Each year the Bourbon County Extension Homemakers offer a nutrition education program entitled “Peter Rabbit - What’s a Rabbit to Do?” to every kindergarten class in the county during March, Nutrition Month.  This program is offered in each classroom.  The story of Peter Rabbit is read to the class, the skit of “What’s a Rabbit to Do?” is acted out (by Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor) and followed up with the students sampling vegetables that Mr. McGregor deices to share from his garden.  COVID-19 safety restrictions prevented the Homemakers from visiting the classroom.  Kacy Wiley, Program Assistant Senior for the Nutrition Education Program, SNAP-Ed and Kay Denniston, FCS Agent decided to develop a method of offering this same program to all 2021 kindergarteners and still following COVID safety guidelines. Staff assistants Kym Pope and Katelyn Tubbs also assisted with this reinventing of the wheel!  Katelyn recorded Kacy reading the book, followed by Kym (aka Peter Rabbit) and Kay (aka Mr. McGregor) acting out the skit.  The recording was uploaded to the Bourbon County Extension Service YouTube site.   Each kindergarten classroom teacher was contacted about selecting their own date and time for the students to view the program.  During the skit students hear about different vegetables and the importance they play in developing strong, healthy bodies.  After the viewing of the recorded version of “Peter Rabbit – What’s a Rabbit to Do?” classroom teachers provided samples of carrots, cherry tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, cauliflower and broccoli.  All students were encouraged to take “Hello Bites” of each vegetable while discussing how Peter Rabbit enjoyed his vegetables!  The program was presented virtually in 10 kindergarten classrooms with a total of 310 students participating.

Success indicators:

1. 100% of the classroom teachers indicated their appreciation of the adaptation of the traditional program
2. 100% of the students indicated that they enjoyed the program
3. Teachers indicated that approximately 90% of the students tasted the vegetable with 70% eating all of their samples

COVID-19 did not stop Peter Rabbit!