Kid Friendly Nutrition Activities for You and Your Family

By Kate Scarlata, RD, LDN

These three fun activities will help add color and essential nutrients to your family’s diet.

Creating a Color Chart
A color chart can be a great tool to use with children to evaluate and encourage a variety of different colored fruits and vegetables in their diet.

Steps to Create a Color Chart:

1. Write or type the following five categories of color groups on the left side of a piece of paper: yellow/orange, red, white, blue/purple and green on the left side of a piece of paper. This can be done on construction paper or on the computer.
2. Have each member in the family keep track of the fruits and vegetables that they consume in each color category by putting a check mark or adding fun stickers under the color header on the newly created color chart. For example, eating an orange earns you a check or a sticker under the yellow/orange category, a green apple would earn a check or sticker under green and raisins or blueberries would earn a check or sticker under the blue/purple category.
3. Focus more on adding variety and color rather than portion size. The goal is that, by week’s end each individual has 7 checks under every color category.

Brewing up a Multi-Colored Power Potion – Fruit Smoothie Having the kids create a fruit smoothie with their choice of frozen fruits and yogurt is a terrific way to boost their intake (and yours) of fabulous vitamins, minerals, calcium and fiber. Simply have the kids pick out frozen fruit from the grocer’s freezer section, next have them select a yogurt. Add 2 cups of fruit to 1 cup of yogurt (add water, low fat milk, soymilk, or juice or to thin if necessary) and you’ll have enough smoothies for 4 people to enjoy. Liz Ward, registered dietitian and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Feeding Your Baby and Toddler recommends trying “banana and peach smoothies. If you have a variety of fruit, kids can mix and match.”

Fruit of the Week Club! Encourage your children to join you on a trip to the grocery store’s produce section. Have each child select one fruit they have never seen or eaten before. I have enjoyed doing this activity with my own children, as we all have experienced new fruits together for the first time. Locate recipes on the web or in a cookbook that contain their newly “discovered” fruit. Learn where the fruit originated and where it is grown. Children connect more with food when they learn more about its origin.These easy strategies may just be your child’s ticket to better health. Enjoy adding a variety of produce to your diet. You and your children will reap the healthful rewards.

Have fun and teach kids good health in the Super Crew Kids Activities section!

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About the Author

Kate Scarlata, RD, LDN

Kate is a registered and licensed dietitian with over 25 years of experience in the nutrition and wellness field. She works as a private practice dietitian in the Greater Boston area, providing nutrition consultation for a variety of health conditions, weight management, and helping people eat more healthfully. She is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Well with IBS and the coauthor of the book, Real People Need Real Food: A Guide to Healthy Eating for Families Living in a Fast Food World.

Website: http://www.katescarlata.com/