Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children: Provider Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods • http://www.teamnutrition.usda.gov/library.html

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children: 

Provider Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods

Children’s attitudes and preferences toward food and eating habits develop at a young age. 

Good eating habits do not just happen—they are learned! 

Studies tell us that parents and other caregivers influence children’s 

food preferences. Child care providers can encourage healthful 

foods by using easy, low-cost techniques, similar to those that 

schools use from the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement.

For more information on the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement, 

go to http://smarterlunchrooms.org/homepage.

How can I spark children’s interest in food?

► Talk about food throughout the day, as well as at mealtime.

● Discuss different foods with the children - where they come from and what foods children eat

at home. Topics around food can be endless! For more information, see “Teach through talking”

in Supplement E: Support Family Style Dining from Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young

Children: Provider Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

http://teamnutrition.usda.gov

● Before the children sit down for meals, talk about the food that will be served, and ask them to

notice the shapes and colors.

● Mix nutrition information with reading, storytelling, and other activities.

• Get books and educational videos for the children. Select ones that send good messages about

food. Some suggestions:

Bread and Jam for Frances, Russell Hoban

Delicious! A Pumpkin Soup Story, Helen Cooper 

Discover MyPlate Emergent Readers, USDA Food and Nutrition Service

http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/discover-myplate-emergent-reader-mini-books

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z, Lois Ehlert

Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss

I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, Lauren Child

Rah Rah Radishes! A Vegetable Chant, April Pulley Sayre

The Beastly Feast, Bruce Goldstone 

The Two-Bite Club, USDA Food and Nutrition Service 

http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/two-bite-club

• For more suggestions, see the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Information Center’s "Food and

Nutrition Fun for Preschoolers." http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/pubs/fun_preschool.pdf

Fruits

Sight words: the, is, eat, are, I
Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children: Provider Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods • http://www.teamnutrition.usda.gov/library.html

► Use taste and texture words to describe foods, such as sweet, sour, salty, tart, crunchy, chewy, 

creamy, and juicy.

► Display colorful posters and student artwork showing different foods.

● Pictures help create a friendly, inviting atmosphere that promotes healthy eating behaviors.

● Team Nutrition offers a wide variety of posters and graphics displaying fruits and vegetables in a 

fun, kid-friendly manner. http://teamnutrition.usda.gov

● The Healthy Meals Resource System’s Bulletin Board Resources Web page has many printable 

pictures, handouts, and other resources on different nutrition topics, such as breakfast, fruits and 

vegetables, and whole grains. 

http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/resource-library/bulletin-board-resources

► Start a small outdoor or container garden. 

● Children show more interest in food they have helped grow.

● For ideas, check out Grow It, Try It, Like It! Preschool Fun 

with Fruits and Vegetables. http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/grow-it-try-it-it

How can I get children to try new foods?

Keep these P’s in mind: POSITIVE  PREPARE  PATIENT  PICTURES

► Be positive 

● Be positive when introducing a new food. When they see that you are excited to try a new food, 

they may be more likely to try it too! 

● Let a child who is usually open toward trying new foods taste the new food first. Children will be 

more willing to try a food if another child has already tried and liked it.

● Expect that new foods will be liked. Don’t assume that a child won’t like a food because it’s new 

or different.

● Praise children when they try a new food. Talk about how delicious it is!

Spinach Lane

Grow It, Try It, Like It! Preschool Fun With Fruits and Vegetables

Booklet 3

► Prepare

● Serve children all types of foods and not just 

foods traditionally served on the kids’ menu. Most 

children are more adventurous than we give them 

credit for. 

● Try different recipes or substitute new foods, like 

fruits or vegetables, into children’s favorite recipes.

● Prepare a new weekly fruit or vegetable as part of 

the mealtime routine.

● Serve a new food along with a familiar food. Ask 

children to point out the similarities between the 

two foods.
Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children: Provider Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods • http://www.teamnutrition.usda.gov/library.html

► Be patient

● Don’t take food refusal personally – allow children to choose

whether or not they want to try a new food.

● Offer new foods often. Children may need to be offered a new

food many times before they will decide to try it.

● Introduce only one new food at a time to allow children to learn

new flavors and textures.

● Teach children to not call foods names like “yucky” or “gross.”

Tell them we may not like a new food the first time we try it, but

might later on.

● Have children start with one or two bites at first. Don’t expect

children to eat a full portion of something new.

● If a food is not accepted after several tries, change the way it is

prepared and/or served.

● If children accept a new food, serve it again soon so they get

used to it.

► Use pictures and phrases

● Introduce new foods by showing children pictures of them first. They will be more open to

trying new foods if they know something about them.

