Introducing children to the importance of nutrition and healthy eating habits is essential in fostering lifelong well-being. The following collection of engaging resources—from books to games to videos—offers a fun and educational way to teach kids about food, nutrition, and health. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or child care provider, these materials provide creative approaches to help young learners understand concepts such as the food pyramid, balanced diets, and the nutritional value of various foods. From charming stories and lively characters to hands-on activities and interactive games, each resource is designed to make learning about nutrition an enjoyable experience for children.
Explore the variety of formats and themes, perfect for early elementary and preschool-aged children, and discover tools that will inspire healthy eating habits in the next generation!
Mel’s Diner
By Marissa Moss ©1994
Mabel loves helping her parents run their cozy diner. It’s her favorite place, where everyone feels welcome and she enjoys spending time.
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors, Early Elementary Parents, Preschool Teachers
Format: 32-page Picture Book
Milk and Munchies Snack Activities
By Idaho Dairy Council ©1994
Working with children can be a joy! This guide is designed to help make snack time even more fun with activities and recipes perfect for kids aged 3-5.
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors
Format: Recipe Guide
More Spaghetti, I Say!
By Rita Golden Gelman ©1993
Minnie the monkey can’t stop eating spaghetti! She’s too busy slurping noodles to play with Freddy, her friend.
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors, Early Elementary Parents, Preschool Teachers
Format: 30-page Picture Book
National Health and Safety Performance Standards
By National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health ©1992
This manual is all about setting up safe and high-quality child care programs. Experts across the nation have reviewed these guidelines to make sure child care providers are offering the best care possible.
Audience: Child Care Sponsors, Providers
Format: 410-page Book
The (No Leftovers!) Child Care Cookbook
By Jac Lynn Dunkle ©1992
This cookbook offers kid-tested recipes with a unique four-week menu cycle to make meal planning easy for child care centers and home programs. It’s all about healthy, delicious meals that kids will love!
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors
Format: 198-page Book
Nutrition Activities for Preschoolers
By Debby Cryer ©1996
This fun and fully illustrated guide brings nutrition to life with simple activities for preschoolers. Each activity is designed around common learning centers like art, books, and pretend play. A great introduction to the world of good nutrition!
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors, Parents, Preschool Teachers
Format: 236-page Book
Nutrition and Handicapped Children: A Handbook for Parents and Teachers
By Nancy S. Wellman ©1988
A practical guide for parents and teachers focusing on nutrition challenges for developmentally delayed children and infants. It offers helpful tips for common issues in feeding.
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors, Parents, Teachers, Health Clinics
Format: 46-page Book
The Nutrition Idea Book
By Patricia Britten ©1997
This book helps teachers and professionals improve their nutrition education by sharing successful materials and methods that have worked for others. It’s all about building on what’s already effective!
Audience: Teachers, Clinics, Professionals
Format: 298-page Book
Nutrition in Infancy and Childhood
By Peggy L. Pipes ©1993
This textbook covers everything you need to know about childhood nutrition, from infancy to adolescence. It’s a valuable resource for understanding nutrient needs, growth, and how to handle special cases like drug abuse or developmental disabilities.
Audience: College Students, Nutritionists, Parents, Child Care Providers
Format: 429-page Book
The Paper Crane
By Molly Bang ©1985
A mysterious man walks into a restaurant and pays for his meal with a paper crane. The magic begins when the crane comes alive and dances!
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors, Early Elementary Parents, Preschool Teachers
Format: 32-page Picture Book
Peanut Butter and Jelly: A Play Rhyme
By Nadine Bernard Westcott ©1987
Two elephants and a baker help two kids make an enormous sandwich from scratch. This playful rhyme makes snack time fun for everyone.
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors, Early Elementary Parents, Preschool Teachers
Format: 24-page Picture Book
Pizza Party
By Grace Maccarone ©1994
A group of kids throws a lively pizza party in this fun, rhyming book. Bright illustrations and a humorous storyline make this a perfect treat for beginning readers.
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors, Early Elementary Parents, Preschool Teachers
Format: 29-page Picture Book
Please Pass Up the Salt
By Lucy M. Williams ©1995
Congo the elephant eats too much salt and gets sick! His friends must help him choose healthier snacks. This story is also available as an interactive CD-ROM for personal computers.
