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.

• A preschooler who eats very few foods (Related reading: See also our cooking projects guide and our smoothie recipes guide for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 🥦 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.
• 🧁 Kitchen Science & Math — Cooking is applied chemistry and physics: watching bread rise, butter melt, or egg whites stiffen teaches cause-and-effect science while measuring cups and counting portions deliver authentic math in context.
• 🌈 Sensory Exploration — Experiencing the tastes, textures, smells, and colors of different foods expands sensory tolerance and — over many exposures — is the most evidence-based pathway to accepting previously rejected foods.
• 🧪 Science Literacy — Understanding where food comes from, how cooking changes its properties, and what nutrients do in the body connects food experiences to biology, chemistry, and the broader scientific understanding of the natural world.

Some foods are naturally nutrient dense – they contain a significant amount of one or more important nutrients relative to the calories they provide. The nutrient dense foods you see on this list go a long way in helping your preschooler meet his/her nutrient needs each day. They are minimally processed and were chosen because they contain nutrients important for preschoolers. They are easy to eat and popular with many young children.

While eating a variety of foods is a good thing, preschoolers are known to be picky eaters. The pickiest eaters may eat only four or five favorite foods. What's fortunate for preschoolers, and what keeps preschooler food jags from being the diet dilemma many parents believe them to be, is that some of the most popular preschooler foods are also nutrient dense. But based on national surveys, preschoolers are eating lots of foods with lower nutrient density like crackers, cookies, french fries, and fruit juice. Try replacing some of the lower quality foods in your child's diet with the choices below and help your preschooler get all the nutrients s/he needs.

Peanut Butter

Peanut butter is an all-time preschooler favorite. Fortunately, peanut butter has lots of protein, healthy fats, minerals, fiber, and vitamins. All this in a couple tablespoons. Don't feel bad spreading this power food on bread, apples, bananas, or celery!

Other Nut and Seed Butters

Think of nuts and seeds as little storage units for nutrients. Almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, and hazelnut butter are great alternatives to peanut butter but with the same healthy fats, minerals, fiber and vitamins.

Low-Fat Milk

You already know milk is a great source of calcium for your growing preschooler. It's also a high-protein food and provides two more nutrients important for your preschooler - vitamin D and potassium.

Oatmeal

Try adding plain oatmeal to your preschooler's breakfast routine. Oatmeal is a great whole grain with protein, fiber and minerals. Mix in other goodies like berries, a scrambled egg, or dried fruit for more flavor and nutrient power!

Most Fruits and Vegetables

Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is good diet advice for anyone. By helping your preschooler learn to enjoy fruits and vegetables, you'll be giving them a taste for low-calorie, nutrient-dense foods for life. Focus on fruits and vegetables in season for automatic variety through the year.

Soybeans and Other Beans

Beans have all the nutrition of other plant foods but are also high in protein, making them a great substitute for meat. Add refried beans for a nutrient-dense cheese quesadilla, make boiled soybeans (edamame) for a fun snack or side dish, or make white chicken chili.

Tofu

Tofu is not for vegetarians only! It's got the nutrients of soybeans and is easy to prepare. Saute tofu slices in a little oil for a bland meal suited to picky preschoolers, or let them pick up flavor by using cubes of tofu in most mixed dishes.

Low-fat Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese has the calcium and protein of milk but can be used as a great dish for mixing in other healthy foods. Try adding pears, grapes, berries, or even tuna fish for great preschooler mini-meals.

Eggs

Scrambled or hard-boiled, breakfast or dinner, eggs can be a healthy part of your preschooler's diet. High-quality protein, vitamins, and minerals make eggs an easy-to-eat staple food for your little one.

Yogurt

Low-fat yogurt is another option for helping your preschooler meet his/her calcium needs. Just watch out for the added sugar in commercial brands. Try plain, unsweetened yogurt mixed with fruit or granola for a better alternative.

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.