LEAP to Try New Foods

Angela Baldauff

According to the 2019 County Health Rankings as reported by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, 14% of children in Kenton County live in poverty.  The director of Elsmere Head Start contacted the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP-Ed) Nutrition Education Program Assistant from the Kenton County Cooperative Extension Service to present a program to the preschoolers to teach them about healthy eating and the importance of physical activity.  The SNAP-Ed Assistant used the Literacy, Eating, and Activity for Preschoolers/Primary (LEAP) program to teach the children the importance of eating a wide variety of foods including many kinds of fruits and vegetables. The Assistant went to Head Start once a week for 12 weeks.  At each session the Assistant read a book about food to the preschoolers, did some physical activities with them, provided them a healthy snack, and sent home a parent newsletter telling about the book that was read and providing a new recipe to reinforce the lesson.  Some of the children were hesitant to try new foods that were introduced.  Some of the children had never tasted yogurt, cucumbers, squash or zucchini.  The reluctant children were more interested in eating the muffin that had zucchini in it rather than trying the raw zucchini.  Some of the children and teachers at Elsmere Head Start asked for the recipe for the muffins, so they could make it at home or have their parents make it.  Most of the children would try the snacks even if they had never had them before, but there was one little boy who didn’t want to try anything.  He would look at the food, smell it, and wrinkle up his nose.   By the end of the series, he had even started trying the snacks, and he actually liked some of them.  Several of the children shared that they found a new food they liked and would ask their mom or dad to purchase for them.