Teaching kids about food and nutrition can be a tricky task,
especially when there is so much conflicting information out there...
It's essential to be mindful of how we talk about food around our kids and ensure that we don't create negative associations with certain foods.
We know – some from personal experience - how the conversation and approach to food can have detrimental effect on our children’s eating behaviours.
Hands up who’s said, ‘if you don’t eat all your veggies there’s no pudding?’ - I’m totally be guilty of this :-/
These types of comments can create an emotional attachment to food and can lead to unhealthy eating habits.
I’m also guilty of saying "If you don't behave, you won't get any snacks" and this could create a mindset where food is something to be earned or taken away based on behavior, - not something that any of us want to encourage.
So instead, let’s try and focus on teaching our kids how to make healthy food choices that will benefit their bodies.
We all probably learnt about food and the different types via a Food Pyramid at school, but since then I discovered another method that I've found really helpful called the 'Go Grow and Glow' method to healthy eating.
This approach categorises foods into three main groups based on how they benefit our bodies: Go, Grow, and Glow.
Go foods are those that provide us with energy and help us stay active throughout the day. These include foods like breads, pasta, whole grains and potatoes.
Grow foods, on the other hand, help us build our bodies and promote healthy growth. These include foods like milk, yogurt, and other dairy products, as well as protein-rich foods like eggs, meat, fish beans,nuts, and seeds. 
Finally, Glow foods are full of vitamins, that help us maintain healthy skin, hair, and nails and protect us against illnesses. These include foods like colorful fruits and vegetables.
For younger kids its best to start with concept that each food belongs to a category and then work on quantiles and how to balance meals.
To help you get started with this approach, I've created a FREE Food PDF that explains the Go Grow Glow concept and provides plenty of fun activities for your kids to enjoy.
You can use this Healthy Food printable to help your kids understand the different food groups and how they can easily make their own healthy food choices.
To make the learning experience more engaging, try to use language that your kids can relate to, for example, you could explain that Go foods give our muscles fuel to run, jump, cycle and our brain fuel to concentrate at school. If we don’t eat enough ‘Go’ foods then we can feel tired and won’t have enough fuel to get through the day.
While Grow foods help your muscles grow so you can carry your school bag. If we dont eat enough Grow foods our bodies wont have the right building blocks to grow taller and stronger.
This way, your kids will be able to understand how each food group benefits them in their daily lives.
If you have older kids, you can also introduce more specific terms like carbohydrates, proteins, and vegetables to help them understand the nutritional content of different foods.
Whats in the Go Grow Glow food PDF?
This is a great printable for kids of any age, its a pretty easy concept for kids to understand, page one is a quick visual explanation of what Go Grow Glow foods are and then lots of fun activities to apply that learning.
You will find a page of cute plates for the kids to draw a ‘perfect’ breakfast, lunch and dinner using their new knowledge, and another large plate for them to draw their favorite meal – does it have all the Grow, glow go foods? What could they add to make it a balanced meal?
There are some fun themed quizzes included - This or that, kids can play with their friends or siblings you can take it in turns with your child, to see how well you know each other :-)
There‘s a counting quiz, word search, matching pairs and jokes to colour in…. lots to do around the topic of food!
And the fun bit, THE GAMES!!
Food Bingo
This game is an oldie but a goodie! Bingo. Simply print out all the Bingo cards, cut up the food counters and play.
Food Shopping game
This game is a food memory/shopping game. These full-colour shopping lists and food cards are a fantastic way for kids to have fun with food and build their shopping bag.
All you need to do is print each page (the shopping bags twice) and cut out the food squares.
TIP: It’s great to laminate them if you can, so that the game can be played again and again.
How to play
This came can be played with up to 4 players. The idea is to get everything on your shopping list.
Each player chooses a shopping list and has a bag to collect all their food it.
Lay out the food cards face down and take it in turns to turn a card over and find the food on your list. The winner is the one who completes their card first.
An extra element of the game can be to name the food you pick up as Go Grow or Glow food – see how much they have learnt!
Other games that you can play are:
*Food memory match – just print out the bingo counters twice
*Get 3 plates and name them Go, Grow Glow, get the kids to sort the foods into the right plate.
*Choose 5 of the food counters, get your child to look at them for a minute then remove one and see how long it takes them to remember which is missing….
Endless ideas!
Download the FREE Foodie PDF and enjoy teaching your kids about healthy choices and make food fun!
