MONTPELIER – Once a week, Becky McGuire visits Head Start’s preschool programs across the county to teach valuable nutrition lessons to children.
McGuire is the assistant to the SNAP education program for the Williams County Ohio State University expansion office, and on Thursday was teaching the Montpelier Head Start Preschool on healthy eating with the history of stone soup.
Stone Soup is a European folk tale in which hungry strangers convince the people of a city to share a small amount of food in order to prepare a meal that everyone will enjoy.
The story teaches how to get together and help one another, and McGuire helped teach that story by giving each student a plastic meal that they put in a saucepan and stir. Additional lessons were given where students discussed what food they were, what color it was, and more information about the food, such as carrots that grow underground.
She also used her help to make a vegetable soup that they could all try.
It’s all part of McGuire’s job.
“My job is to provide nutrition and wellness education for all ages aimed at lower income,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be lower income, only part of our audience has to meet that.”
In addition to the nutritional aspect (she made sure the soup was only made from vegetables), she also helped the students with general wellbeing through physical activity.
They played a game where a die roll determined a physical activity (like running in place) and how long they would do it.
“Part of that is eating healthy and being active, but also trying new things,” said McGuire. “There are a lot of children who have never eaten a potato or who have parsnips in their soup … We just try to try new foods, which we try with the little ones.”
When working with older teens, she focuses on aspects such as preparing food at home to save money.
With children in third through sixth grades, McGuire teaches them about foods to prepare as a healthy snack when they get home from school.
“So it’s not necessarily opening a box of something, but rather the question ‘How can I eat a fruit today?’ Or ‘How can I add some vegetables today?’ ”She said. “And we’re going to do things how to use a can opener safely. If they babysit this summer, what are choking hazards or allergies, how to use a blender safely. These things just to give a holistic practice with everything, like lifestyle education. “
