INEP’s mission
is to help kids establish life-long, healthy eating habits through fun and
repeated exposure to a variety of foods.
Each lesson is designed for students to explore ways they can be healthy
at home and at school.
Learn more on our What We Do page!
Our hands-on nutrition lessons have been developed and tested by teachers.
Lesson Ingredients:
Food preparation
Recipe tasting
Beautiful picture books
Take-home recipes in both English and Spanish
Tied to the Colorado Academic Standards
Click on the Lessons Dropdown Menu at the top to view any of our lessons by grade.
*Note: This project has been partially funded
by USDA SNAP-Ed, by way of the University of Colorado, School of Medicine,
Department of Pediatrics. This material may be copied and utilized for
non-profit educational purposes so long as they are distributed in their
entirety without modification, with credit given to the Integrated Nutrition
Education Program, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, Department of
Pediatrics, and the USDA SNAP-Ed program.
“Every time you try something new your world gets a little bigger.” - Josh Rifkin, Teacher
Allowing students the hands on opportunity to help cut and prepare new foods, increases their willingness to try new foods.
Children are more likely to try new foods when they have a safe, positive and fun experience working with food.
Learning to like new foods is a process. Provide children with a small taste (1-2 bites) to start so as not to overwhelm them. It may take a few times for them to feel comfortable trying new foods.
Never force kids to take a taste, instead have a “No, thank you rule” in your classroom. Tasting a new recipe together as a class will naturally create positive peer pressure for hesitant students to try at least one bite.
Let children learn by having them cut up the fruits and vegetables, serve themselves, and assemble their own snacks.
Be a role model! Taste the snacks enthusiastically and let children know you like to try new foods too.
Encourage children to talk to their families about the foods they are trying. Send recipes home with students and remind them to show their family.
Make each lesson an opportunity to discuss with children ways they can be healthy. Help them come up with and voice their own plans and goals. Remind them they have the power to make healthy choices.
If you are interested in learning more about the successes INEP has made in making students, families and schools healthier, please feel free to read some of our Success Stories!
Back to TopTeachers who have used INEP lessons in their classrooms report that a majority of their students are:
More knowledgeable about nutrition
Able to make healthier meal or snack choices
More willing to try new foods
More willing to select fruits and vegetables in the lunchroom
Students are
not the only ones who are impacted by the nutrition lessons. Classroom teachers also report changes. This
is important because teachers are significant role models for the students.
Our program conducts evaluation each year. Take a closer look at our latest
Evaluation Results for the 2013-2014 Year.
