Jill Eisenberg, MS, RD, CDN, provides the nutrition education for National Nutrition Month at her children’s K-5 elementary school.

The theme “Eat a Rainbow” focuses on eating more fruits and vegetables. Jill decorated the halls with colorful fruit and vegetable balloons and posters. She provided the teachers with various Web sites and lesson plans. Educational handouts were sent home in the backpacks, and there were fun activities that the kids were involved with during art, music, library, and physical education periods. Art projects included colorful drawings of fruits and vegetables displayed on a wall outside of the cafeteria in the form of a rainbow, still-life sketches of fruit and/or vegetable baskets, and paper-mache fruits and vegetables.

The school librarian displayed books about nutrition and handed out bookmarks. The school held the American Heart Association Jump-rope-a-thon in gym class with a fresh fruit snack. Jill also had the cafeteria set up a make-your-own-salad day, and they had food sampling in the cafeteria such as vegetable lasagna, veggies with dip and yogurt parfaits. During lunchtime, Jill used the cafeteria as a classroom with a very short lesson followed by giving out stickers and a “high five” to reinforce the need for 5-a-day.

One fun classroom competition is called the “Sticker Challenge,” when each classroom competes to fill up a chart with as many of the stickers that come off of fresh fruit and vegetables. The class with the most stickers wins Jill’s version of a “goody” bag (magnets, pencils, stickers and a healthful snack).