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June 2004 PBS Ready To Learn is supported by a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Education, PR/Award Number R295A00002 Healthy Eating

Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion www.usda.gov/cnpp Cook with Calliou http://pbskids.org/caillou/grownups/cooking.html Watch Scientific American Frontiers Online http://www.pbs.org/saf/1110/video/watchonline.htm

HEALTHY EATING From the time children start eating on their own, it is important that they begin to make connections between what they eat and how it affects their bodies. Parents and caregivers can teach children, from a young age, how to develop healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime. Watch The Berenstain Bears as the cubs learn that too much junk food is making it hard for them to improve their running skills. Talk with children about what food does for their bodies (i.e. helps them grow, gives them energy and strength, etc.). After reading Growing Vegetable Soup, with children, talk about where food comes from and what foods are healthy for human bodies. Then, using the food pyramid, make some healthy recipes and show children how to map out their daily diet!

Web Resources:

VIEW: THE BERENSTAIN BEARS (#106B)

Too Much Junk Food Friday, June 18, 2004 – 11:00 am

Papa and the cubs are training for the big race, but even with all their practice sessions, they don’t seem to be improving much. They bump into Dr. Grizzly who teaches them that their eating habits are getting in the way of their health-that is why they are not performing so well. She teaches them how to follow the food groups and how to change their diet. The cubs listen and follow her instructions, and, as a result, are able to complete the race!

After You Watch… Make fun (and healthy) snacks!

Some ideas include: -Fruit and Veggie Structures (use toothpicks, raw veggies like cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and sliced or diced fruit to make edible works of art) -Ants on a Log (fill celery sticks with peanut butter or cream cheese then top them with raisins) -Edible Jewelry (use string-able healthy cereal) (Hint: see the Arthur handout for an “aardvark” of an idea!)

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June 2004 PBS Ready To Learn is supported by a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Education, PR/Award Number R295A00002 Healthy Eating

Other Recommended Books: Gregory the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child The Edible Pyramid by Loreen Leedy The Milk Makers by Gail Gibbons Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin

READ: Growing Vegetable Soup

By Lois Ehlert

Together, a father and child share the joys of planting, watering, and watching seeds grow. And, once their harvest of tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, and corn is ready, they’ll cook it up into the best soup ever! Discussion ideas:

• Where does our food come from? (i.e. grows on trees, in the ground, from animals products like milk, etc.)

• Can kids grow their own healthy food? • How do the children in the book do it? What is their

reward at the end?

DO: Map Out Your Daily Diet

Using the food pyramid as a guide, explain to children how and why it is important to balance the seven food groups in a daily diet. Together, cut-out images from circulars and magazines, encouraging children to think of as many different foods as they can in each category. Ask children to create their own pyramid, pasting or drawing the foods they most enjoy into each food group. Children can then use the chart included to map out what they eat every day, giving them an awareness of their daily eating patterns and teaching them what foods they should eat to be more healthy! (Younger kids might need the help of a grown-up) Quick Tip: Make photocopies beforehand, so you can re-use!

ALSO INCLUDED: Delicious Literacy!

Ten Tips to Turn Kids' Cooking into Fun with Reading and Writing!

These suggestions from the creators of Between the Lions will help parents and caregivers incorporate literacy skills into everyday activities like going to the grocery store, preparing snacks or using a recipe to cook dinner!

Turn Kids' Cooking into Fun with Reading and Writing!

1. Cook together and chat while you do. Have some one-on-one time with your kid while you're doing something you had to do anyway. The kitchen is a really good place to get involved with your kid, and to give them enjoyable tasks to do.

2. Read a recipe together. Plan a grocery list. Collect any coupons you can find. Shop together. Put the groceries away. Cook!

3. Read! There are lots of great kid-friendly cookbooks including Kids Cooking - A Very Slightly Messy Manual, published by Klutz Press, and What To Feed Your Toddler, published by Smithmark.

4. Make your own menus. Write down some favorite meals on paper, with appetizer, main course, and dessert. Or help your kids create a menu for a special meal to let guests or family members know what's for dinner.

5. Make place labels with everyone's name. You can make these out of simple rectangles of scrap paper, or you can print some from the ZOOMparty section of the ZOOM Web site. (http://pbskids.org/zoom/)

6. ZOOM also has great kids recipes. You'll find those at CafeZOOM. These have all been written by kids, and contain simple, printable instructions.

7. Serve alphabet soup and see what words they can make. Or use carrot sticks, celery or kidney beans to make words on your kids' plates. Can they spell their name in an edible way?

8. Read food labels and talk about nutrition. Eat from the main food groups every day, unless their doctor advises otherwise: Breads, Grains and Cereals; Fruit and Vegetables; Meat or its alternatives, for protein; Dairy or its alternatives, for calcium.

9. Make at least one meal a day when you can all sit down together and talk about your day. Conversation builds vocabulary and togetherness.

10. Eat breakfast! Studies prove that kids with a good breakfast inside them are healthier, and learn better in schools. Cereals, milk, juice, and fruit can all be part of a healthful start to the day.