These Books About Healthy Eating for kids are so full of bright and colorful pictures of fruits and vegetables! While I don't think that you should talk obsessively about healthy eating to your children, there's absolutely nothing wrong with providing them with basic information about nutrition. These books may be just the thing to encourage your children to try a new fruit or veggie along with their dinner tonight!
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Go, Go, Grapes! & Rah, Rah, Radishes! by April Pulley Sayre
My favorite thing about these book is that they uses real photographs, taken at a farmer's market to show the huge variety of fruits and veggies out there! The text is made up of simple but clever rhymes that cover both common and uncommon fruits and vegetables. My one problem with these books is that you have to turn the page in order to complete each rhyming phrase. It's not a huge deal, but it would be nicer if complete page spread completed each rhyme.
Are You What You Eat? by DK Publishing
This is a really cool book for middle or upper elementary students, or even middle school students. Like everything from DK Publishing, Are You What You Eat? has loads of great picture, infographics, charts and graphs along with well presented information. This book covers a history of food, building blocks of the human body, how our bodies react to and use different types of food, and information about making healthy food choices. I LOVE this book, and while Lena and Maggie aren't quite old enough to really understand much of the information, it's one that we'll definitely be purchasing in the coming years.
The Fruits We Eat & The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons
Gail Gibbons is a fantastic non-fiction children's writer who has dozens of books about every topic under the sun! In The Fruits We Eat and The Vegetables We Eat, Gibbons tackles different kinds of fruits and vegetables, how they are grown, and how they are harvested. This book provides just a little bit of information about the health benefits of eating fruit and veggies, but the beautiful illustrations may encourage your children to try something new! I liked how Gibbons included whether or not different plants were annuals or perennials, as other interesting fruit and veggie facts!
What's So Yummy? All About Eating Well and Feeling Good by Robie Harris
I love this book! It features a family of 5 shopping and going on a picnic. The text provides information about healthy eating, while dialogue bubbles from the children in the illustrations move the narrative along and provide extra bits of information. This book features breastfeeding, vegetarianism, the benefits of rest, food allergies, and gluten intolerance. This is clearly a modern and very well balanced healthy eating book!
The Berenstain Bears And Too Much Junk Food by Stan & Jan Berenstain
We have read this book to Lena and Maggie dozens of times over the years. They love the Berenstein Bears! In this story, Mama notices that the cubs have developed some poor eating habits so she decides it's time for a change. She stocks up on healthy choices and takes the cubs to visit the doctor to learn about different kinds of foods and what they do for our bodies. Overall, it's a great book. However, there is a bit of talk about "getting chubby" and "growing out rather than up." We simply edit those parts as we read to keep the focus on health rather than outward appearance.
How Did That Get In My Lunchbox?:The Story Of Food by Chris Butterworth
This book explains where food actually comes from! It traces the path of several common foods from the ground, through a processing or packing plant, and into kids' lunchboxes. I think it's great to get kids thinking about the food industry!
Eating The Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
Lois Ehlert is one of our favorite authors and illustrators. This book is a gem, with bright colorful collage style pictures of loads of fruits and veggies, from A to Z. While it doesn't address healthy eating, the bright pictures and simple words (just the names of the fruits and veggies) make this a good book for toddlers.! This book features common fruits and veggies, but also unique ones that we don't get to see in the supermarket.
Good Enough To Eat: A Kid's Guide To Food And Nutrition by Lizzie Rockwell
This is a great book for elementary aged children, full of age appropriate information about nutrition and healthy foods. It covers why we need to eat, how food works in our bodies, the benefits of proteins, carbohydrates, & starches, as well as many different vitamins and minerals. This book is old enough to include the food pyramid instead of the more current "My Plate" but you can address those differences with your child if you feel it's important.
Do you know of any other great books about healthy eating? Tell me in the comments below!
You May Also Be Interested In:
Resources For Choosing Children's Books
Eight Food And Nutrition Theme Preschool Activities from Stay At Home Educator
Teaching Your Toddler To Love Healthy Eating from The Military Wife And Mom
A Balanced Approach To Healthy Eating For Kids from A Mother Far From Home
From Other Great Bloggers:
Healthy Eating Tips + Free Printable Chart from Powerful MotheringEight Food And Nutrition Theme Preschool Activities from Stay At Home Educator
Teaching Your Toddler To Love Healthy Eating from The Military Wife And Mom
A Balanced Approach To Healthy Eating For Kids from A Mother Far From Home