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Strategies to encourage healthy eating for children under Five

Shamima Fowzee • 13 July 2020

Strategies to encourage healthy eating for children

Healthy eating for children

 

All children will react differently to different kinds of opportunities, so here's a set of tactics for keeping yourself prepared to win at mealtime. Try approach at a time, and give it a couple of weeks to see if it works. 

To encourage healthy eating habits for children, it is important nutritious choices is appealing. Let us take a look at how we can encourage children under five to eat healthily eating:


Weaning: Babies should be given a variety of fruit and vegetables during the weaning process. It will help babies to explore different food and this will introduce them to different texture and tastes. 


Reward Charts: Reward charts provide reinforcement of positive behaviour. It allows you to keep track of a child's food habits. Every time a child tries a portion of new healthy food, they should be rewarded with a star or sticker and mention it on a healthy eating reward chart. This strategy can be used in the early years setting as well as parents can use this strategy at home. 

Let the children decide: Children love to eat what they select themselves. So from a young age, children should be involved in their food choices. They should be involved in preparing food or mealtime. Children can help with planting and picking fruit and vegetable. They can also help to produce a meal plan for the week with their parents at home. 

Involved shopping for groceries: Parents should involve their children during shopping for groceries and let them They should talk about the food and its benefits while shopping and encourage them to choose healthy food for them. 

In setting, role play of supermarket can also help in doing so. Early years practitioners can plan activity "visiting a grocery " or role-play for the children in the setting. 

Food of different colour: There are lots of beautiful colourful fruits and vegetables. If a wide range of different colour of food given to children, they love to try them. 

Use fun eating tools: There are different shapes of plates, spoon utensils available in the market. These plates with faces and shapes utensils can make children more excited about eating healthy food. For example, if a child likes a monkey, a banana-shaped spoon can be appealing.

Attractive presentation: If the food is presented attractively, children get attracted to it. Food should be presented or arranged in such a way that it looks interesting for the children.

Cooking activity: In the early years setting, a cooking activity can organize a monthly basis for children with supervision. 

Parents should encourage them to help in cooking activity. While cooking parents should involve their children for supervision, bringing fruits or vegetables. When child help in cooking then they want to taste the food in which they helped. While cooking, you can discuss about the vegetables benefits also.  It is important they take ownership. 

Stories:  In the setting practitioners can read stories related to food as that encourages children to try that fruit or vegetable. Even they can tell each child to bring that fruit or vegetable in setting and then they read a story and see the reactions of the children. For example: Hungry caterpillar, Oliver’s food salad.

Repetition: Repetition of food gives children to explore and experience to become familiar with the food. They explore it without pressure and without stress. This way children willing to try, like and eat the food. 

Role model: Children always follow adults and their loved person. Being early years practitioners or as parents, we should eat healthy food in front of them to promote healthy eating.

BE A ROLE MODEL!

IT"s YOUR TURN:
What do you think? How do you encourage healthy eating for children under five years? Share your experience in the comments box. 
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