Children love to imitate adults. If you want to start your preschooler on the road to nutritious eating, the sooner you start the better. And the best way to teach them is by example.
Teach children the importance of determining proper serving sizes with counting games. If a serving of grapes is 17 for an adult, your three year old will be adequately fed and nourished with half that amount. Help them count out 8 or 9 grapes onto their plate and share their enjoyment eating them as a snack.
Show children how to divide food on their plate. Fill one quarter of the plate with the protein source, such as chicken. Use another quarter for the starch, such as rice. And fill the remaining half with vegetables. Let them learn to fill their plates by using these proportions and give them the opportunity to adjust the portions until they think it looks right.
Learning to use measuring cups is another way to start teaching math skills while learning lessons in serving sizes. Your four year old can read the numbers on individual quarter, half and one cup measuring cups and understand what a one cup serving of cereal should look like.
It's good to present options to preschoolers when it comes to choosing nutritious foods. Give junior a choice between apple slices with a tablespoon of peanut butter, a half cup serving of yogurt or a bowl of nutrient dense cereal (read the label to eliminate high sugar, fiber deficient choices). It will give him a sense of control over his eating habits while exposing him to a variety of healthy options.
Not all nutritional activities have to involve the consumption of food. Select books and games that have your preschooler learning that "A" is for Apple, "B" is for Banana, "C" is for cantaloupe, etc. Teach them to recognize colors based on the foods that come in those colors in their original state.
"What color is an apple?" Red.
"What color is Broccoli?" Green.
"Carrots?" Orange.
When the words they learn are the foods they see most often they are more likely to choose these same foods at meal time. They become part of their lives and their vocabularies early on.
Cooking is a basic life skill that is best taught young. While preschoolers are too young to use knives, the stove or other kitchen appliances, they can definitely be on hand to help you assemble the ingredients for dinner. Hand them spices, vegetables, spoons, cups, bowls or anything else they can easily handle and carry to the table. The more they can see what goes into the foods that make up the meals they eat, the more interested they will be in creating recipes later on.
A final activity that will interest your preschoolers in nutrition is a trip to the grocery store. Talk to them about the different items in the produce department. Ask them what looks interesting. Have them select tonight's vegetable for dinner. Encourage experimenting with new vegetables. Who knows? Your preschooler may teach you to expand your nutritional horizons.