Make great nutrition experiences for young children as easy as ABC.
- Barbara J. Mayfield, MS, RDN, LD, FAND
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Would you like to create food and nutrition experiences that young children love and are fun to teach? You can. Try the simple formula I created more than 30 years ago. It’s as easy as ABC.
Begin your “lesson” with A – assessment and anticipation, follow with B – building blocks for learning, and end with C – closing and commitment. Let’s look at each one in detail.
A = Assessment and Anticipation
In a few short minutes, you want to create interest and enthusiasm, set the stage for what you’re going to be doing together, and find out what the children already know. Your “assessment” is not a formal pretest, but rather a fun method to determine how knowledgeable the children are about the subject of the lesson.
How? Create a Wonder Box using a shoe box covered with foil or colorful wrapping paper and fun stickers. Inside the box, place items related to the topic. For example, if you’re exploring new foods, hide those foods inside the box. If you’ll be cooking, hide kitchen utensils inside. If brushing teeth is the topic, hide a toothbrush and toothpaste.
Build anticipation by whispering and making your eyes wide when you ask them to guess what’s inside the box, “I wonder what’s inside the box today?” Pull out an item with flourish and ask if someone knows what it is or what it’s used for.
Close with a brief introduction to the topic and what you’ll be doing. Children are more comfortable and ready to learn when they know what to expect.
B = Building Blocks for Learning
The “lesson” consists of several activities that involve concrete, active learning. Select those that fit the time available, the children’s developmental readiness, and your learning objectives.
For example, a lesson could include a discovery activity, a play activity, a food activity, and a music activity. If doing a series of lessons on a topic, the next class could review the discovery activity, followed by an imagination activity, an art activity, and a story.
Discovery
In a discovery activity, children are encouraged to discover new information and ideas through investigation and answering questions. Thoughtful questions are an effective tool for encouraging self-learning.
Imagination
Children love to pretend! Their imaginations are vivid and require minimal prompting to transport them to another place and time, to become something else, or to interact with a character. Imagination activities build on concepts learned through discovery and captivate children in a meaningful and memorable way.
Play
Children learn through play. Play activities allow children to make choices in simulated real-life activities or in fun games. Games are a fun, concrete activity that often involves the entire body. Games can move children in an energetic way while reinforcing a concept.
Music
Children are born lovers of music. Even before they can speak, children respond to music. It is a universal language. We more easily learn and remember phrases and concepts taught to music. The rhythm and melody of a song help us remember the lyrics. Add movements that add meaning to the message.
Food
Food experiences are an essential component of nutrition lessons. Children are more likely to remember what they learned about a food and much more likely to eat it later if they have prepared it and been offered the opportunity to taste it in class.
Art
Art activities allow children to express their creative side and provide something to take home and tell others what they learned. Keep the activity developmentally appropriate and avoid the temptation to do it for them.
Story
Children’s books can be used to teach and reinforce concepts in a memorable and meaningful way. The setting and plot transport children to another place or time and provide an additional way to be engaged in learning. Stories stimulate the imagination and improve listening and attending skills. When reading to young children, look for ways to involve the children. They can point out items in pictures, repeat key words or phrases, make sound effects, or make motions.
Puppet Show
Puppets are not only useful to entertain but to teach, reinforce, and review, as children are encouraged to think and problem-solve to assist a puppet in learning or making decisions. Young children love watching and interacting with puppets. A puppet theatre is not necessary and can prevent you from easily interacting with the audience.
C = Closing and Commitment
Finish the lesson with a way to review the concepts learned, check to see what the children remember, and ask them to say how they will put into action the desired outcome.
My favorite approach for review is a puppet show in which the characters have a dilemma the children can help solve. Following the puppet show, the main puppet asks the children questions to review the key concepts. At the end, the puppet leads the children in making a promise to commit to a positive behavior, such as “I will eat breakfast every day,” followed by high-fives all around.
Try out three lessons for young children, then create your own.
To learn more about teaching nutrition to young children, check out these posts:
“Play is the highest form of research.”
~Albert Einstein
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