Slow-cooker day

Food and Fitness for a Healthy Child	December 2020

Farrell Area School District

Clean cuts
Here’s a way to teach your child about food safety
when she helps out in the kitchen. Explain that bacteria from raw meat can live on cutting boards, so you use a separate board just for fruits and vegetables. Show her which board is which, and let her use a butter knife
to cut a peeled avocado or canned peach
half on the one for produce.

Active all day
Experts recommend at least 60 min-utes of physical activity a day for chil-dren and adults. No need to think of it as formal exercise! Turn on upbeat music and dance with your young-ster. Put out active toys, and hula hoop or jump rope together. Or tape a family hopscotch grid on the floor, and challenge him to a game.

Children ages 4–8 need 25 mg of vitamin C daily and kids ages 9–13 need
45 mg. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to find kid-friendly sources of this essential nutrient. In fact, just one orange contains 70 mg. More ways for your child to get vitamin C: Let her snack on raw red bell pepper spears. Toss strawberries into a spinach salad at lunch. Serve oven-roasted broccoli for dinner.

Just for fun

Q: What do you take before a meal?

A: A seat.

© 2020 Resources for Educators, a division of CCH Incorporated

Alternatives to fast food After a long day of school and

work, you may be tempted to hit the drive-thru for your family’s dinner. How can you resist the tug of fast food and keep things healthier? Use these strategies to stock up on quick and easy din-ner options.

Deli “ﬁxins”
Ask your child to create a “deli menu” for make-your-own-sandwich nights.
He could invent sandwich com-binations, then draw pictures and write
descriptions of them. (“The Sweet Pick-	box of whole-grain cereal, and let each ler: Toasted whole-wheat bread, lean	person add nonfat milk and their favor-turkey, lettuce, extra pickles, honey	ite fruit.
mustard.”) At dinnertime, everyone can
design their own.
make a sandwich from his menu—or		It’s nice to sit down to a hot meal that’s already cooked, so consider keep-
Breakfast for dinner                         ing slow-cooker staples on hand. Exam-Many breakfast foods can be pre-           ples: chicken breasts, low-sodium broth, pared in a jiffy, making them ideal for        canned beans and tomatoes, frozen veg-
busy evenings. For microwave scram-	etables. Then, let your youngster help bled eggs, whisk 2 eggs in a microwave-	you find recipes. In the morning, add safe bowl and heat for 2 minutes, stirring	ingredients to the slow cooker together. once halfway through. Or just open a	If your family works and learns at
home, you’ll enjoy the aroma all day!

Active story time

Everyone knows reading is good for the mind. With this fun activity, it’s good for the body, too.
Read a book to your youngster that has lots of action words, such as dance, hop, run, and jump. Then, read it again slowly, and have her act out the story as you go. For instance, read Hop on Pop
(Dr. Seuss). She could jump up when you read, “Up, pup,” or crouch down small when you say, “Mouse on house.”
Suggest that your child use props, too. For instance, read Jack and the Beanstalk. She can climb on a chair when
Jack climbs the beanstalk, and then jump down and run away when Jack does.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Nutrition Nuggets	December 2020 • Page 2

Explore the food groups
questions to guess it. (“Does it grow on a tree?” “Is it green?” “Do
Fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, dairy	monkeys eat it?”) Now name a
… a balanced diet includes all five food	food group and have her choose a groups! These ideas will help your                                                                                                 food for you to guess. Let your child learn about them.                                                                                                                   child jot down the foods used in
Twenty questions.
Ask your
the game and pick one from each youngster to pick a food group	group to add to your grocery list. (say, fruit). Secretly think of a food                                                                                              Small plates.Many cultures eat from that group (banana), and let                                                                                               meals made up of small plates to her pose up to 20 yes-or-no                                                                                                        share—known as tapas in Spain,
mezze in the Middle East, and anti-pasto in Italy. With your youngster,
Outdoor winter fun
choose a food from each group, and make a small-plates meal together. Maybe she’ll suggest shrimp skewers (pro-tein), sliced carrots (vegetable), couscous (grain), a diced pear (fruit), and cheese cubes (dairy). As she enjoys the
Playing outside in winter brings its	meal, she’ll learn to eat from each group. own sense of joy. Try these games that
regardless of the weather.
minutes, and race to create the largest
will help your youngster stay active	Food allergies at holiday time ● Snowball contest.Set a timer for 5          Q: My daughter has a peanut allergy. How can I help
snowball. Then, combine your snow-	her stay safe during the holidays—and beyond? balls into one giant ball.	A: Allergies and holidays can be tricky! If you
● 
Penguin waddle.
Have each family
Race across the yard. If you drop your
peanut allergy.
will have meals with relatives or friends this member place a small ball on his feet	season, be sure to tell them about your child’s (like a father penguin carries an egg).              Explain that if you visit for a meal, or if they
“egg,” return to the starting point. The
bring food or send food gifts to your home, they
first player to reach the other side wins.
should make sure not to use peanuts or peanut products.
They’ll also need to read food labels carefully and thoroughly clean surfaces that may have been in contact with peanuts. And point out that almond butter or sunflower seed butter can be used in place of peanut butter in recipes.
Finally, before visiting with anyone, remind your daughter about her allergy. Let her know you’ll help her choose safe foods and ask about any she’s unsure of—habits that will need to become automatic for her as she gets older.

Creative cracker toppings

3
4
● Ice globes.Blow up balloons, and before tying them, let your child fill them – of the way with water and add a few drops of food coloring. Freeze 3–4 hours. Use scissors to cut off the bal-loons, and he’ll have beautiful ice globes to roll and kick around.

O U R	P U R P O S E
	
To provide busy parents with practical ways to promote healthy nutrition and physical activity for their children.
Resources for Educators,
a division of CCH Incorporated
128 N. Royal Avenue • Front Royal, VA 22630 800-394-5052 • rfecustomer@wolterskluwer.com www.rfeonline.com
Nutrition Nuggets™ is reviewed by a registered dietitian. Consult a physician before beginning any major change in diet or exercise.
ISSN 1935-4630

© 2020 Resources for Educators, a division of CCH Incorporated

For a quick snack or a festive party platter, encourage your child to think beyond the usual cheese and crackers. Let him help you put to-gether these fresh, healthy combos on whole-wheat crackers.

Cheesy fruit
Top crackers with part-skim ricotta cheese. Add a kiwi slice and a drizzle of honey.

Pesto
Spoon pesto sauce onto a cracker. Top with diced tomato.

Garden veggie
Start with a layer of hummus. Over it, arrange a slice of cucumber and radish.

Seafood snack
Put chunks of canned salmon on a cracker, and sprinkle with pepper and
thinly sliced chives.

Cold pizza
Cover a cracker with marinara sauce. Add
shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese and diced green
pepper.