Research shows the benefits of a healthy diet and exercise, and its effect on learning. In honor of National Eat Your Vegetables Day, June 17th,  BOKS (Build Our Kids’ Success) is sharing tips with parents to educate their kids about the importance of eating vegetables, as well as ways to make eating vegetables more exciting.

Below is a BOKS Bits Snack Quiz.  BOKS, Build Our Kids’ Success, an initiative of Reebok and the Reebok Foundation, is a free before-school physical activity program.  BOKS was founded on the principle Active Kids = Active Minds, and was created by a group of moms after reading Dr. John Ratey’s book Spark, which states that “exercise is the single most powerful tool that we have to optimize the function of our brains.” The goal of the BOKS program is to enhance academic performance and the overall health of kids through physical activity. The program, run by moms, dads, P.E. teachers and all other types of volunteers in local communities, is simple to implement. BOKS is currently in close to 1,000 schools around the world.

Objective

To discuss how to test if a snack is a super healthy one.

Discussion Questions

1. I am going to tell you a way to help you choose a super healthy snack.

2. Take your snack out of the package or the wrapper if it has one.

3. Go over to the kitchen sink and turn on the water, run your snack under the water!!!!!

4. Can you still eat it??

5. If yes, it is probably a super choice; if no, maybe you can make a different choice.

6. What are some things that would be ok to eat after you run under water? Fruits and vegetables, such as apples, grapes, strawberries, carrots and peppers, hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, nuts (if no allergies) ….

7. What would not be ok to eat? Cookies, potato chips, donuts, Twinkies ….

8. Another test could be if the food you are eating gets stuck in your teeth, then it is not a good choice either. (This can be in response to lollipops or candy being ok to eat after running them under water.)

Homework Assignment

Think about this when you get home from school today and see if you can make a really super choice!