Nutrition Education for Children

Children can start learning about good nutrition at an early age both from caregivers (parents or guardians) and teachers. Caregivers can make nutritional education part of family meal planning. Teachers can incorporate nutritional information into just about any subject, and begin giving children a good understanding of proper nutrition during their lower elementary-school years.

Keep It Simple

• Don't make it too complicated. Children don't need overly detailed nutritional education. However, caregivers and teachers can expose children to the basics of nutrition, such as the basic food groups, the recommended servings of those groups daily, and the relationship between calories consumed versus calories expended each day.

Use Visual Aids and Manipulatives

• Many children learn better visually than through auditory means only. Caregivers and teachers can talk to children about portion sizes using visual examples. For example, they could say that a serving of grains should be about the size of hockey puck, and a serving of cheese about the size of two dominoes. Visualizations like these help kids to understand proper portion sizes. Caregivers and teachers can download a food pyramid from the USDA's MyPyramid.gov website to use as a reference in talking about recommended daily servings of each food group. MyPyramid.gov also has many fun worksheets and activities, including an interactive game for children.

Get Children Involved

• Even young children can think about menus and meal planning. Caregivers or teachers can give young children various pictures of food items and allow them to create nutritious meals based on what they've learned. Older children can design restaurant-style menus or family meal planners each week. Also, caregivers can let children help make a weekly grocery list based on the nutritional guidelines that appear on the food pyramid, and let them help with shopping as well.