Hey there! So, March is rolling around again, which for a lot of us parents means one thing: Nutrition Month. Cue the collective groan from the kids, right? I used to dread it because trying to explain the benefits of fiber to a six-year-old is like trying to explain cryptocurrency to my grandma. It’s just not going to stick.
But over the years, I’ve figured out that if you want to get kids on board with healthy eating, you can’t just lecture them. You have to make it fun. You have to trick them into learning. 🙂 I’ve gathered up my favorite go-to activities that actually work with my own little monsters—I mean, angels—and I’m sharing them with you.
Whether you’re a teacher, a homeschool parent, or just someone staring at a head of broccoli wondering how to make it exciting, this list is for you. Here are 15 Nutrition Month activities that are engaging, informative, and most importantly, not boring.
Why Bother With Nutrition Activities?
Ever wonder why some kids will happily munch on bell peppers while yours acts like you’ve served them poison? A lot of it comes down to exposure and familiarity. Sitting them down with a food pyramid chart is a surefire way to make their eyes glaze over.
But if you let them play with their food? Build with it? Grow it? Suddenly, you’ve piqued their curiosity. Hands-on learning beats a lecture every single time. It turns “eating healthy” from a punishment into an adventure. FYI, it also gives you a solid 20 minutes of quiet time while they’re busy sorting beans. Win-win.
1. The “Eat the Rainbow” Scavenger Hunt
This is my absolute favorite way to kick off Nutrition Month. It’s visual, it’s active, and it gets them invested in the idea that food is colorful.
Head to the grocery store or your local farmer’s market armed with a list. Challenge your kid to find one food for every color of the rainbow. Red? Strawberries or tomatoes. Orange? Carrots or oranges. Yellow? Bell peppers or corn. You get the idea. Make it a competition: “I bet you can’t find a purple food that isn’t grapes!”
This subtly teaches them about phytonutrients and variety without ever using the big, scary words. Plus, they get to pick one of the items to try. I once had my son pick out purple cauliflower, which we brought home, roasted, and he actually ate because he chose it.
2. Build a Funny Face Plate
This is less of a structured activity and more of a daily challenge during March. Dinnertime becomes art class.
Use the plate as your canvas. Rice or mashed potatoes make a great base. Then, use veggies to build a face.
- Hair: Grated carrots or shredded lettuce.
- Eyes: Two cucumber slices or olives.
- Nose: A cherry tomato or a baby carrot.
- Mouth: Red pepper strips or a curved green bean.
The rule is, you have to eat the art. The goofier the face, the more likely they are to eat it. I’ve found that my kids are way less likely to complain about broccoli if it’s shaped into a silly mustache.
3. Food Group Sorting Games
Okay, this sounds like actual schoolwork, but trust me, it doesn’t have to be.
Print out pictures of different foods or, even better, raid your pantry and fridge. Grab a can of beans, a box of pasta, an apple, a yogurt, a piece of chicken. Then, grab four different colored bowls or hula hoops.
- Label them: Protein, Dairy, Fruit/Veggie, Grains.
- Have your child physically place the item into the correct hoop.
It’s a simple, kinetic activity that reinforces the food groups. I like to toss in some tricky ones, like pizza, and ask them which group most of it belongs to. (It usually ends up in the grain category in my house, much to my dismay.)
4. Grow a Kitchen Scrap Garden
You don’t need a yard to teach kids where food comes from. A sunny windowsill works just fine. This is a science experiment and a nutrition lesson rolled into one.
Save the bottoms of:
- Green onions: Place the white roots in a glass of water. They’ll regrow in days.
- Lettuce or Celery: Same thing! Put the cut end in a shallow dish of water.
- Avocado pit: Suspend it over water with toothpicks (this one takes forever, so it teaches patience).
Watching roots sprout and leaves regrow is magical for kids. It makes the food “theirs,” and they’re usually much more willing to taste the results. It’s a great way to talk about how plants give us energy and vitamins.
5. Create a “Try It” Tracker
Forget pressuring them to clean their plate. That never ends well. Instead, focus on the act of trying.
Create a simple chart with squares for each day of the month. The rule is simple: If they try one new healthy food (or a food they usually refuse) that day, they get a sticker.
- It doesn’t have to be a whole serving.
- It can be one tiny bite.
- No pressure to like it, just try it.
Bribery works wonders here. After they collect 10 stickers, they get a special reward. It could be a trip to the park or picking the movie on family night. I’ve seen my daughter try Brussels sprouts this way. She didn’t like them, but she tried them, and that’s a win in my book.
6. Smoothie Taste-Testing Challenge
Smoothies are the ultimate healthy-eating Trojan horse. You can hide a ton of stuff in them.
Make a base smoothie (banana, yogurt, milk) and then split it into several small cups.
- To one cup, add spinach.
- To another, add frozen blueberries.
- To another, add a spoonful of peanut butter.
- To another, add some grated carrot.
Let the kids be the judges. Have them taste each one and vote on their favorite. They’re always shocked that the green one (with spinach) tastes good. This opens up a conversation about how adding different ingredients changes the flavor and nutrition. IMO, the spinach one usually wins because it’s sweet if you have a good banana.
7. Superhero Power Meals
Ask any kid what their favorite superhero is. Then ask them what gives that hero their powers. Usually, it’s something silly like magic or radioactive spiders.
