusting snack!” “1am not going to eat that!” "Iddon't like vegetables!" So | came up with a weekly plan. | thought it was a great opportunity for me to teach healthy eating habits to the children. | started my plan the first week by making a vegetable soup with the children. | asked the children to bring one or two vegetables from home. Their activity was to wash, cut, and pour the vegetables into the pot 0 we could make the vegetable soup. At the end of the day, all ofthe children had eaten a bowl oftheir soup and \Were very interested in making it again. They sai the best part of it was the cuttitg of the vegetables! That whole week the children explored fresh vegetables in many dif- ferent ways. They played with vegetables in the sensory bin, they used carrots, potatoes, and celery to paint with at the easel, and they played with the vegetables in the dramatic play area. They also drew and wrote stories about the vegetables at the writing table, and at the math cen- ter they sorted them and counted ther. In addition, they grew carrots from seeds in the classroom. While we were doing activities with the vegetables we were also reading books about how vegetables and fruits help get you strong and healthy. realized from the soup project that when the children themselves handle the preparation and cooking of ood, they are more likely to eat what they have cooked, The following week | started using fruits to teach ‘about healthy habits, Each child brought frit from home. ‘They prepared everything and made fruit salad. They also squeezed oranges in the sensory bin and painted with apples, oranges, arenes, and pears. They made graph showing which fruit was their favorite. They drew fruits and vegetables and dictated stories inspired from their drawings. They recognized letters in the song "Like to Eat Apples and Bananas,” and loved singing it over and over The “fruit and soup” projects were successful be cause they helped reverse the children’s negative atti- tudes toward fruits and vegetables, which means that now the children will allow themselves to be more ex: posed to those foods. And the more exposed children are to fruits and vegetables, the more likely they will be to try them. j | also helped the parents learn about healthier eat- ing habits by inviting them to a nutrition workshop tha | put together. In the workshop, we talked about t food pyramid for children and adults. | also explained the importance of eating different kinds of fruits and ‘vegetables daily to get the right nutrients for a health) diet. As an illustration, | provided fruits and vegetable for snacks at the workshop. | explained that children need smaller portions of food and more meals a d in order for their metabolism to stay healthy. | al discussed the fact that eating healthy snacks is Vel important for the healthy development of your boty and mind. At the workshop | showed the video, “Ful with Fruits and Vegetables.” After the video, | gave the parents a take-home activity to do with their chlden! to prepare one of the fun recipes shown in the video Now, we have healthy snacks in our classroom eve! day. 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