Teaching Healthy Habits

Healthy Hippo is one of nine Characters of Character. This character helps teach and reinforce healthy habits in our children and to remind them that a healthy mind is as important as a healthy body. When we teach our children at a young age about the importance of healthy habits, they are more likely to learn and grow with these helping them to avoid making unhealthy choices and developing lifelong poor choices or habits.

Healthy Hippo would love to support you! Let’s Be Healthy is a social story starring Healthy Hippo and available here. At the end of the book is a colored picture of this character, may we suggest to cut it out, laminate or glue on poster board, place on a Popsicle stick and carry with you as a visual reminder! Habits are habit forming! Healthy Hippo has a fun Bulletin Board and Poster Book available here. Healthy Hippo has a Resource Book available here filled with activities, templates and suggestions to teach and reinforce healthy habits. Healthy Hippo has a fun activity book to help teach colors and shapes, too! Let’s form healthy habits together!

Tips to Reinforce and Teach Healthy Habits:

• Be creative and positive with presenting food choices

  For example, on a celery stick put peanut butter on it, place raisins and pretend they are marching ants, so many fun and creative ways to introduce healthy foods to your children

• Allow them to help you in the kitchen to create meals and snacks

  This helps them make better choices and you can discuss the reasons why during this process

• Eat breakfast and balanced meals during the day

• Read with your child every single day

  Even if it’s labels on a product, reading builds better vocabulary and helps with communication skills. When you introduce a new food, activity or place, make a word wall and add it to that as a visual reminder

• Create fun food displays with a lot of different colors

  You’ve probably made a charcuterie board, let your child make one of their own and do enjoy it with them

• Let’s get physical and do it together

  Taking a walk, a bike ride even dancing in kitchen is physical exercise

• Keep a healthy mindset and be a role model for your child

• Take your kids with you grocery shopping to help pick out healthy food

• Keep healthy foods, snacks and drinks readily available to help make better choices

• Plant a garden and enjoy the harvest together

TELL me and I forget, TEACH me and I remember, INVOLVE me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin