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Giving and Helping Activities:
• Allow your child to select the type(s) of cereal you will be donating. Help your child find cereals that have 10 or fewer grams of sugar to give. (You can show your child how to “read” the nutrition labels so that they can see how much sugar is in the cereal. These
websites can help: kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/labels.html or www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/foodlab.html
• Start a food basket. Place a large basket in your kitchen. Each time you go shopping, have children select one or two non-perishable food items to put in the food basket. When the basket is full, take the children to deliver the basket to the local food pantry.
• Have your child give a gift of himself at the next holiday or any time he wants to do something nice for someone else. Gather crayons, paints and other art supplies. Talk to your child about gift giving. Instead of buying the gift, have your child make it. Does your child have a special talent? Maybe your child would like to sing or write a song for a relative or friend? Is there a chore your child could do? Is there a special toy that could be loaned to a sister or brother for a week? If the gift is an activity or chore, help your child make a card with a note on it, telling what the gift will be.
Nutrition Activities
• Keep a chart on the refrigerator showing how many fruits and vegetables each family member has eaten each day. This can be done with stickers or pictures of fruits and vegetables that your child cuts out on their own and glues to the chart. This a great website for nutrition
activities and information: www.kidfood.org/kf_cyber.html
• Encourage your child to explore new foods. Serve one new food once a week.
• Help your child make a list of healthy foods that are "fast foods" and quick to eat, like bananas and baby carrots. These are also foods that your child can “fix” himself.
• Once a week allow your child to help decide on the dinner menu. Give them an opportunity to help with simple dinner preparations (washing vegetables, making the salad, mashing potatoes, etc.)
• At the end of the day, check to see who drank the most glasses of water.
• Once a week, let a different family member pick a fruit to be served for the dessert.
• See how many "5 A Day For Better Health" logo labels you can find on fruits and vegetables in the grocery store. Try this website: www.dole5aday.com.
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