Friday Notables - Healthy Lunch Maker

Today's Friday Notable comes from Parenting.com. While browsing Parenting's countless articles and tips for parents and parents to be I stumbled upon this very visual lunch calculator that is perfect if you want to have your child begin to grasp the idea of nutrition. Right away, I will say there are much more complex and varied meal calculators available online, but this one is kid friendly. The images for each item are prominent and clear so your child should be able to point to a picture or say its name so you can click and add it to his virtual lunch. At first your child may want to add lots of juice, cheese, milk, and cookies just because he sees the images, but this gives you a perfect opportunity to talk about the nutritional values that come with the food we eat when the lunch maker totals the numbers for your child's choices. After you have created a great virtual lunch, your child can help pack that lunch for the next day using the pictures as a step by step visual of what you need. The calculator is designed for ages 3 to 11, but choosing age 3 gives choices that would likely be available to toddlers. The calculator is also limited to creating sandwiches along with choosing a drink and snack, but there are lots of choices as far as meats, breads, veggies, and condiments that allow you to create many variations on a healthy lunch. This is definitely a tool worth checking out at least once, for yourself if nothing else, to see what kind of nutrition your child is getting from his lunch. Click the link to visit Parenting's lunch maker and have a great weekend.