Any ideas on how to present the importance of nutrition to preschoolers in an interesting way?

Question

It can be through games,visuals etc. Thanks!

Answer 1

Young children learn best through hands-on activities, and they enjoy listening to stories.  Pair a story with an activity.  Read Growing Vegetable Soup, talk with the children about what makes them grow, then let them cut up vegetables using table knives and vegetable soup for lunch.  As they're cutting up the veggies, you can talk about how good they will taste and what's in them that makes them so good for us!  And the kids will love the idea of cooking their own lunch!

Answer 2

Make it a 15-minute game.

You say, "I want to grow and be strong. I do this by eating healthy food. Here are some pictures of healthy food."

Show pictures of foods on posters with one food group per poster. You say, "These are vegetables. They have vitamins and minerals that help my body grow." Ask the kids if they can name some vegetables, either on the poster, or others they know about. You might also mark this poster as "healthy food", by putting something like a healthy kid icon or a star on it, and explaining why it gets a star. Go through each food group, telling what comes from it (energy from the breads and pastas, protein from the meats, etc). Be as brief as possible.

Include a poster with sweets. You say, "This poster has sweets and treats. These treats do not help my body to grow or be strong. I try to only have a little bit of these foods, since they don't have many vitamins, minerals, or proteins." "This poster does not get (the healthy kid or star icon), because it does not give me what I need to grow and be strong."

Ask the kids to "help you with grocery shopping". Bring a lot of pretend food and a plastic bin. Ask each kid to choose a healthy food to add to the bin (your shopping cart). You say, "This is my shopping cart. I need help choosing healthy food that will make my body strong and help me to grow. Can you please choose a healthy food and add it to my cart?" Each kid gets to pick one food item at a time and add it to the cart. You can ask kids to choose a different food item (and give them suggestions) if they choose something that is not healthy.

At the end, if there is time, the kids can make a real healthy snack to eat themselves. For example, they can take a plate and choose from 3-5 healthy foods that you provide "buffet-style".