These days, grants that fund fresh produce in K–12 schools often ask nutrition services directors to jump through an extra hoop. Not only do you need to buy local fruits and veggies, but you also need to teach kids about them! That’s where student nutrition education materials come in.
What Are Student Nutrition Education Materials?
Informative posters for your cafeterias, flyers for your classrooms, and cards for your salad bars all fit into this category. These materials might share the health benefits of different fruits and veggies, explain what they are and how to eat them, or tell the story of the farmer who grew them.
Materials designed to support nutrition education activities count, too. Consider things like worksheets that students can fill out with their thoughts during a fruit or vegetable tasting, or instructions that kids can follow to draw their own fruit and veggie posters.
Why Do Nutrition Education Materials Matter?
Nutrition education materials can be critical to meeting grant requirements. They’re also a big help to students who are learning about healthy eating, local farms, and fresh fruit and vegetable varieties for the first time. These materials help them form healthy habits long-term.
In its handbook for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), the United States Department of Agriculture writes:
“For too many children, the produce they see in school might be their first exposure to fresh fruits and vegetables, and the only ones they see that day. That is why nutrition education is critical to the program’s success. Providing nutrition education can also help schools reach their goal of a healthier school environment and is a component of several important agency programs and initiatives such as: A school’s Wellness Policy, becoming a Team Nutrition School, [and] meeting the HealthierUS School Challenge.”
Creating nutrition education materials from scratch can be tricky and time-consuming. But what if we told you there’s a way to get them for free?
How to Get Free Nutrition Education Materials & Staff Resources
You can access some free materials through the USDA’s Team Nutrition and state initiatives like CalFresh Healthy Living (SNAP-Ed) in California. But those aren’t the only options! In fact, the very best way to get high-quality materials tailored to the fruits and veggies you’re serving is by partnering with a school produce delivery service that includes them in the price of your order.
That’s exactly what we do at The FruitGuys Farm-to-School Program. We offer fresh, local fruits and vegetables along with a huge library of nutrition education materials and staff resources that you can browse on demand. We share these materials in three ways.
- Mail – We mail printed posters to you every school year.
- Email – We send Weekly Wellness Flyers, Monthly School Bulletins, and Monthly Market Reports directly to your inbox so they’re easy to download and share.
- Client Portal – We give you password-protected, 24/7 access to our online library of current and past materials, including flyers, posters, produce cards, videos, recipes, and more. You can download what you need, then post it to your website, print it, or attach it to an email.
These materials are game-changing for schools looking to meet the requirements and recommendations of grants like FFVP and the Try Agriculture Samples with Tastes and Education (TASTE) Incentive, and they’re also a hit with students.
Free Resources From The FruitGuys Farm-to-School Program
These are just a few of the most popular items available for download on our Client Portal.
Weekly Wellness Flyers
These one-page flyers include lighthearted tips students and families can use to stay healthy and fit, and they’re available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Monthly School Bulletins
This is a fun publication for students and families with fruit and veggie facts, farm stories, recipes, games, and more, available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Monthly Market Reports
Staff love these handy monthly guides to what’s in season in California and where each piece of produce comes from, including specific items and farm names.
Posters
Our beautiful educational posters are perfect for classrooms or cafeterias. They’re available digitally to download, print, and share, and we also mail printed posters annually.
Produce Cards
Students love these colorful cards with photos, how-to-eat guidance, fun facts, and more for individual produce items. They’re ready to add fun to salad bars, tastings, and cafeteria lines.
In-FOOD-mation Cards
These eye-catching cards cover health benefits and nutrition information for different produce items, and they’re ideal for tastings, salad bars, or cafeteria lines.
Cafeteria Staff Flyers
These flyers feature helpful reminders for staff about food safety, produce prep, and more. You can email them to your team or post them in your cafeterias.
Recipes
These simple recipes focus on fresh fruits and vegetables. They’re easy to scale up for scratch cooking in the cafeteria, or share with students and parents for their home cooking adventures.
Monthly Produce Calendar Template
This is a beautiful, editable calendar with seasonal produce images, holidays, and more to make menu planning easy.
We have years of nutrition education materials for you to explore on the portal, and we add new pieces every month to make planning menus, decorating your cafeterias, and brainstorming lessons easier for you and your staff.
How to Unlock Your Free Materials
To get access to The FruitGuys Farm-to-School Program’s Client Portal and get on the list for our mail and emails, all you have to do is place a fruit, veggie, or snack order with us. Check out the products we offer and the farms we source from. If our program looks like a good fit, get in touch—we’d love to put together a custom plan for you!