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August 27, 2014

Teach Kids to Pack Healthy School Lunches

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This school year my kids are packing their own healthy school lunches! It gives them a chance to learn about making good food choices and choosing the food themselves makes it much more likely that they will eat it.

That’s why we were so excited to partner will Horizon Organics to create a free printable lunch box checklist!

Teach Kids to Pack Healthy School Lunches! Free Printable Lunch Box Checklist for Kids Included!

Teach Kids to Pack Healthy School Lunches

Before you can turn lunch packing over to your kids you need to give them some guidelines and teach them how to make healthy choices. Here are four tips that helped us!

  1. Give them ownership. Brainstorm with your kids to come up with a large list of healthy food choices that they enjoy (or at least are willing to eat!)
  2. Practice packing. Packing your own lunch is harder than it seems. Save everyone from getting frustrated by practicing!
  3. Make it fun. Put on music, talk about your day, read aloud–do whatever makes lunch packing time more fun for your family.
  4. Make it independent. After kids know what to do let them do it independently. As long as they are following your guidelines resist the urge to second guess their choices. Use our checklist to make it easier for them to do it alone.

Printable Lunch Box Checklists to Teach Kids to Pack Healthy School Lunches!

I laminated our checklist so that we can reuse it and to protect it from food damage. We have it hanging on the side of our fridge for the kids to use while packing.

We use the checklist with choices, but I made a blank version also for anyone who wants to add their own.

Download here–>> Free Printable Lunch Box Checklist for Kids (with choices)

Download here–>> Free Printable Lunch Box Checklist for Kids (blank)

Teach Kids to Pack Healthy Lunches! {Free Printable Checklist}

We try to set the kids up for lunch box packing success by having a variety of fruits and veggies cut and ready to go in the fridge.

It also helps to think beyond the sandwich. The kids get sick of having the same thing everyday and spicing it up with things like waffles or rice make lunch more fun!

Free Printable Lunch Box Packing Checklist (with choices)

I love how teaching the kids to pack their own healthy lunches encourages them to try new things and gets them excited about good food. Being able to do something by yourself builds confidence and is just plain fun!

For coupons and fun and healthy ideas for your family visit the Horizon Organic website.

This conversation is sponsored by Horizon Organic. The opinions and text are all mine.

About Megan Sheakoski

Megan is the creator of Coffee Cups and Crayons, a blog full of simple fun and learning. She believes that kids’ activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and that learning is better with play.

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