This collection of resources is designed to introduce young children to the basics of nutrition and food education in an engaging and entertaining way. Through stories, activities, and hands-on lessons, children can explore various food-related concepts while developing healthy eating habits. Each entry includes a brief description of the material and its intended audience, making it easy for caregivers and educators to select appropriate tools for their learning environments.
Let’s Do Pizza
Kids love pizza! This interactive lesson highlights the nutritional benefits of pizza through music, literature, and hands-on activities. With everything needed to present a 30-minute lesson, this package requires minimal preparation, making it easy for caregivers to engage children in a fun and educational way.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Nutrition lesson package
Little Red Hen Helpers
In this lesson, kids explore the nutritional benefits of bread, along with how wheat is grown, harvested, and transformed into food. Through engaging stories and hands-on activities, children learn the value of teamwork while enjoying the learning process. The lesson is designed for easy implementation with minimal preparation time.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Nutrition lesson package
Milk From Cow to Carton
This colorful and engaging storybook takes kids on a fun-filled journey to discover the world of cows, the milking process, and how milk is processed. With lively text and vibrant illustrations, it’s perfect for young learners.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Storybook
More Than Mud Pies: A Nutrition Education Curriculum for 3 to 5 Year Olds in Day Care Centers and Preschools (1998)
Revised by the National Food Service Management Institute, this comprehensive curriculum consists of 59 lessons organized by season. Designed for children ages 3 to 5, it provides opportunities to learn about food growth, preparation, and nutrition, along with extensive lists of recommended books, songs, videos, and resources.
AUDIENCE: Child Care
FORMAT: Lesson plans, Activities, References
Mr. Potato
Everyone’s favorite potato takes center stage! In this engaging lesson, kids learn about the nutritional benefits of potatoes, including how they are grown, harvested, and prepared. The package includes numerous hands-on activity sheets, making it fun and easy to conduct a 30-minute lesson with minimal prep.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Nutrition lesson package
Multicultural Snacks (1995)
Food has a unique ability to bring people together, whether during grand celebrations or everyday meals. This Totline book introduces children to various cultural foods, emphasizing the basic ingredients shared across different cuisines. Each chapter showcases a specific type of food, allowing kids to learn through their senses by seeing, touching, smelling, and tasting diverse foods.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Elementary, Parents
FORMAT: 47-page recipe book
Oliver’s Fruit Salad (1998)
In this humorous and beautifully illustrated book, young Oliver discovers the joy of eating fruit salad, much to his delight. This entertaining story is perfect for children ages 3 to 6, combining education with fun.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Storybook
Oliver’s Vegetables (1995)
This fresh and clever story introduces kids to the joys of eating and growing vegetables. With captivating artwork, Oliver’s adventures at his grandfather’s house encourage children to explore vegetables beyond the familiar French fry.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Storybook
Operation Food Safety: Food Safety Curriculum Pre Kindergarten – Grade 4 (1998)
Developed by a public-private partnership in Arkansas, this curriculum teaches the importance of food safety and practical measures to ensure the safety of the food children eat or prepare. Each lesson includes engaging activity sheets that reinforce the concepts while making learning about food safety enjoyable.
AUDIENCE: Elementary, Child Care
FORMAT: Lesson plans, Activities
Oranges for Orange Juice
This colorful storybook illustrates how oranges are grown, picked, processed into juice, and brought to market. With engaging text and illustrations, it serves as an informative resource for young learners.
AUDIENCE: Child Care
FORMAT: Storybook
A Perky Little Pumpkin (1990)
This easy-to-read Halloween story is perfect for children aged 3-7. The delightful tale of a cheerful pumpkin entertains young readers while sparking their imaginations.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Storybook
Prudence’s Book of Food
This charming book introduces children to the importance of healthy eating in a clever and engaging manner, making it a valuable resource for teaching kids about nutritious food choices.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Storybook
Super Snacks (1992)
Filled with easy-to-prepare recipes using common ingredients, this Totline book features nutritious snack options that contain no sugar, honey, or artificial sweeteners. The recipes are seasonally appropriate, providing a fun learning experience for young children.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Elementary, Parents
FORMAT: 47-page recipe book
Teaching Snacks (1994)
Snacktime is an excellent opportunity for extending learning. This Totline book offers nine different topic areas, from shapes to colors to cooperation, providing fun ways to encourage children’s learning during snacktime. Each recipe includes ideas for involving children in the preparation process, promoting good hygiene and food safety.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Elementary, Parents
FORMAT: 47-page recipe book
Terrific Topics in Food and Nutrition (1996)
This 64-page book features 32 hands-on activities that connect nutrition to various curriculum areas, including language arts, math, science, music, social awareness, arts, crafts, and games. Each activity includes skill descriptions, teacher directions, and reproducible handouts.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: 64-page book
Tickle Your Appetite – Team Nutrition’s Education Kit for Child Care (1998)
This exciting package from USDA includes nutrition education materials designed for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Team Nutrition created these materials to instill the importance of healthy eating in children early on, ensuring consistent positive nutrition messages from various sources.
AUDIENCE: Child Care
FORMAT: Video, Audiotape, Lesson plans, Activities, Handouts
Tomatoes
This resource explores everything about tomatoes, from their origins to various growing methods. It includes nutrition information along with two kid-friendly tomato recipes.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: 48-page book
The Tortilla Factory/La Tortilleria
This beautifully illustrated book explains how corn seeds are transformed into tortillas, detailing the entire process from tilling the soil to delivering the tortillas. Available in English or Spanish, it serves as a wonderful educational tool.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: 28-page book
The Ugly Vegetables (1999)
Written by Grace Lin, this delightful story follows a little girl and her mother as they dig, plant, and water their garden. The story explores themes of diversity as the family’s vegetables, although not conventionally beautiful, bring joy and magic during harvest time.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Storybook
Vegetable Friends (1996)
This charming collection of six vegetable stories introduces children to a potato, broccoli, mushroom, celery, tomato, and corn, all designed to make kids smile while learning about these nutritious foods.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Storybook
Vegetable Party
In this fun lesson, kids learn about the nutritional benefits of vegetables through music, stories, and hands-on activities. The package includes everything needed for a 30-minute lesson with minimal preparation.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Nutrition lesson package
Vegetables, Vegetables (1994)
This Rookie Reader About Science book provides an engaging introduction to vegetable plants and their parts. It includes how they are grown, harvested, and prepared, featuring full-color photos and easy-to-read facts.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: 32-page book
We Can Eat the Plants
A short story aimed at emergent readers, this book focuses on the parts of plants that are edible, providing an engaging way to learn about plant-based foods.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Storybook
What’s For Lunch (1998)
This science series explores the story of various foods, using clear text and striking photos to illustrate how they are grown, produced, and consumed around the world. Titles include peanuts, potatoes, corn, rice, milk, peas, oranges, eggs, bread, and bananas.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: 10 books, each with 32 pages
Wheat
This comprehensive resource covers everything about wheat, from its growth and harvest to milling and production. It includes a kid-friendly wheat recipe, making it an informative and engaging tool.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: 48-page book
The World is a Supermarket
This storybook takes young readers on a journey to discover the diverse foods grown and sold around the world, fostering an appreciation for global food varieties.
AUDIENCE: Child Care, Early Elementary
FORMAT: Storybook