Chapter 21
Creative Food Experiences
• Importance of Food Experiences to the Total
Program
• Guidelines for Creative Food Activities
• Getting Started
• Reducing Sugar in Children’s Diets
• Childhood Obesity
• Preventing Obesity
©2012 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.
Importance of Food Experiences
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Concept building
Building descriptive language
Learning about tastes
Observing changes
Self-expression
Learning about others—social skills
Small-muscle development
Measuring skills
©2012 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.
Guidelines for Creative Food
Activities
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Open-ended
Challenging, but not too difficult
Varied
Process versus product
Inexpensive materials
Variety of places—indoors and outdoors
©2012 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.
Getting Started
• Planning—ingredients, utensils, objectives
• Consider children’s developmental levels
• Set goals—manipulative skills, nutrition
knowledge, trying new foods
• Plan step-by-step procedure
• Discuss—before and after activity
• Plan follow-up activities to reinforce
learning
©2012 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.
Reducing Sugar in Children’s Diets
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Reduce/eliminate soda consumption
Avoid foods high in sugar
Avoid overuse of fruit juice
Encourage water drinking
Avoid processed foods
©2012 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.
Improving Young Children’s
Diets
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Whole organic foods
Whole grains
Eliminate canned fruits and vegetables
Raw fruits and vegetables
Whole-wheat or soy flour
Ground-up raisins, dates, dried fruit in
place of sugar
©2012 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.
Preventing Obesity
• National standards defining physically
healthy students (NASPE)
• Regular physical activity
• FITS study
• Encourage wide variety of fruits and
vegetables
• Reduce sweets, sweetened beverages,
and salty snacks
©2012 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.