A Hand in Their Health

By Cynthia K. Franck’s Childcare

If you’ve ever interacted with kids, you know they prefer things to be done their way and usually with their own two hands.  So, why not use that approach when trying to help kids navigate their own health?

That was the idea behind our Champion Community Project. Getting kids interested by creating hands-on, interactive lessons that teach kids to be mindful about their health.

Our first approach began inside the classroom. Starting with flash cards they could use as food or menus in the dramatic play area. Children became interested in different kinds of healthy foods, how they grow, how they can be prepared, and how to order healthy at a restaurant. We purchased an indoor sprout growing system and let the kids choose and plant the types of fruits and vegetables they wanted. We also purchase yoga mats for the kids to begin feeling the results of their healthy eating.

Our next steps will be showing healthy eating habits outside of the classroom. Once Pittsburgh’s weather returns to human conditions, we will set up a greenhouse for the children to transplant their sprouts. They will take daily trips to the greenhouse to care for the plants and watch for changes, as well as enjoying journal drawing and yoga inside the greenhouse!

Our final approach will be showing the kid’s ways they can use their new knowledge to create healthy dishes (mostly) on their own. The kids will pick fruits and veggies that they grew to follow or create recipes. Children will be able to do this independently using the kid-safe utensils we were able to purchase with the grant.  Kids will then be encouraged to take their new life-skill and use it to help with the cooking at home.

In order to keep it going, the kids will take some of their fresh fruit and use it to have a healthy shaved ice stand to raise money for future education efforts.