By JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer
EDISON — A local Girl Scout is addressing nutrition and wellness for young children in an effort to combat obesity.
Shyamala Subramanian created and organized the “Healthy Habits” Girl Scout Gold Award project to improve the health of children in the ages of 3-5.
“Young children lack adequate education on topics like nutrition and obesity. As a result, many of these children may make unhealthy choices that develop into poor eating habits later in their lives. In order to help mitigate these concerns, I addressed this issue by teaching the children about the importance of healthy living,” Shyamala said.
The project spanned six months, during which she conducted biweekly sessions in four preschool and prekindergarten classrooms at the Keith Wold Johnson Childcare Center in Edison.
“Each hourly session at the center was dedicated to improving the nutritional habits of the students. I educated the children about the five food groups and what it means to eat healthy. During each session, I led them in making fun, healthy recipes, like banana butterflies (made from bananas, raisins and pretzels), strawberry mice and sweet ‘n’ salty dinosaurs,” she said.
“The next hour was focused on exercise habits of the students. I put together engaging activities and games that kept the students on their toes from start to finish, like Crab Walk Relay Races and yoga.”
Shyamala, who is a junior at J.P. Stevens High School in Edison, said the project will be sustained beyond her current involvement because she had created enduring binders for the childcare center.
“By reviewing these binders, teachers have access to all of the lesson plans, recipes, flashcards, pieces for games and relevant photographs. The teachers can refer to these documents in order to recreate lessons at the center. In addition, I plan to continue visiting the childcare center to reinforce these objectives. Each time, I plan to teach the children new games and recipes, so that they may continue to practice healthy habits both at school and at home,” she said.
Completing the Gold Award project was both challenging and rewarding. Shyamala had to overcome the short attention spans of the children by modifying lesson plans so that they were engaging, interactive and encouraged the participation of the children.
“The most successful aspect was that the students implemented the lessons at home. I found that the lessons were making a difference in the lives of others. Often, the children excitedly informed me of how they tried making the healthy snacks at home, or how they taught their parents, grandparents and younger siblings to play the exercise games that they learned,” she said.
Contact Jennifer Amato at jamato@gmnews.com.
