​Why is it Important for Kids to Eat Healthy?​
Helps children grow and develop and be ready to learn at school.
Helps children learn healthy habits that will continue into adulthood.
Lowers the risk of diabetes, unhealthy weight gain, and heart disease.

What can you do to help your child eat healthy?

  • Introduce small portions of new foods to your child. If they don’t like the food, you can eat it and it will not go to waste.
  • Offer new foods, or foods your child likes less, at the start of a meal when your child is most hungry.
  • Prepare meals and eat at home as much as possible, instead of eating restaurant or takeout food.
  • Check portion sizes. Children should eat much smaller portions of food than adults. 
  • Be a good role model! Try new food and let your child see you eating healthy foods!
Did you know?
​Some children need to try a food more than 10 times before they start to like it. 
​Children like sweet tastes and need to learn to like bitter foods like vegetables by seeing and tasting them again and again.

Activities for Your Child
Invite your child to help in the kitchen with these age-appropriate kitchen activities. ​
​This allows your child to learn about food and may help them overcome picky eating. ​
Read about Potter the Otter's healthy choices here. 
Stories are also available on YouTube.
Learn about the Healthy Eating Plate.
Teach your child about the food groups.
Make your own Healthy Eating plate and talk about the colors of each food on the plate. 

Helpful Healthy Eating Resources

These resources are brought to you by our young friend Mikayla!
SNAP-ED Summer Recipes
All listed recipes ​use seasonal produce, and are all healthy, low cost, and delicious!
USDA Digital Nutrition Resources for Kids
​Find child-friendly resources for discovering each part of MyPlate!
Kitchen Safety 101
Involving children in cooking can be a fun way to introduce them to new ingredients - learn ways to keep everyone safe!

More Information on Healthy Eating

Find kid-approved nutritious recipes. 
Learn more about recommendations for children and the importance of each food group.
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