6 Tips for Building a Brain-Fueling Home

Simple ways to improve your family's health - and your child's mind.

Strive for five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Replace easy-to-grab sugary treats with snack-sized bags of celery, carrots, and broccoli; single serve fruit packs; and boxes of raisins that kids can enjoy on the go.
Customize your pop. Cut down on caffeinated and sugary soda by creating your own fizzy drinks. Just mix 100% fruit juice and club soda.
Snack. Children's small stomachs can't always take in enough at meals to meet their nutritional needs. Two or three hours before a meal, enjoy smart snacks such as trail mix, peanut butter on whole-wheat crackers, or low-fat yogurt with a touch of sprinkles.
Post the pyramid. Make a food pyramid with the daily recommendations for children and hang it in the kitchen (encourage your kids to help you illustrate it with photos clipped from magazines or their own drawings). From the bottom up, your pyramid should include:
- Bread group: 6-9 servings
- Vegetable group: 3-4 servings
- Fruit group: 2-3 servings
- Milk, yogurt, cheese group: 2-3 servings
- Meat, beans, eggs and nuts: 5-6 ounces
- Fats: 53-73 grams
- Sugar: 6-12 teaspoons
- (Note: Younger children are on the lower end of the recommendations.)
Don't skip meals. Lack of fuel makes a body and brain tired.
Control portion sizes. Use visual cues like these to teach proper serving size:
- 1 cup of frozen yogurt = a baseball
- 1/2 cup of rice = a rounded handful
- 1/4 cup of raisins = an egg
- 3 ounces meat = a deck of cards
- 1 1/2 ounces of cheese = 6 dice

When eating out, avoid ordering large servings. If restaurant portions are still larger than the recommended serving sizes, save the excess and take home leftovers.

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Pre-School Problem Solving

Preschoolers learn best when they're given frequent opportunities to solve problems that are meaningful to them — those that arise in their day-to-day life.

Provide opportunities for hands-on investgations. Offer children interesting items to explore, such as magnets, found objects, and broken (but safe) appliances. Rotate your materials to keep them fresh and thought-provoking.
Foster creative- and critical-thinking skills by inviting children to use items in new and diverse ways. Strings of colored beads, for example, can become reins for a racehorse, hair for a doll, links for measuring, or tools to press into clay to make designs.
Encourage children's suggestions and solutions. Promote brainstorming by asking openended questions: "What can you do with a ...?" "How many ways can you ...?" Listen carefully to children's ideas.
Allow children to find their own solutions. Offer help when they become frustrated, but don't solve their problems for them.
Use literature as a springboard. Share books that show how characters solve problems, such as King of the Playground by Phyllis Naylor and Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina.

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Listening and Learning

Taking advantage of the world of sounds is a wonderful way to help young children develop their listening skills.

Make sure you are heard. Eliminate noise and distractions. Speak clearly — not too fast or too soft.
Model good listening skills. Give children your full attention when they speak. Make sure you're at their level and make eye contact. Smile or nod to let children know you are listening.
Combine words with actions. If you want to know: "Which color marker would you like me to use to write your story?" pick up the markers while you are asking.
Help develop sound awareness. Involve children in clapping and tapping patterns. Tape record sounds in your environment to listen to and talk about later.
Read books every day. Find stories to share that involve children in listening to and repeating rhymes, such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.
Have pleasant conversations. Taking time to chat quietly at snack or on a cozy couch will help children learn about the positive reasons for listening.