Fall 2002 - Volume 1

• Welcome to the NuNews™ publication
• Nutrition news you can use, in an easily shareable format
• Getting the message across: make facts meaningful for parents
• Getting kids in on the act, too
• The Smart Nutrition Partner: Schwan's presents SmartPizza™ brand products by Tony's®
• Downloadable Parents' Newsletter

Children have different motivators than adults. They want to have fun, like to have all of their senses stimulated, need repetition to learn, and respond well to affiliation and achievement. Play programs about nutrition/education and ones using characters are good ways to communicate important ideas to kids-without boring them (5).

One highly successful venture in getting kids excited about nutrition has been the Dole Company's 5-a-Day program, which teaches kids about nutrition and human physiology in a fun, interactive way. The program includes a 5-a-Day Adventure CD-ROM, which mixes education with entertainment. Since its 1993 introduction, 1.5 million copies of the CD-ROM have been distributed free to schools (6).

The program has shown fruitful results: school lunch fruit and vegetable consumption increased by 10% in California when the 5-a-Day program was shared on a Public Service Announcement (PSA), and went up to 14% when the program was supported by Girl Scouts of America®. Try serving 5-a-Day foods along with an entrée, such as SmartPizza™ products, for a healthy meal (7).

Some tips on making nutrition fun:

• Incorporate characters kids know and like. Kids respond well to them, and often retain information more successfully. Consider using popular theme characters to excite students about eating salads or fun fruit desserts with a healthy entrée.
• Establish programs where kids can measure their own progress; a class chart showing how many fruits and vegetables are eaten each week is one way to reinforce the good-eating message.
• Repeat the message in a variety of formats. Nutritional news can be incorporated into games and educational programs, and then reinforced through posters in the cafeteria and during after-school activities.

Sources: Click Here