Get ready to go on a fun food adventure with Let’s Eat Healthy Together: Explore Dairy. Designed by Dairy Council of California in partnership with Lodi Unified School District, California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom and San Joaquin County Office of Education, Let’s Eat Healthy Together: Explore Dairy is a new no-cost resource bringing food education to life and is being utilized to celebrate National Farm to School Month in October.
The educational unit invites students to use their senses as they take a journey of food discovery through nutrition, agriculture and cultural traditions. The Let’s Eat Healthy Together: Explore Dairy unit complements nutrition education and farm-to-school efforts, highlighting the local, seasonal and nutritious dairy food group through tasty pairings with fruits and vegetables. Reconnecting children with where food comes from and how it reaches the table builds appreciation for the value of food, understanding of the food system and support for healthy eating patterns.
Dairy Council of CA Program Manager and content developer, Tracy Mendez, RDN explains further, “Let’s Eat Healthy Together: Explore Dairy is an exciting new resource that builds foundational learning experiences for healthy eating patterns. It provides positive interaction around food and references USDA’s MyPlate as a visual reminder to build eating patterns that are varied, balanced and customizable. The Explore Dairy unit complements Dairy Council of California’s Let’s Eat Healthy initiative and its cause to elevate the health of children and communities through the pursuit of lifelong healthy eating patterns.”
Let’s Eat Healthy Together: Explore Dairy is available at no-cost in digital formats. The Explore Dairy unit builds value for milk and dairy foods in a healthy, sustainable eating pattern through five lessons that include videos, taste tests, extension activities and more. Explore Dairy is offered in three grade-level adaptations: kindergarten–2nd grade, 3rd–5th grade and high school. Each lesson is 20 to 30 minutes with videos, discussion questions, tasting activities and additional extension activities. For more information and to order this no-cost resource, visit HealthyEating.org/ExploreDairy.
Dairy Council of California is a nutrition organization working together with champions to elevate the health of children and communities through lifelong healthy eating patterns. Focusing on education, advocacy, dairy ag literacy and collaboration, Dairy Council of California advances the health benefits of milk and dairy foods as part of the solution to achieving nutrition security and sustainable food systems.