Early Sprouts

Author: Sarah Pounders

"I hope we’re making greens today. I miss having greens."

"I just love bell peppers. Do you have any more?

"I prefer to eat chard raw."

Have you ever heard comments like these from your own preschoolers or any you've worked with? These young kids are excited about eating vegetables, and they owe their enthusiasm to the Early Sprouts Program developed at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire. Early Sprouts focuses on hands-on gardening and using fresh food as a unifying concept to give kids the full "seed to table" experience of growing, harvesting, preparing, and enjoying nutritious seasonal produce. The children’s new appreciation for vegetables, paired with positive evaluation results, gives hope to parents and early childhood educators everywhere that it’s possible to reverse the alarming nationwide decline in the health of today’s youth. This outstanding program recently received a $500 Healthy Sprouts award sponsored by NGA and Gardener's Supply Company.

"The current obesity epidemic is the fastest-growing public health concern in the United States," says Karrie Kalich, assistant professor of health science at Keene State. "Some of the most dramatic increases are observed among preschool-age children. The prevalence of obesity in this age group has more than doubled in the past 30 years. Only 1 percent of preschool-age children meet all of the dietary recommendations established by the USDA."

The work of Kalich’s team, comprised of nutrition and early childhood faculty, was inspired by her experience working at a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program on an organic farm. Each week, community members, who had paid at the beginning of the growing season for a share in the harvest, picked up their produce. Kalich saw something special happening. "I observed their excitement… It seemed like such an ideal setting, and people felt attached to it. So I decided, ‘Why not teach nutrition through the garden?’ It provides opportunities to introduce practical discussions about what people should eat more and less of, without overwhelming them with the medical side of nutrition education.”

Repetition is Key
Early Sprouts focuses on six target vegetables: carrots, green beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, Swiss chard, and butternut squash. The target crops are grown in schoolyard raised beds. Each week, teachers focus on one of the vegetables through activities that help students learn about the new food by using all their senses. Next, they have a cooking lesson during which they prepare and taste nutritious and delicious dishes featuring that vegetable. Finally, they create a kit that includes all the ingredients and the recipe for students to take home. In the process, each vegetable is highlighted four times, and this repetition helps children grow familiar with the new food.

Every activity provides an element that's key to changing eating behaviors. Gardening provides students with a strong connection to the food, plus enthusiasm and a sense of pride from growing it themselves. Sensory experiences help students overcome their innate wariness of new foods through hands-on exploration. The cooking lesson, during which children participate as much as possible in the measuring, cutting, mixing, and serving, instills a sense of accomplishment and provides multiple opportunities and ways to taste the new foods. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the take-home kit engages family members, who are usually the biggest influence on a child's eating habits.

"We chose to focus on young children because they’re just starting to form their eating habits, and guiding the development of healthful habits is much easier than trying to change poor ones,” says Kalich. This group is ripe for learning, too. “Between the ages of two and five years, children become increasingly responsive to external cues about what and how much they should eat."

The preschoolers also learn age-appropriate academic content and practice motor skills as they explore plant life cycles, measure and count recipe ingredients, draw pictures of what they find in the garden, and exercise their bodies as they dig, weed, and explore.

A Take-Home Lesson
The first students involved in the Early Sprouts curriculum were at the Keene State College Child Development Center, and now the program is being piloted at a second nonprofit preschool and at three Head Start centers. The results are very promising: questionnaires, taste-tests, and focus groups show positive changes in participating students’ food preferences, and an increase in fruit and vegetable availability and consumption at home. In addition, 6 of the 40 families started gardens at home after the experience.

The program’s impact reaches far beyond the participating children, as one parent’s comment reveals: "Katie (four years old) and her seven-year-old brother helped me make the sesame green beans. The whole family ate it, even my husband — the I-won't-eat-anything-green person!"

In a society where the diet is dominated by fast food, the challenge of altering eating behaviors is great, and the need for change is crucial. The Early Sprouts program is a testament to the fact that it can be accomplished, one garden at a time.

The Early Sprouts Curriculum is available from Red Leaf Press. Along with the sensory and cooking lessons, it includes detailed background information explaining the theory behind the program and instructions for preparing educators and involving parents.  

A Sample Recipe from Early Sprouts Confetti Corn Muffins Ingredients: Vegetable oil cooking spray 1/2 bell pepper 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese 1 cup cornmeal (fine milled) 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1-1/2 cups nonfat plain yogurt 3 tablespoons honey 2 large eggs 3 tablespoons canola or safflower oil Preparation: 1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat muffin tins with vegetable oil spray. 2. Wash and finely dice bell pepper, discarding seeds. Grate cheese. Set pepper and cheese aside. 3. Combine cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in large mixing bowl. 4. Whisk together yogurt, honey, eggs, and oil in medium mixing bowl. 5. Create a well in center of the dry ingredients and pour in the yogurt mixture. Gently stir batter until all dry ingredients are incorporated. Do not overstir. Gently fold 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese into the batter. 6. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the diced bell peppers onto the tops of the uncooked muffins, followed by the remaining 1/4 cup cheese. 7. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pans.