A Rainbow of Healthy Fun: Farmers Market

It’s not every day we get to announce a new initiative, so we’re especially honored to share with you the details of our new Farmers Market. After a successful pilot attempt at Nevada Youth Network last year, and thanks to recent grants from organizations like Vegas Golden Knights Foundation and Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation, we were able to officially launch the first of many Farmers Markets to come.

Our Farmers Markets provide us with a new way to engage with kids who are not currently receiving our nutrition education classes via a one-day condensed nutrition education lesson, food tasting, and mini-farmers market. Take a walk with us through our first official day of class and learn all about our newest initiative to hit the schools! 

First grade students at Manuel Cortez Elementary School entered the school cafeteria to find a tasty snack ready for them. Ms. Momii, our nutrition education partner at University of Nevada, Reno Extension, led the students in a guided tasting of arugula, spinach, and orange. The kids were encouraged to squeeze the orange on top of the arugula and spinach, then tried each piece one by one to determine their individual qualities, analyzing with all five of their senses. Some students loved the snack more than others as there were quite a few empty napkins by the end, but in the end, it’s all about exposing the students to fruits and veggies.

After the tasting, Ms. Momii introduces the students to a fun new challenge, something they can try at home and share with the family. They will munch their way through a rainbow of colors for the next week. Each color of produce has a different health benefit. Red fruits and vegetables help boost your heart, joints, and memory, while green helps with bones, immunity, teeth, eyes, and so on… Mrs. Momii walked the children through each color of the rainbow and its corresponding health benefits. Now the work is on them… they’ll spend the next week eating one fruit or vegetable from each color of the rainbow and track it on an activity sheet provided. The students were also given a new healthy eating activity called “Lemon Says”. Similar to Simon Says, the kids pick one card each day and do the healthy activity on the card. Options include Jumping Jacks, Sit-ups, Mindful Breathing, and more. Students who both munch their way through the rainbow and participate in the Lemon Says game over the next week can return their sheet to earn a prize. They were mighty excited about this and all promised to do their part this next week. 

Next up, the Rainbow Farmers Market! The students were given red and green tokens to redeem for different produce options relating to the Fall  season.  By the end, they walked away with a reusable grocery bag* filled with fruits and vegetables from the color of the rainbow including: Jicama, Red Pears, Sweet Potatoes, Golden Kiwi, Snap Peas, Arugula & Spinach, and Canned Blueberries. The canned blueberries are a fun new way to introduce kids to the fruit. We promote that you don’t have to eat only fresh fruits and vegetables to get the health benefits; canned, dried, and frozen options can be just as healthy as long as they are preserved in the right way. The blueberries were authentic Wild Maine Blueberries with no sugar added and packed in water to naturally preserve berries and extend shelf life. By the end, the kids’ bags were full of fresh fruits and vegetables that would help them on their journey to munch their way through the rainbow.

Our reusable grocery bags complete the concept with its custom design of nutrition positive messaging on both sides, and nutrition materials inside. This time around kids received a coloring activity of fall produce and a sweet potato smoothie recipe, among other nutritional information. 

We’re proud to showcase this new initiative which not only combats food insecurity, but helps instill life-long healthy eating habits. You can be a part of our mission and help feed and educate a child by making a donation today!