Where Does Food Come From?

Get out this month and explore farms and farmers markets in your area. Seeing food freshly picked from the field or even still growing in the field shows your preschooler the connection between the earth and food.

Find a local farm:

http://www.localharvest.org/

http://www.eatwellguide.org/

Play How Does It Grow?

On a plant? On a tree? Underground? This game is a fun way to introduce food origins to your preschooler.

Plant a Small Garden

Starting a vegetable garden may be overwhelming, but let your preschooler help you plant just one or two items this Spring. Try easy-to-grow foods like strawberries, beans, lettuce, carrots, or mint (grow mint in a container so it doesn't invade your yard!) Or plant and herb garden. Find out how at Preschool Science: Preschool Earth Day Science - Starting an Herb Garden

Eat Local and Organic

Organic foods are produced without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are hard on the earth. Foods grown locally require less energy to get from the field to your plate - a good choice for helping to preserve Earth's resources.

Visit a local farmer's market or grocer that carries locally-grown foods in your area:

http://www.localharvest.org/

http://www.eatwellguide.org/

Make a What's in Season Calendar

Create this calendar so you don't miss the tasty produce in season each month!

Join a CSA - Community Supported Agriculture

You can join a CSA and receive a weekly basket of produce grown by local farmers. You'll get to enjoy whatever crops are growing that week.

http://www.localharvest.org/

Enjoy seasonal recipes

http://www.seasonalrecipes.com/

I'm Kati Chevaux, the Nutrition writer at PreschoolRock.com. Let's talk about how to how to help our preschoolers eat well and develop life-long healthy eating habits. Contact me with your preschool nutrition questions and healthy eating ideas.

Helpful Tips for Parents

• Serve new foods alongside accepted foods. A new food appearing next to something the child loves reduces threat and increases willingness to try.

• Breakfast is the most reliably linked meal to cognitive performance in school-age children. Prioritize a protein- and fiber-rich breakfast every morning.

• Never use food as reward or punishment. "Eat your vegetables and you can have dessert" trains children to see vegetables as a barrier and dessert as the goal.

• Family meals where everyone eats the same food are the most powerful eating behavior intervention available. Children whose families eat together have better diets across childhood and adolescence.

Frequently Asked Questions

My preschooler will only eat 5–6 foods. Is this concerning?

Accepting fewer than 20 foods is considered selective eating that may warrant attention from a feeding therapist. If a child eats 5–6 foods, is not growing appropriately, has intense anxiety around mealtimes or new foods, or has textures they physically gag on (not just dislike), evaluation by a feeding specialist or occupational therapist is appropriate. For children who eat 10–15 varied foods across food groups without significant distress, continued exposure without pressure is the recommended approach.

How much dairy should a preschooler consume per day?

The USDA recommends 2–2.5 cups of dairy per day for ages 2–8. This can include: cow's milk, plant-based milk (check for calcium fortification), yogurt, and cheese. Whole milk until age 2; 2% or low-fat is appropriate from age 2 onward. Calcium needs for preschoolers are 700–1000 mg/day — most children meet this through regular dairy consumption and fortified foods. Calcium-rich non-dairy options: fortified plant milks, canned fish with bones (salmon, sardines), edamame, and tofu.

Related reading: See also our breakfast ideas guide and our rainbow snack board guide for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 🌿 Where Food Comes From — Understanding that food grows from seeds, is harvested, and travels to the table connects children to the natural systems that sustain all human life — and measurably increases willingness to eat vegetables children have grown.
• 🥦 Healthy Food Knowledge — Learning about different foods, food groups, and what nutrients do in the body builds the food literacy that supports a lifetime of informed, health-conscious eating choices.
• 😊 Positive Relationship with Food — Joyful, pressure-free food experiences build the positive relationship with eating that underlies lifelong nutritional health — and is far more protective against disordered eating than any restriction-based approach.
• 🍽️ Independence & Life Skills — Learning to serve themselves, pour a drink, or prepare a simple snack builds practical independence and the self-care capability that kindergarteners need to manage their own nutrition during the school day.

Earth Day is a time to think about our planet, our environment, and what we can do to preserve our precious resources. What better way to celebrate the earth than to help your preschooler see the connection between the food on their plate and the earth. Crops need the earth to grow, farm animals need crop plants to grow, and those foods find there way to our dinner table. Expose your preschooler to how food is grown by visiting a local farm, eating food grown locally or organically from the farmer's market, talking about food during meals and snacks, and enjoying the fresh produce in-season.