Early Childhood - Connecticut State Department of Education

Nutrition And Health Chapter 11
• increase intake of foods high in fiber, such
as vegetables, fruits and whole-grain products;
• increase intake of foods and beverages that
are good calcium sources; and
• serve 100 percent juices instead of fruit
drinks, punches and lemonade.
Early childhood programs also should develop
nonfood-related strategies to reward and discipline
Instructional Strategies
Create a physical learning environment that promotes
nutrition.
Reinforce nutrition concepts by modeling good eating
practices in the preschool environment.
Broaden children’s food experiences by exposing them to
multicultural foods.
Provide many healthy foods for children to taste in an
enjoyable social context.
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children. Using food as a punishment (e.g., withholding
dessert) or reward (e.g., handing out candy to children
who do well, or “bribing” children to eat vegetables to
get dessert) does not help to promote healthy eating
habits. A child who is rewarded or punished with
food may overeat or place too much importance on
desserts. Desserts should be served casually, as part of
the meal. Suggestions for nonfood rewards are found
in Alternatives to Food as Reward (Connecticut State
Department of Education, revised 2007).
Suggested Experiences
• Read books, show videos and play games that
portray healthy eating and physical activity.
• Include “healthy” toy foods (e.g., fruits, vegetables
and grains) in kitchen and housekeeping play
areas.
• Use pictures and posters that promote positive
nutrition.
• Serve meals family-style, and eat with children.
• At mealtimes, model appropriate eating
patterns and communication skills (e.g.,
enjoying a variety of foods, being willing to
taste new foods, avoiding comments about
disliked foods).
• Do not use food as reward or punishment.
• Include ethnic foods and cooking utensils (e.g.,
wok and rice bowls) in the kitchen play area.
• Create and sample ethnic foods.
• Read stories that include multicultural foods.
• Have children draw pictures of their favorite ethnic
dishes.
• Provide foods for parties, holidays and other
celebrations that promote and reinforce healthy
eating messages.
• Provide families with ideas for healthy snacks and
party foods.
For additional information on healthy parties, holidays
and celebrations, see Healthy Celebrations (Connecticut
State Department of Education, revised 2007).