CookShop^® Classroom, Elementary

This teacher led curriculum is designed to increase elementary school children’s consumption of whole and minimally processed plant foods through hands-on exploration and cooking activities in the classroom.  The curriculum can be integrated across multiple subject areas, including science, literacy and math.

Childhood overweight and obesity in the U.S. has grown to epidemic proportions, primarily as a result of the high-fat, high-calorie, high-sodium American diet. In New York City, 24% of elementary school children are obese, and an additional 19% overweight. The CookShop® Classroom program is designed to help combat this problem.  Research shows that children need multiple exposures to unfamiliar foods in a positive environment to change their behaviors and attitude toward the food. CookShop ® students benefit from the program as cooking increases their familiarity with whole foods as well as their enjoyment and appreciation of them.  Repeated exposure to these same foods through the School Lunch Program reinforces this message by giving children regular access to foods they learn about and recognize from the classroom. 

To extend the message of CookShop® Classroom to their families and friends, children take home newsletters containing the CookShop® recipes, as well as nutrition information.  Encouraging students to cook at home with their families reinforces their new cooking skills and engages the entire family and ultimately the entire community in healthier food behaviors.  Outcome evaluation data show that the CookShop® both increases children’s consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains and changes what they know and how they think about these foods.

During the 2007-2008 school year, more than 330 classrooms will be enrolled in the program.

For more information, contact Jeannie Fournier, Senior Program Officer, CookShop^® at jfournier@foodchange.org.