Redirect that energy into food. Talk about how real food gives us real powers.
- Carrots: Give you night vision (like a superhero!).
- Milk: Gives you strong bones (think Wolverine!).
- Spinach: Makes your muscles strong (like Popeye, or the Hulk!).
For dinner, challenge them to build a “Power Meal.” They have to choose at least one food for each power: one for vision, one for strength, one for energy. It gives them a sense of control and a reason to eat the food that isn’t just “because I said so.”
8. Blindfolded Taste Test Game
This is a great party game that doubles as a learning experience. Grab an assortment of healthy foods: apple slices, cheese cubes, a bit of dark chocolate, a grape, a piece of cucumber.
Blindfold your child (or have them close their eyes) and place a small piece of food in their hand.
- Can they guess what it is just by smell and touch?
- Now, let them taste it. Can they guess now?
It forces them to focus on the sensory aspects of food—the crunch, the smell, the texture—without being influenced by how it looks. We do this on rainy afternoons and it usually ends in giggles.
9. DIY Fruit and Veggie Stamping
Don’t throw out those veggie scraps after dinner! Use them for art.
Cut an apple in half horizontally to reveal the star inside. Use the base of a head of celery to make a rose pattern. A bell pepper half makes a cool clover shape. Cut a potato into fun shapes.
- Pour some washable paint onto a paper plate.
- Dip the vegetable in the paint.
- Stamp away on paper.
While they’re stamping, casually mention things like, “Did you know the apple that made that star shape gives you energy to run?” It’s sneaky learning at its finest.
10. Plan a “Backwards” Dinner
Kids love it when things are topsy-turvy. Announce that for one night, you’re having dessert first. But there’s a catch.
“Backwards Dinner” means you start with a small, healthy dessert (like a yogurt parfait with berries) and then move on to the main course. It’s silly and breaks all the rules, which makes it exciting. The main course is still healthy, but because they’ve already had a “treat,” the resistance to the meal often goes down. Just don’t make the dessert too big, or they won’t be hungry for the actual food. :/
11. Read Books About Food
Sometimes the best way to get a point across is through a story. There are some fantastic children’s books that talk about food in a fun, non-didactic way.
Grab some titles from the library for Nutrition Month.
- Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss: The ultimate book about trying new things.
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle: A classic for talking about how eating too much junk (like the caterpillar) makes you feel icky, but eating a nice green leaf makes you feel better.
- Gregory, the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat: A hilarious story about a goat who wants to eat junk food instead of tires and cans, which is actually a great way to discuss what “healthy” means.
Snuggle up and read together. It opens up a safe space to talk about their own food fears and favorites.
12. Make Your Own “Healthy” Pizza
Pizza is universally loved by children. It’s also a great vehicle for veggies if you let them take the wheel.
Set up a pizza bar:
- Base: Whole wheat pitas, English muffins, or pre-made pizza dough.
- Sauce: Tomato sauce or pesto.
- Cheese: Shredded mozzarella.
- Toppings: Diced bell peppers, mushrooms, spinach, cherry tomatoes, cooked chicken, olives.
Let them build their own pizza completely. You might be surprised at the combinations they come up with. My son once made a pizza that was half cheese, half mushrooms, and he actually ate the mushroom side because he built it. The act of creating it themselves is key.
13. Edible Food Sculptures
Get out the toothpicks and go a little nuts. This is the architecture project of nutrition activities.
Give your kid a plate of soft-ish foods:
- Building blocks: Cheese cubes, melon balls, cucumber chunks, grapes, berries, banana slices.
- Connectors: Pretzel sticks or toothpicks.
Challenge them to build a tower, a house, or an abstract sculpture. It’s a fantastic fine motor skill activity. And the best part? You get to eat the building materials when you’re done—or during, if you’re a hungry architect.
14. A Visit to a Local Farm or Market
If you have a local farm that offers tours, or even just a bustling farmer’s market, make a trip out of it.
Talk to the farmers. Let your kid ask them questions. Let them see that carrots come out of the dirt, not just a plastic bag. Connecting food to a person and a place is powerful. Let them pick out one vegetable they’ve never tried before. They’ll be way more invested in eating it because they chose it themselves and met the person who grew it.
15. Family Cookbook Challenge
Toward the end of the month, sit down as a family and talk about the new foods you tried.
- What was your favorite new recipe we made?
- What was the funniest food you tried?
- Which “power food” was the most delicious?
Write these down. You can even have the kids draw pictures of the meals. Compile these pages into a simple folder or binder. Call it “The [Your Last Name] Family Healthy Eats Cookbook.” It becomes a cherished keepsake and a reminder that healthy eating can be fun. We pull ours out whenever we’re in a dinner rut.
Making Healthy Habits That Last
Nutrition Month is a great catalyst, but the goal is always to build habits that stick around long after the calendar flips to April. You don’t have to do all 15 of these activities. Pick one or two that sound fun to you and your kids. The point isn’t perfection; it’s about creating positive associations with food.
Sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to get our kids to eat perfectly that we forget to enjoy the journey. Give yourself—and them—some grace. If a smoothie ends up on the ceiling or a food sculpture collapses into a pile of cheese cubes, just laugh it off. You’ve got this.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go convince my youngest that a hard-boiled egg is actually a dinosaur egg. Wish me luck!
