Teaching Kids The ABC’s Of Essential Vitamins
Kids are smart! Teaching them what healthy food can do for them is an inspiring way to get them excited about eating good food. One thing I love to teach when I’m visiting classrooms is about which Vitamins are essential, and WHY we need them! Not only do the kids get it, they start looking for foods they need for the essentials. So, for another Letter-V post, it’s vital to talk Vitamins!
To start, I have different foods that are high in essential vitamins (or photos or flashcards). The discussion starts with:
“Essential Vitamins are the ones that our bodies can not make itself. We must get these vitamins from foods! This is why it’s so important to eat foods that have essential vitamins. These include:”
| Essential Vitamins: | Purpose | Which Foods Have it? |
| A | Keeps our eyes, skin, teeth, and bones healthy! | Yellow and orange foods like carrots. |
| B | Converts food into energy! | Meats, nuts, fish, dairy |
| C | Heals wounds, fights bugs! | Citrus fruits |
| D | Essential for strong bones and teeth! | Milk, Dairy and The SUN! |
| E | Keeps our Heart Healthy and arteries clean. | Nuts, avocados, pumpkin |
| K | Keeps our blood healthy and clotting properly | Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, eggs. |
A few charts I have found that can be helpful can be found here:
I also found this fun experiment you can do with your kids that can teach them visually what foods have Vitamin C
Vitamin C
You will need:
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 cup water
- iodine
- More water
- Eye dropper
- Medium sized bowl
- Several smaller bowls
- Crushed vitamin C tablet dissolved in 1 cup water
- Various beverages orange juice, orange soda, cranberry juice, grapefruit juice, punch, etc.
Mix 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch into 1 cup cold water; dissolve mixture by heating. Measure 1 cup water into a bowl add 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch mixture. Using an eye dropper add 4 drops of iodine and stir. The mixture should be a pale blue. Put 2 Tablespoons of the mixture into several small bowls. Using a clean eye dropper add the vitamin C solution to one of the blue mixtures. In another bowl add orange juice, another orange soda, etc. Make note of how many drops it takes before the blue color to disappear.
Discussion
and orange soda do not have vitamin C. If a food does not have vitamin C the solution
will not change color.
Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
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Love this post Amy!!
Thank you for posting these!!! I am always trying to tell my kids what the healthy foods we are eating will do for their bodies!
This is a great way to help explain why it’s important to choose healthy foods. Definitely going to try this.
I applaud you on your effort to get this information out to children. I feel that every public school should offer nutrition classes. Especially in light of the obesity problem we are now facing.
Great post, and I’m going to e’mail the link to a few people!
Not to be a ‘downer’, but since not everyone chooses to vaccinate against basic childhood illnesses, just want to share this re Vitamin A:
Apparently children who catch measles and have a good [up to par] Vitamin A level = very little issue – standard few days of rash and irritability then it’s done. The lower the Vitamin A level (and/or an existing health concern), the much higher potential for issues … and it could get bad.
Hope you don’t mind me posting. 🙂
Cheers
J
where can I get a copy of the visual in the Vitamins and MInerals Quiz?
It is specially formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of an infant or young child. If you are
concerned that the child is not gaining weight or growing well, you will need to consult with your doctor and/or dietitian. They will review the nutritional requirements of the child, depending on their age and medical condition, assess the nutrition being received from solid foods and then make changes if necessary.As due to nutritional deficiency lot of problem arises so it is better to take care that the child is getting all the nutrition.
Well,vitamin c has own importance in our life.I think vitamin C is best element for skin care and
protection of tissues so according to me that vegetarian foods,milk and fresh fruits are so good
for get the vitamin c….
It’s actually a cool and useful piece of information.
I’m satisfied that you simply shared this helpful info with us.
Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
Hi! Would you mind if I share your blog with my twitter
group? There’s a lot of people that I think would really appreciate your
content. Please let me know. Many thanks
Amazing things here. I’m very satisfied to see your post.
Thank you so much and I am taking a look ahead to
touch you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?
Do you have this information in spanish
Sorry Leslie, I don’t.
Spanish please
It was such a nice blog with lots of information about the balance diet of a person and the interesting thing is that you should cover or give information about the vitamins which are very important for our body. Thanks
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Hi Stella,
Here is a great place to start for Spanish resources. Espero que ayude! 🙂
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/en-espanol-4.html
See my response below Leslie.
This is a great resource! I like how you put it in such kid-friendly terms! I was not able to get to a link on the last two images. I would love to print them if there is a current link available. Thank you!
I absolutely loved this breakdown of information. I’m a preschool teacher & I needed something for science today. I googled the topic & found this. However, I was not allowed to download the middle chart showing the catergories. Thank you so much!