The Brazilian school that launched a conscious eating project to influence healthier food relationships in toddlers
Colégio Sesi da Indústria Portão, an independent kindergarten in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, is transforming the way children approach, discover and experience nutrition through its conscious eating project, Momento com a Nutri, which encourages them to explore food playfully, from the garden to the kitchen. During the food introduction phase in early learning, many children become picky or sensitive eaters, often fearful or resistant to trying new things, which can have a lifelong impact on their relationship with food. To create an environment where nothing is forced, and children are curious to try new foods, in the classroom and at home, the project creates an intimate relationship of connection and experimentation that makes the act of eating natural and pleasurable.
To ensure the project was pedagogically engaging, a nutritionist collaborated with teachers to develop four essential stages for children to build a relationship with food. The first stage takes children out of the classroom into a vegetable garden where they explore the soil and pick and clean the vegetables. From there, the second stage brings the harvested vegetables into the classroom for playful or educational activities without the obligation to taste anything, including storytelling, paper activities, and experiments. The third stage is hands-on sensory exploration, where children learn about food in its natural form by touching, smelling, and observing colours and shapes. Finally, in the fourth stage, the children prepare healthy recipes from scratch, which increases their curiosity and acceptance of food.
The project has transformed the children's relationship with food, with parents reporting their children are consistently eating more fruits and vegetables at home. Including them in the process has sparked curiosity, with around 90% of them tasting food they were previously resistant to. Lifelong habits are being formed, and parents have started to request recipes, showing that the initiative is having a clear impact at home. Children are more confident, there is more collaboration and teamwork in the classroom, and a greater awareness of the food cycle and the importance of reducing waste. Enrolment numbers are increasing as more families are choosing the school to help them entrench healthier eating behaviours. Three Sesi schools that cater to early childhood have adopted the project, and the school is now working to introduce the programme in the primary school phase.
By responding to the real-world needs of children, the project is creating long-term change and transforming lives in a playful, enjoyable, and deeply important way.