● Make trying new foods a positive experience by using the right words.

Check out “Phrases that Help and Hinder” on the ChooseMyPlate.gov Web site.

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/preschoolers/healthy-habits/HelpAndHinderPhrases.pdf

“Phrases that Help”

Do YOU

LIKE that

EVERYBODY likes 

different foods,

don’t they

Which one is 

your FAVORITE

?

?

?
Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children: Provider Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods • http://www.teamnutrition.usda.gov/library.html

How can I get children to eat healthful foods?

► Get creative! Put fun food names on your menu.

● Use fun and appealing names for fruits and vegetables to make it more likely young children

will be willing to try them and eat more of them.

● Invite children to come up with fun food names. You can even have a food naming contest!

► “Nudge” healthy choices.

● Gently nudge children to try a fruit or vegetable by asking, “How about trying a kiwi today?”

● For more ideas, see “Phrases that Help” on the previous page.

► Bring in superheroes!

● When children are asked what superheroes would eat, they may be more likely to choose

healthier foods for themselves.

● Before offering fruits and vegetables to children, ask them, “What would your favorite

superhero eat?”

► Serve fruits and vegetables in kid-friendly ways.

● Slice and chop fruits and vegetables into smaller pieces to make them

easier for children to chew and handle. For children younger than

4 years old, make sure pieces are no larger than one-half inch (1/2").

• You can also use small cookie cutters to cut fruits, vegetables,

and other foods, like sandwiches, into fun shapes.

● For more ideas, check out this tip sheet on the ChooseMyPlate.gov Web site:

http://choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/downloads/TenTips/

DGTipsheet11KidFriendlyVeggiesAndFruits.pdf.

► Encourage physical activity throughout the day – the more children move, the hungrier they will be

at mealtime and the more likely they will eat what is served.

► Provide families with handouts and recipes that promote healthy eating.

► Text or tell parents and caregivers what foods their child is eating at child care. Send or display a

photo of their child enjoying a new food!

► Send the message home. Share newsletters from Nibbles for Health: Nutrition Newsletters

for Parents of Young Children.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/nibbles-health-nutrition-newsletters-parents-young-children

Connect with Parents and Families

CACFP Crediting Tip:

• When using fun shapes, make sure you still offer the full portion ✓

of food depending on the meal and age of the child.

1 2

1⁄2-inch pieces

1⁄2 "
Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children: Provider Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods • http://www.teamnutrition.usda.gov/library.html

How can I put this information into practice in my child care program? 

 Take a look at your daily schedule and use every opportunity to teach children about healthful foods.

Which of these fun ideas will you try next week? Mark your choices.

Read a fun educational book about food.

Put up a colorful poster of fruits and vegetables.

Show children a picture of a new food they will be trying.

Talk about what superheroes would eat.

Start a container garden or plant a small vegetable garden outside.

Take pictures of children enjoying a new food.

Other ideas:

Activities
Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children: Provider Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Supplement C: Encourage Healthful Foods • http://www.teamnutrition.usda.gov/library.html

 Take a look at your menu and find ways to include more healthful foods and make them 

more enticing. Start with one or two ideas per week.

Which of these ideas will you try to encourage children in your care to eat healthful foods? 

Mark your choices.

Include a new fruit or vegetable on the menu.

Try a new recipe.

Cut fresh fruits or vegetables into fun shapes.

Use some of these fun and catchy menu names from schools and child care centers 

around the country:

✪ X-Ray Vision Carrots ✪ Bouncing Beans ✪ Apple Crunchers

✪ Cool Crunchy Carrots ✪ Mixed Up Fruit Cup ✪ Celery Swords

✪ Sweet Carrot Coins ✪ Monster Mashed Potatoes ✪ Mighty Melon

✪ Power Peas ✪ Lean Mean Green Beans ✪ Jumping Beans

✪ Glow-in-the-Dark Greens ✪ Wild Potato Wedges ✪ Razzle Dazzle Berries

✪ Dinosaur Broccoli Trees ✪ Zesty Zucchini ✪ Bandit Beans

✪ Power Punch Broccoli ✪ Super Hero Spinach ✪ Kickin’ Kiwi

✪ Banana Ramas ✪ Fiesta Pinto Beans ✪ Super Power Squash

✪ Tomato Bursts ✪ Awesome Apples ✪ Scrumptious Strawberries

✪ Golden Pirates Corn ✪ Yummy Hummus ✪ Go Wild Rice

✪ Cream of the Crop Golden Corn ✪ Cool Cucumbers ✪

Other Ideas: