Building Healthy Preschoolers to Last a Lifetime

When healthy eating habits are started at a young age, they habits are much more likely to stick. Preschoolers can be picky eaters but with some encouragement and dedication from teachers, they can be taught to love healthy food. One of the difficulties that can hinder this process is parents that aren't cooperative or simply aren't aware of the importance of a healthy diet. Many parents aren't receptive to being told how to feed their children as it often comes off as saying that the teacher and school knows what's best for the child rather than the parent. Subtlety is key when getting parents involved and encouraging them to send healthy foods to school with their children.

Trying New Foods
With parent's permission, have a "New Food Day" at school and provide the kids with a healthy snack that they may have never tried before. Kids often have fun trying odd looking foods that they may not have access to at home. Some fun options could be baby bananas, purple cauliflower, kiwi fruit, and others.

Get the Parents Involved
Parents can also be encouraged to participate by having their child bring a healthy snack to share if this is permissible at the school. Before the activity begins, teachers can send home a sheet or provide the parents with an email about food suggestions. It's best to do this in a friendly way that sounds like you're making suggestions, rather than telling them what foods they should be feeding their kids. Simply tell the parents that you're starting a fun program to introduce healthy foods while teaching the kids how they help little bodies grow properly.

Coloring Activities
On each healthy food day, the kids can be given a coloring or activity sheet about the new food they tried. It could have a short sentence about the food and how it helps their body. The coloring sheet is quick way that parents can see what the child has been doing at school, while subtlety telling them how it's beneficial.

Food choices can be personal. The key to getting parents on board with a healthy eating plan is gentle encouragement. Make sure it sounds like you're doing it for fun and they're more likely to participate willingly and hopefully implement some new food ideas at home.

preschool curriculum | teaching preschool | curriculum for preschoolers