Books are powerful. They teach us how to think critically and consciously. It’s no surprise that when you are teaching children about healthy eating, books can play just as powerful of a role as setting a positive example for your children.
Here are some books that can help your children learn about healthy eating through reading!
Green Eggs and Ham – Dr. Seuss
This classic tale teaches children to try new foods, even if they think they may not like them at first.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle
This classic is about a caterpillar that eats a variety of different foods before growing into a beautiful butterfly. It teaches children about the importance of eating healthy by showing them that trying a variety of food is important.
Pancakes, Pancakes – Eric Carle
Written by the same author as A Very Hungry Caterpillar, this story gets children thinking about the ingredients that go into foods.
Picky Peggy – Jennifer Dussing
This tale is about a young girl known for her picky eating. It uses scientific information in the story to help teach children too!
Blueberries for Sal – Rover McCloskey
This is a story about a young boy helping his mother pick berries and is great for teaching children about the origin of their food.
The Carrot Seed – Ruth Krauss
Similarly to Blueberries for Sal, this book teaches children about where their food comes from as well as how much care and patience goes into growing food.
Ten Red Apples – Pat Hutchins
This tale is about sharing food and uses fun rhymes to teach children about nutrition as well as counting.
I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato – Lauren Child
This is an imaginative story about children tricking one another into trying new foods by inventing stories about each one. This story teaches the importance of being adventurous and bold when providing food for your children and they will find the fun in anything!
When you read a book about nutrition with your children, use what you have learned from the book! For example, if the main character is eating bananas, have some ready for your child so they can participate in the story. Perhaps you can try to cook a meal from the book together, like a pancake after reading Pancakes, Pancakes.
Focus on the story when reading together. Don’t focus on the message or spell it out for your child. See if they can discover it for themselves once you are done reading! Most of all – have fun reading and eating healthy together!
Do you have a favourite children’s book about healthy eating that we missed? Let us know in the comments!