Grow It, Try It, Like It! Introduces Preschoolers to Fruits and Vegetables

Grow It, Try It, Like It! is a garden-themed nutrition education program that introduces children in schools, pre-school and daycare centers, afterschool programs and community agencies to three fruit-- peaches, strawberries, and cantaloupe, and three vegetables--spinach, sweet potatoes, and crookneck squash.  Lessons are based on the “Imaginary Tasty Acres Farm” where participants color the map showing Crookneck Squash Row, Spinach Lane, Sweet Potato Hill, Cantaloupe Corner, Peach Tree Orchard, and the Strawberry Patch as each unit is covered.

The program includes hands-on, planting, and nutrition education activities. Because the routine food choices of young children are determined by their families and adult care givers, Grow It, Try It, Like It! links activities with resources for use at home.  Growing at Home materials keep parents informed about what their children are learning during the day. Each set promotes continued growth at home through child/parent-centered activities and recipes. 

To view Grow It, Try It, Like It!, go to [1]https://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/grow-it-homes [2] [1]. To learn more, contact Heather Buritsch (buritsch@umd.edu [3]) or call 410-715-6903.

The Grow It, Try It, Like It curriculum is utilized in conjunction with these SNAP-Ed initiatives:

Healthy Tots, Healthy Families [4] and Healthy School Communitities [5]