The Marshall University Nutrition Education Program has launched a weekly video campaign on Facebook aimed at providing free, healthy resources for families with children affected by the pandemic.
Alicia Fox, director of the university’s Nutrition Education Program, said during these unconventional times parents and guardians may find it difficult to educate and entertain their children at the same time. Fox said they wanted to create these videos as a way to help bring education and entertainment together in a healthy way.
“These videos continue the delivery of our message about the importance of eating healthy and making good nutritional choices. As a continuation to the programming we provide in schools, our hope is that our videos will not only educate students, but also their families,” Fox said. “In addition to providing education on the different food groups, we also felt it was important to offer cooking demonstrations as well as gardening ideas so families can be engaged during the quarantine.”
To date, the topics covered include weekly book readings as well as gardening and cooking demonstrations, which have included kid-friendly smoothies.
“On April 14, we started ‘Taste Test Tuesday’ to encourage everyone to try something new,” Fox said. “Every Tuesday, we will show an example of a new food and how to prepare that food, but families will be encouraged to have children try something new they already have at home.”
Interested families can visit the Marshall University Nutrition Education Program Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Marshall-University-Nutrition-Education-Program-389105691159114/.