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors, Early Elementary Parents, Preschool Teachers
Format: 40-page Short Story, CD-ROM
Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers & Up
By Mollie Katzen ©1994
This cute cookbook is perfect for young kids who want to cook with a little help from grown-ups. Each recipe appears twice—once in regular text, and again as a pictorial version for kids to follow on their own.
Audience: Child Care Providers, Sponsors, Preschool Teachers, Parents, Early Elementary
Format: 95-page Book
Preventing Childhood Eating Problems
By Jane R. Hirschmann ©1993
This book offers a laid-back approach to healthy eating for kids. The authors show that children can naturally regulate their eating without strict rules and provide tips on handling common food challenges.
Audience: Parents, Child Care Providers, General Adults
Format: 160-page Book
Search for the Treasures of the Pyramid
Noteworthy Creations, Inc ©1994 Barbara J. Mayfield
This beautifully illustrated story takes the Kid’s Club Cubs and their friend Picky Piggy on an adventure in search of the treasures of the Pyramid, teaching children about healthful and less healthful foods, food groups, and the nutrients each provides. The book encourages reader participation and includes a puzzle for children to build their own Food Guide Pyramid. It also comes with a cassette tape featuring the story and 11 original songs. The book includes activity ideas for parents and teachers, lyrics to the songs, and camera-ready artwork of the Food Guide Pyramid.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, early elementary, parents, preschool teachers
Format: 34 pages, storybook, cassette tape, puzzle
Sesame Street A is for Asthma
©1998 Children’s Television Workshop
This engaging video features popular Sesame Street characters, including Elmo, Rosita, and Luis, as well as a new Muppet friend, Dani. The program aims to raise awareness about asthma, a condition affecting one in every 14 children, and is designed for both children and adults.
Audience: Child care providers, preschool teachers, parents
Format: 15-minute video, English and Spanish guide, English and Spanish poster
The Shape of Good Nutrition
Providers Press ©1993 Lynnrae Francis
Join B. Smart and his friends as they help children understand how to make wise food choices.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, early elementary, parents, preschool teachers
Format: 20-page book
Sheep Out to Eat
Houghton Mifflin Company ©1992 Nancy Shaw
In this fun story, five hungry sheep visit a tea shop, only to discover that it might not be the best place for them to dine.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, early elementary, parents, preschool teachers
Format: 32-page book
Smart Snacking for Children
©1994
This video provides parents with a basic understanding of healthy snacks for their children, focusing on snacks as mini-meals that offer essential nutrients.
Audience: Health clinics, parents, child care providers/sponsors, adults
Format: 12-minute video
Snackin’ Smart: Fun Activities and Recipes Your Kids Will Love to Eat
1996 Ohio Department of Education
This book offers a wide range of recipes for nutritious snacks that support a healthy diet. Each recipe is accompanied by a related activity and a suggested children’s book to make snack time an educational experience.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, parents
Format: 142-page book
Snazzy Snacks: A Healthy Snacking Guide for Preschool Children
Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment 1995 Lynne Torpy
This booklet provides snack ideas and fun activities for preschoolers, along with quick and easy snack recipes to make snack time both healthy and enjoyable.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, preschool teachers
Format: 22-page book
Stone Soup
Dial Books for Young Readers ©1987 Tony Ross
This lively retelling of the classic folktale introduces readers to hungry soldiers who arrive in a town where all the food has been hidden. The soldiers begin making soup with just water and stones, while the curious villagers watch.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, parents, early elementary, preschool teachers
Format: 28-page book
Stone Soup
Scholastic Book Services ©1968 Ann McGovern
In this version of the folktale, a clever vagabond convinces an old woman that he can make soup from a stone.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, early elementary, parents, preschool teachers
Format: 40-page book
The Stories Julian Tells
Random House, Inc. ©1981 Ann Cameron
Julian is an imaginative storyteller, often spinning tales that lead to trouble for him and his younger brother, Huey. This book captures the misadventures of Julian’s quick thinking and fibbing.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, early elementary, parents, preschool teachers
Format: 71-page book
Strega Nona
Simon & Schuster ©1975 Tomie DePaola
When Strega Nona leaves town, she warns Big Anthony not to touch her magic pasta pot. But Big Anthony can’t resist showing the townspeople how it works—with humorous consequences.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, early elementary, parents, preschool teachers
Format: 32-page book
The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster: Continuously Advertised Nutritionally Deficient Yummies!
