Harvest project teaches kids healthy eating

Children at 23 preschools in the Oakland Unified School District are now snacking on healthy, farm-fresh California produce, courtesy of UC Cooperative Extension.

The extension's Harvest of the Month program kicked off March 13 at the International Child Development Center in Oakland, where kids got to toss and eat their own spinach salad.

Each month the schools will receive a different fresh vegetable or fruit for classroom snack time. Along with the produce, teachers will find curriculum tips for working the vegetable of the month into learning experiences.

The "S is for Spinach" lessons include directions for a leafy green game, the salad recipe and fun facts about spinach. (California grows half of all the spinach in the United States.) Nutritional information includes reasons to eat spinach.

The goal – in an era of rising childhood obesity and chronic illness – is to instill in young kids a taste for fresh vegetables and healthy eating habits.

"They have this opportunity in the classroom, where the children are able to maybe taste foods that they may not normally have in their daily diet, to have the enjoyment of preparing it," said Lynne Rodezno, director of Early Childhood Education for the Oakland school district. "There's also a huge component for language development, too, because there's conversation regarding whatever the item is, the recipe, where it came from, what you do with it."