During the month of February, the Jessamine County Extension Office presented Healthy Snacks to 18 Preschool classes at Early Learning Village. The goal of the program was to emphasize the importance of healthy foods to eat. This was done by reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar followed by a craft activity. Before reading the book, the students were asked to name good, healthy foods and the answers were: broccoli, apples, carrots, pickles, pizza, hot dogs, and cake. Students were asked to raise their hands if they thought fruits and vegetables were bad for them and on average 15% of the class would raise their hand. Students were then asked to raise their hands if they thought fruits and vegetables were good for them and on average 80% of the classroom would raise their hands. The Jessamine County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent read the book to the classroom, discussing the healthy and not so healthy foods mentioned in the book. At the end of the story, students were asked to recall the good foods the caterpillar ate. Students would expressively shout “apples, plums, pears, strawberries, pickles, watermelon, and plums,” all foods from the book. Students also recalled the sugary foods the caterpillar ate and showed understanding that these are foods someone should not eat all the time. After the story, each class made butterflies out of coffee filters, pipe cleaners, and fruit and vegetable stickers. The stickers were used to reinforce the idea of fruits and vegetables being good foods that could help the students grow up healthy and strong like the butterfly. Program participation was high and comments were made from the preschoolers such as “I love eating fruits” and “I want to eat more fruits and vegetables to grow strong like my butterfly.”

Kindergarten readiness outcomes: The students listened to the Hungry Caterpillar story, recalled the foods in the story, and noticed differences in the foods mentions by distinguishing( sort and classify) if the food was a healthy choice or one that should be limited.