Early Sprouts – the Book!

From Susan Peery, College and Media Relations: You’ve heard about Early Sprouts, the award-winning curriculum developed by Keene State educators to encourage preschoolers to eat their vegetables. The program, which won a Community Champion award from the U.S. Surgeon General last year, has expanded from its pilot gardens in the Child Development Center (CDC) to preschools and Head Start programs across New Hampshire.

We’ve reported several times on the success of the curriculum, the cuteness of the little children who get excited about veggies, the tastiness of the recipes. Now the creators of the program, Keene State faculty members Karrie Kalich (associate professor of health science), Dottie Bauer (professor of early childhood education), and Deirdre McPartlin (academic program coordinator for the CDC), have pulled all the elements together into a large-format paperback book, Early Sprouts: Cultivating Healthy Food Choices in Young Children, published by Redleaf Press.

The book provides an inspiring and instructive 24-week curriculum filled with sensory activities and cooking experiences geared toward preschoolers. The recipes focus on six easy-to-grow vegetables – tomatoes, green beans, bell peppers, Swiss chard, carrots, and butternut squash – and will appeal to everyone in the family. Many businesses and charitable organizations in New Hampshire and beyond have supported this good work, and congratulations go out to everyone involved.