2.1. Outline a range of activities that encourage children and young people to eat healthily

This guide will help you answer 2.1. Outline a range of activities that encourage children and young people to eat healthily.

Healthy eating is essential for the growth, development, and well-being of children and young people. As a support worker, you can help promote these habits through creative and fun activities that help young people engage with healthy foods. Making the experience enjoyable increases the chances of having a lasting impact on their eating habits. This guide covers a range of activities designed to encourage children to make healthier food choices.

Cooking and Food Preparation

Involving children and young people in cooking can spark their interest in healthy eating. When they prepare food themselves, they are more likely to want to try it. Cooking inspires curiosity and helps them see how ingredients come together to make a meal.

• Simple Recipes: Begin with age-appropriate recipes, like fruit salad, vegetable wraps, or healthy sandwiches. These tasks allow younger children to practise basic skills like washing, spreading, or mixing.
• Learning Techniques: Older children can chop ingredients, measure portions, or try cooking methods such as steaming and grilling. These skills help them understand how to prepare meals that are less reliant on processed foods.
• Make it Fun: Use cookie cutters to create fun shapes out of vegetables, sandwiches, or fruit slices. Adding creativity makes meals visually appealing and encourages children to eat healthily.

Taste Testing

Taste testing is an engaging way to introduce children to new and unfamiliar foods. It allows children to explore different flavours, textures, and smells in a relaxed and experimental setting.

How to run taste testing sessions:

• Select a range of healthy options, such as fruits, raw vegetables, wholegrain crackers, or dips.
• Encourage children to taste everything at least once.
• Discuss what they like or dislike and why. This builds an understanding of their food preferences.

You can also turn this into a game by asking them to guess what they’re eating with their eyes closed. Providing positive reinforcement when they try something new supports their confidence and curiosity.

Grow Your Own Food

Gardening is an excellent way to connect children with the origins of their food. When they grow fruits, vegetables, or herbs, they take pride in the process and are more eager to eat what they’ve grown.

• Plant Small Crops: Start with easy-to-grow items like tomatoes, herbs, radishes, or strawberries. These are manageable in small spaces and usually grow quickly.
• Teach Responsibility: Encourage children to water the plants, pull out weeds, or harvest the produce. Taking care of their crops teaches responsibility and builds excitement for healthy food.
• Make it Interactive: Let the children pick and taste food straight from the garden wherever possible. Fresh produce often tastes better, reinforcing the idea that healthy can mean delicious.

Food Art Projects

Food art encourages creativity while introducing children to fruits, vegetables, and wholegrains. Turning healthy ingredients into “edible art” can make food more appealing.

Some fun ideas include:

• Fruit Faces: Create faces on a plate using fruits like banana slices for eyes, grapes for a nose, and an apple slice for a mouth.
• Food Rainbows: Arrange fruits and vegetables in rainbow order, using a mix of colours (e.g., red peppers, orange carrots, green cucumbers, blueberries).
• Veggie Animals: Use vegetable sticks to create animals or shapes and add a small dollop of hummus or yoghurt as “glue.”

Encourage children to eat their creations after making them, bringing an extra element of fun to healthy snacks.

Storytelling and Books About Food

Stories can be a powerful way to teach children about healthy eating. Tailored stories and books make the topic relatable and engaging, especially for younger children.

• Read Aloud: Choose books where characters learn about fruits, vegetables, or the benefits of healthy eating. Titles like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle introduce ideas in a fun way.
• Role-Play: Act out stories about food and health using props like toy fruits and vegetables. Children can take on roles, such as farmers, shopkeepers, or chefs.
• Creative Writing: Ask older children to write their own stories about magical fruits or vegetables and how they help keep people healthy.

Interactive Games About Food

Games are an enjoyable and effective way to teach children about healthy foods. They help reinforce positive messages while keeping children engaged.

Examples of healthy eating games include:

• Food Bingo: Create bingo cards with pictures of fruits, vegetables, and other healthy options. Cross them off each time a child tries one.
• Fruit and Veggie Scavenger Hunt: Hide fruit and vegetable cards around a room or garden. As children find them, encourage them to describe each food and say whether they’ve tried it before.
• Sorting Games: Provide a mix of real or toy foods, and ask children to sort them into different categories, such as “healthy” and “less healthy.”

Workshops About Nutrition

Workshops are a great way to educate older children and young people about nutrition while still keeping things interesting. These sessions can focus on explaining what the body needs and how different foods provide fuel for activities and learning.

• Food Group Discussions: Use visual aids like the Eatwell Guide to explain carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. Encourage children to think about how they already include these groups in their meals.
• Label Reading: Teach children to read and understand food packaging labels. Show them where to find information like sugar content, salt levels, and nutritional value.
• Cooking Demonstrations: Show children how to prepare healthy meals or snacks step by step. Let them replicate these dishes on their own, empowering them to make better choices.

Healthy Snack Competition

Make healthy eating fun by turning it into a friendly competition. Competitions give children an active role in choosing, preparing, and presenting foods.

• Build Your Own Snacks: Provide a range of healthy ingredients (e.g., vegetables, fruit, seeds, wholegrain crackers) and ask children to design the most colourful or creative snack.
• Blind Tasting: Have children rate a selection of healthy snacks on taste, smell, and appearance. The healthiest favourite snack wins!
• Colour Challenges: Challenge children to create the most colourful plate of food using only fruits and vegetables.

The social and playful nature of competitions encourages positive behaviour, and children often leave with new food ideas to try at home.

School or Setting Healthy Eating Themes

Create a full day, week, or month around the theme of healthy eating. This can introduce health-focused activities into a structured context.

Some ideas include:

• Healthy Eating Week: Plan themed days, such as “Green Veg Day,” “Rainbow Salad Day,” or “Smoothie Day.” Encourage children to bring or eat specific healthy options matching the theme.
• International Food Day: Focus on healthy dishes from different cultures. This activity connects food to wider learning, like geography or cultural awareness.
• Meal Planning and Budgeting Activities: For older children, provide a small “budget” and ask them to create a balanced shopping list for a meal, considering price and nutrition.

Recognition and Rewards

Positive reinforcement helps encourage healthy habits. Children and young people are more likely to continue choosing healthy foods when rewards or recognition follow their efforts.

Ideas include:

• Giving out stickers or certificates for trying new vegetables for the first time.
• Displaying children’s names on a “Healthy Eating Star Chart” for making healthy lunches or learning about new foods.
• Organising small end-of-week celebrations when children meet healthy eating goals.

Conclusion

Fun, interactive activities motivate children and young people to eat healthily. With games, cooking, creative challenges, and educational workshops, children are more likely to explore varied and nutritious foods. By incorporating these engaging activities into your work, you can encourage a positive relationship with food and foster long-term healthy habits.