Gloria’s program
includes growing, harvesting and cooking vegetables. Not
only do students feed their bodies with healthy nutrition,
they also feed their minds with knowledge about growing vegetables
and the benefits of healthier snacks. In an interview
Gloria told us “…the healthy party stemmed from
my desire for the kids to have a delicious and diverse menu
and I wanted the kids to leave with a positive and
lasting impression of vegetables.”
Q: Gloria, how did you go about planning your
party?
A: We researched healthy recipes and planned a rainbow
menu with lots of colorful fruits and vegetables.
Q: What party foods did you include?
A: We had three fun cooking stations: rainbow salad, sparkling
drinks, and healthy trail mix. For Station One, we
picked fresh vegetables, mixed herbs, and mung bean sprouts
from our garden. In Station Two, we
made natural soda by using a half cup club soda and a half
cup 100 percent all natural fruit juice. We used frozen
fruit as our ice cubes. In Station Three, children
made a healthy trail mix which included all food groups.
The children loved making their own individual party snacks.
They were excited to share the recipes and samples with
their families.
Q: What challenges did you face and how did you
overcome them?
A: Cleaning up can be a challenge but doing it together really
does work. Other challenges included having a limited
budget and resources, so I focused my teaching on nutritious,
low cost, easy recipes.
Parents and teachers can work together to educate and
nourish our students with fun and healthy parties. Gloria’s
final advice: JUST DO IT! Make things that you enjoy. Your
passion will come through and the kids will relate even
more.
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