Activities to Teach Children About Food

Teaching children about food is an important step to healthy eating. While there are many activities available to teach children about healthy foods and making good eating choices, the first step toward healthy eating is learning the basics of food. Young children need to be taught what is edible and what is not and what different foods taste like. Making stone soup, planning a meal, and completing a taste test all allow children to learn about and discover food.

"Stone Soup"

• Read the folk story "Stone Soup" to your child, and talk about how the villagers all worked together to make a soup. After your discussion, create your own stone soup. Place a clean stone in a crock pot. Add four or five different cans of vegetables to the pot, as well as a cup of water or vegetable stock, and let the soup get hot. While the soup is cooking, talk to you child about whether or not the stone is edible, and explain that it is not food, so it should not be eaten. When the soup is warm, serve some to your child and remind her why you are not eating the stone.

Plan a Meal

• Use this activity to help your child discriminate between food and other objects. Gather an assortment of grocery store advertisements. Provide your child with a paper plate, scissors and glue. Explain that he gets to create a meal. Look through the advertisements together and find some foods that he likes. Explain that things like shampoo and toys are not food and should not be glued on the plate. Work together to create a plate full of yummy foods. Complete this activity with older children by having them create a balanced meal, including all the food groups.

Taste Test

• Allow your child to explore different food tastes by giving him a taste test. Gather a variety of foods such as a pickle for sour, a potato chip for salty, a jelly bean for sweet and dark chocolate for bitter. Have your child taste each food and try to identify if it tastes sweet, sour, salty or bitter. Discuss with your child that not all foods taste the same and that your taste buds help you decide the flavor of different foods.

"I Tried It" Chart

• Create an "I Tried It" chart to encourage your child to explore new foods. Every time your child samples a new food, let her add a sticker to the chart and write the food she sampled next to her sticker. Talk to her about whether she liked the food or not, and why she did or did not like it. This is a simple way to encourage your child to explore new foods. When the chart is full, reward your child for her food exploration with a prize or special time together.