23 March 2012—Brooklyn, New York, USA— March is home of National Nutrition Month.  It is a month spent teaching families about the importance of well balanced nutrition, proper exercise, and movement.   At Garden of Knowledge Day Care & Learning Center students are being educated about the importance of healthy food choices and exercise through a variety of lessons, activities, and organized workouts.  The children ran with the ‘get your plate in shape’ theme from eatright.org and have continued to impress family and friends with their new found knowledge and skills.

One of the first activities children participated for Nutrition Month was “Run and Grab.”  In preparation for “Recipe Days” students were engaged in this activity which incorporated physical activity while having students identify different fruits and vegetables, by categorizing the foods in their respected baskets.  The completion of this activity led the children to apply their knowledge as they created their own nutritious meals during the well known ‘Recipe Days’.

On those days, children put on their personalized chef hats, their Garden of Knowledge aprons, and then got hands on with preparing their own healthy meals. While preparing meals and snacks such as a fresh fruit salad to whole wheat mini pizzas to “Cocoa-nut” bananas, students learned that eating healthy was fun and delicious at the same time acquiring essential skills.  “I think she will be a great chef!” says Vianka Biales (a parent at Garden of Knowledge commenting on her daughter’s work).

The other side of Nutrition Month at Garden of Knowledge sheds light on physical fitness.  Children learned the importance of movement and different styles of exercise plans.  Through relay races, dance, specialized work outs such as the Boot Camp Children Edition, and during simple outdoor play, the children were able to grasp the many ways they can stay fit daily.