Seven ways to incorporate nutrition into the school day

1. Incorporate the theme into the lesson

Nutrition can be incorporated into many lessons. For example, in a language lesson, give students an assignment to write a paper about their favourite healthy meal or environmentally friendly food. In maths, you could give students an assignment involving calculations with units of vegetables, fruit or other food products. Or have them calculate the number of kilocalories per serving of their favourite healthy snack.

2. Go out together

A visit to a market with young children can be a great learning adventure, from the journey there to carrying the eggs back to school. There, they can read and hear all kinds of things about food and count how many tomatoes or peppers they need. “Back at school, the vegetables were washed, cut and cooked. By allowing the children to do a lot themselves, the teachers introduce them to the importance of healthy nutrition in a playful way.” Read the experience story Going to the market with young children from CBS De Tamboerijn in Gorinchem.

3. Go on an educational visit

There may be businesses nearby that welcome classes for tours and explanations, allowing students to learn more about the ins and outs of companies that work with food products. Think of a farm, butcher's shop, fruit grower or mill. On Boerderijeducatienederland.nl, you can search for opportunities nearby. Not enough time to go out with the whole class? Then invite a guest speaker to your school, such as a chef from a local restaurant or a farmer. For inspiration, visit Smaaklessen.nl and look under ‘Kok in de Klas’.

4. Use a Healthy School activity

View the overview of Healthy School activities for the Nutrition theme and select a suitable activity. For example, take a look at GrowWizzKid. This teaches children to grow and prepare vegetables themselves. In addition to the importance of healthy nutrition, topics such as food safety, food quality and food waste are also addressed. Another Healthy School activity is EU Schoolfruit. The school receives fruit and vegetables three times a week for students to taste and learn about. There are many more activities in the overview.

5. Involve the teaching assistant

A teaching assistant can specialise in the theme. This colleague can then welcome groups of students in a space such as the kitchen classroom or a regular classroom. Teaching assistant Mitchell Keizerweerd from Odyssee Almere explains how he spends two hours every day developing a programme around the Healthy School activity Smaaklessen: “Both children and their parents are enthusiastic.”

6. Focus on drinking water

Many schools pay sufficient attention to drinking water at school. Some schools hand out a water bottle to the children, while others make posters reminding students to drink enough water. You can also address drinking water in the newsletter or have the children make a drawing or collage. Decorating the water is also popular: adding different vegetables and fruit to a water jug each time, such as mint, a slice of lemon or berries.

7. Combine gardening with cooking and tasting

Do you have a school garden? What could be more fun than preparing the harvest together and then enjoying it? Cooking and tasting together encourages students to experiment with flavours and ingredients and sparks their interest in the origins of food and the cultural practices surrounding it. Tasting and cooking are valuable components of food education. Take a look at the teaching materials and practical stories on the Cooking and Tasting and Gardening pages of Jong Leren Eten. The Jong Leren Eten incentive grant is available to all primary, special, secondary and vocational education schools.