The Book Peddlers ©1988 Vicki Lansky
This book teaches parents and child care providers about better nutrition and smart shopping habits, with tips on eating while traveling, microwave cooking, babysitter-friendly recipes, and recipes for children who are milk-intolerant, among other useful insights.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, parents
Format: 136-page book
Thunder Cake
The Putnam & Gossett Group ©1990 Patricia Polacco
A heartwarming story in which a grandmother helps her grandchild overcome a fear of thunderstorms by baking a “thunder cake.” This touching and engaging activity helps children deal with their fears through a bonding experience with a loved one.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, parents, early elementary, preschool teachers
Format: 31-page book
Tickle Your Appetite: A WIC/Team Nutrition Educator’s Kit for Children
Food and Consumer Service, USDA November 1997
This educational kit is designed to extend USDA’s Team Nutrition messages to WIC preschool participants aged 3 to 5. It includes videos, audiotapes, and activities aimed at communicating essential nutrition lessons to children through WIC clinics, homes, and communities.
Audience: WIC clinics, preschool teachers
Format: Three 4-minute videos, audiotape, reproducible handouts, activities
Tip-Top-Tots: The Nutrition Pyramid for Preschoolers
Meridian ©1994
An informative video program for child care providers that demonstrates the importance of nutrition for preschoolers. The program explains the Food Guide Pyramid, serving sizes for young children, and creative ways to make food enjoyable for them. The video includes a lively segment for children as well.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors
Format: 20-minute video, user guide
Tommy at the Grocery Store
HarperCollins Juvenile Books ©1989 Bill Grossman
In this humorous rhyming adventure, a young pig named Tommy is mistaken for various grocery items—like a banana, a potato, and a soda bottle—by near-sighted shoppers after he’s accidentally left on his own. The pseudo-realistic illustrations add to the hilarity of the story.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, early elementary, parents, preschool teachers
Format: 28-page book
Too Many Tamales
Paper Star ©1993 Gary Soto
This charming Christmas story follows Maria, who, while helping make tamales for Christmas dinner, tries on her mother’s ring. When she realizes the ring is missing, her cousins help her search through a pile of tamales to find it.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, early elementary, parents, preschool teachers
Format: 30-page book
What I Eat
William Morrow ©1995 Heidi Goennel
A simple 10-page board book that introduces young children to different types of food.
Audience: Child care providers/sponsors, parents, preschool teachers
Format: 10-page board book
What Makes Popcorn Pop? And Other Questions About The World Around Us
Boyds Mills Press, Inc. ©1991 Jack Myers
Dr. Jack Myers answers children’s most curious questions in this engaging book, with many of the questions sourced from the popular “Highlights for Children” magazine.
Audience: Elementary, child care providers/sponsors
Format: 63-page book
What We Eat: Play and Discover with Digger and Splat
©1996
In this educational video, young viewers learn about the basic food groups needed for a healthy diet. Lula and Didi embark on a magical toy box ride, traveling around the world, making new friends, and trying different foods. Children also participate in games like “Race the Clock” and help solve food riddles with Splat.
Audience: Preschool teachers, child care providers/sponsors
Format: 15-minute video
Yummy 5-A-Day Fruit and Vegetable Game
Yummy Designs ©1995 Laurie Manahan
This engaging game is perfect for teaching the “5-a-Day” concept, the Food Pyramid, and other nutrition lessons. Players use colorful fruit and vegetable cards to match items on their menu boards, introducing them to 90 different fruits and vegetables, including many from various ethnic cuisines. The game set includes 10 menu boards, 80 fruit and vegetable cards, templates for making additional boards and cards, lesson books, and instructions for a variety of games and activities.
Audience: Early elementary, child care providers/sponsors, parents, preschool teachers
Format: Game