How to Make Healthy Eating Fun For Children
Nutrition plays a vital role in the overall development of your child.
Your child should eat a varied diet not only to grow strong but also for proper brain development.
However, children can be quite picky when it comes to eating healthy. As parents, it may often be a daily challenge to get children to eat vegetables!
The secret is to make healthy eating a fun process and involve your child in the kitchen. Here are a few ways you can try to encourage your kids to eat healthily.
Welcome Your Kids in the Kitchen
Children are more likely to eat what they cook. Even at young ages, encourage your child to help you with cooking. You can get a chair and let them look over while you cook.
Chances are, your children will get inquisitive and start taking an interest in what they eat. Therefore, getting your child to wash the broccoli might actually interest them in eating it!
Share Fun Healthy Eating Facts
Children are more likely to listen to us when we tell them the reasons. So, explain the benefits of eating vegetables. You can also introduce your kids to healthy eating choices and explain why they are better than other processed foods.
You can show your kids videos on healthy eating and even inspire them with cartoons about healthy eating! Cocomelon has some great healthy eating and growing foods videos. Or show them the joy of growing food in your own garden!
Involve Them in Decision Making
Consider letting children decide sometimes what healthy meals they want to have for dinner. You can ask them to choose one side dish instead of planning the whole menu if they are young. Or, when you take your child to the grocery store, let them pick the fruits and vegetables they want. Explain which vegetables help them grow strong like their favorite superheroes!
Make Healthy Eating Fun
Go creative and think of fun ways to help your child eat healthily. For example, you can print a blank food pyramid and let your child write or draw the foods they ate over the week.
The bottom of the pyramid can have fruits and veggies, the middle one can have grains and legumes, and sweets can go on the top.
Think of more projects to make nutrition fun. Try the awesome MyPlate Pledge! Or click here to get more ideas.
Healthy Food Leads to Healthy Minds
At Ivy Kids, we consider nutrition an essential part of early childhood development. We have implemented our BrainBites nutrition program across our schools to ensure optimum development for every child. Ivy Kids students enjoy delicious lunches and snacks that are based on a catalog of recipes that focus on supporting brain development and healthy eating habits! We also focus on recipes that provide the nutrition your child needs. We choose whole grains over refined foods, fresh fruits instead of canned ones, and freshly prepared meals to eliminate preservatives.
Check out one of our latest yummy tasty recipes below!
Would you like to tour and sample Ivy Kids delicious meals and snacks? Contact us to learn more about Ivy Kids BrainBites Nutrition Program and to schedule a tour today!
