Sesame Workshop offers suggestions to help children enjoy breakfast routines, with ideas for fun and nutritional breakfast ideas and healthy snacks to pack for the day.

Mary L. Gavin, MD, writing on the Nemours KidsHealth website, talks about why breakfast is so important for growing children. “Kids who eat breakfast tend to eat healthier overall and are more likely to be physically active – two great ways to help maintain a healthy weight. Skipping breakfast can make kids feel tired, restless, or irritable… Breakfast kick-starts the body’s metabolism, the process by which the body converts the fuel in food to energy. And when the metabolism gets moving, the body starts burning calories. And some studies suggest that bodies burn calories better in the morning than late at night.”

She stresses the value of choosing “breakfast foods that are rich in whole grains, fruits or vegetables, and protein while low in added sugar” and notes that, as well as helping children get more fibre, calcium and other important nutrients, eating breakfast improves memory and attention, helping kids learn more effectively.

Sesame Workshop provides a range of child-friendly resources to help enthuse children about making a healthy breakfast part of their regular routine.

·      The Monster Mornings video (ages 1 – 6) talks about Rosita and Rosa’s healthy morning routine and shows how the take moments between bites to connect and catch up and strengthen the parent-child bond.

·      Healthy Food Can Be Fun: The Tran Family video (ages 1 – 6) shows Micah, his friend Lana, and his mum Katie working together to make food fun and plan meals ahead, with a number of suggested ideas like “food faces”, pretend play, thinking ahead, fruit smoothies, and growing wheatgrass (which only takes a few days) in their kitchen to “green up” their smoothies.

·      Five recipes to download and print offer quick, nutritious snacks and meals made with inexpensive ingredients:

o   Abby’s Amazing Hummus

o   Bert and Ernie’s Saturday Morning Pancakes

o   Cookie Monster’s Carrot Bites

o   Grover’s Adorable Little Lentils

o   Rosita’s Mango Salsa

·      As well, Healthy Snacks on the Go offers suggestions for quick and easy snack ideas:

o   Oranges, seedless clementines, and mandarin oranges.

o   Apples

o   Cheese quesadilla slices (Make them for dinner and then eat the leftovers throughout the week!)

o   Rice cakes (Add peanut butter and raisins, or lean meat and cheese.)

o   Low-fat yogurt (Remember to pack a spoon!)

o   Cut carrots, cucumbers and bell peppers.

o   Whole-grain crackers (Add cheese, hummus, or peanut butter to make a longer- term energy boost.)

The site also offers an article with tips for feeding toddlers as their growth slows temporarily, appetite lessens, and they start developing their own food preferences https://sesameworkshop.org/resources/choosy-eaters/