Nutrition Activities for Infants
Although they can't make their own nutrition choices, infants can be taught about nutrition early. It's never too soon to create proper eating habits. Play food games with your infant and let him help you in the kitchen while you talk to him about the food you make and feed him. Most children develop an interest in food from their first taste of baby food, so it isn't difficult to engage your baby in learning about nutrition.
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Using Senses
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Teach your infant to use all his senses when examining nutritious food. Provide several healthy food choices, such as a banana or a cracker. Encourage your baby to touch the objects, and explain to him how they are different. For example; tell him the banana is soft and squishy, while the cracker is rough and hard, but easy to break. Talk to him about the objects' colors, and allow him to taste the food if he's old enough.
Kitchen Helper
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Develop the baby's interest in cooking nutritious food by allowing your infant to help you in the kitchen. Prepare a healthy snack, such as peanut butter balls. Mix 1 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 cup dry powdered milk, 1/2 cup raisins, crushed graham crackers and chocolate milk powder in a bowl. Give your baby spoons to bang around while you mix. Let him hold and lick one of your spoons, as well. Give him his own small bowl full of the mixture, and encourage him to squish it with his hands. Roll the mixture into balls, then sprinkle some chocolate-milk powder on a table. Roll the balls gently through the powder. Show the infant how the food he helped you mix can become a quick, healthy snack.
Show and Tell
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Buy samples of the food you serve to your infant in baby-food form. For example; if your baby likes sweet potato baby food, buy a sweet potato in your grocery store's produce section. When you feed him his baby food, show him the sweet potato and talk to him about why it is healthy. Discuss how it tastes, describe the color and tell him how its vitamins keep him strong and healthy. Cook some of the vegetable for yourself so he sees you eating the healthy vegetables with him.
Picture Play
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Print pictures of healthy and unhealthy foods or cut them out of magazines. Mix them up on the floor, and ask your infant to help you pick out the healthy foods. You have to show him all the healthy foods at first, but he will quickly learn to point to the right foods and eventually move them into groups. Also, laminate your printed pictures and glue a magnet on the back of each, so you can use them on your refrigerator or a magnetic white board. Your baby can help you move the magnets into healthy and unhealthy food groups.
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