Add excitement

Food and Fitness for a Healthy Child

Foods to sing about Get your youngster
excited about eating new foods by encouraging her to make up songs about them. She could pick a familiar tune (say, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”) and change the words to describe the food’s taste, color, tex-ture, or scent. Example: “Mary had a roasted yam. It tasted sweet like jam.”

Table time Eating together can
build family bonds and inspire your youngster to eat healthier foods. Use these ideas to plan regular meals that he will look forward to.

September 2019

Farrell Area School District

Recess games
Head outside with your child, and teach him playground
games you enjoyed at his age, such as freeze
tag or capture the flag. He’ll discover new ways to be active at recess—and learn games to share with his classmates. Idea:
Ask him to show you a recess game that you’ve never played.

Nearly one in five chil-dren in the U.S. is obese.
Since September is National Child-hood Obesity Awareness Month, con-sider making a family pledge that will help everyone maintain a healthy weight. For instance, maybe you’ll agree to take walks after dinner and drink only water and fat-free milk.

Just for fun

Q: What food has no beginning and no end?

A: A bagel.

© 2019 Resources for Educators, a division of CCH Incorporated

Make it a habit Sharing meals as
often as possible will get everyone in the rou-
tine. Set times that work for your family. That may
mean you have a late dinner after	nutritious foods from old magazines and soccer practice one evening and an early	gluing them on construction paper. breakfast before work and school on
another morning.                                               Turn the table into a playful place Involve your child                             with special-event meals. You might
Your youngster will be more inter-	have a “silly hat dinner” (everyone ested in eating the meal if he helps to	wears a hat that they made or deco-prepare it. He might make a healthy dish	rated). Use the hats to spark conversa-like fruit salad. He could also set the	tion. (“What a great hat. How did you table and fill water glasses. Idea: Let him	think of it?”) Or have each person pick create place mats by cutting pictures of	a storybook character and pretend to be
that character throughout the meal.

Turn off the screens, turn on the fun

Boost your child’s physical activity by setting limits on screen time and encouraging her to play outside instead. Try these strategies.

● Establish rules. Tell her when she can and can’t have screen time. For example, on school days, you might allow it only after outdoor play, homework, and dinner.

● Provide inspiration. Have your youngster fill a basket with active toys like a jump rope, balls, a bat, and a Frisbee. Then, place the basket near the door so it’s easy to grab equipment on her way outside.

● Plan ahead. Let her make outdoor plans with friends. She could organize a weekly game of kickball or hide-and-seek, for instance.

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Garden
Pizza
Nutrition Nuggets

Waste not, want not

Did you know that nearly one-third of the world’s food ends up in the trash? Your family can avoid wast-ing perfectly good food —plus save money and help the environment— with these tips.

Stick to a list. Reducing food waste starts with buying only what you need. Ask your child to help you plan a week’s

Q & A

September 2019 • Page 2

worth of healthy meals and make a grocery list. Go shopping together, and get only what’s on the list.

Take what you’ll eat. Encourage your youngster to put on her plate only
what she’ll eat. Here’s a good strategy: She should serve herself less than she
thinks she wants—then she could get seconds if she’s still hungry.

Store leftovers wisely. Have your child label containers of leftovers with dates and contents. Keep fresh foods with older dates in the front of the refrigerator so you won’t forget about them. If you won’t use leftovers quickly, move them to the freezer.

Handling food allergies at school

Q: My daughter is allergic to eggs, and she’s starting school this year. What steps should I take to help her stay safe?

A: Begin by talking to your daughter’s teacher, the cafeteria manager, and the school nurse. They’ll explain the poli-cies for protecting students with aller-gies, such as how your child can choose safe foods in the cafeteria.

At the same time, help your daughter learn to take responsibility for managing her allergy. For example, she should only eat her own food and not accept food from other students. Explain that she can’t eat homemade goods, such as birthday cupcakes, since there’s no way to be certain they’re egg-free.
Finally, make sure she knows the symp-toms of a reaction, and tell her to get adult help immediately if she notices any or if she thinks she was exposed to eggs.

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

© 2019 Resources for Educators, a division of CCH Incorporated

Math-ercise

With this home-made “twist” on
Twister, your youngster will improve his balance and flexibility while he practices math facts.

Materials: washable or dry-erase markers, soup can, old shower curtain (plain), two dice

1. Let your child turn the shower curtain into a Twister board. He should trace around the soup can to make 4 rows of 6 circles, then number the circles 1–24.

2. One person is the caller. On each player’s turn, the caller rolls the dice, uses the numbers to make a math problem, and says which hand or foot the person must put on the circle containing the answer. So if he chose left foot and rolls 2 and 3, he could say, “Left foot on 2 x 3.” The first player would place his left foot on 6 and keep it there until his next turn.

3. Continue until all but one person has fallen out of position—that player wins. Note: If a player needs a circle that’s already covered, the caller gives a new problem.

Turn toast into art
Let your child “paint” a	Rain forest
slice of whole-wheat toast with mashed	Paint: Nut or seed butter
black beans and decorate it with avo-	Decorations: Banana slices, shaved cado slices, corn kernels, and chunky	coconut
salsa. That’s just one fun way to create
an edible work of art! Here are more.	Paint: Tomato sauce
Parfait	Decorations: Low-fat shredded mozza-Paint: Fat-free cream cheese                                          rella cheese, spinach leaves, Decorations: Blueberries,                                                   sliced mushrooms
sliced strawberries, sprin-
kle of cinnamon	Paint: Mashed cooked Mediterranean                                                    peas
Paint: Hummus	Decorations: Radish Decorations: Cucumber	slices, crumbled feta rounds, cherry tomato halves                                               cheese