Twelve Randolph House students in grades 3–6 recently celebrated the completion of Camp Cook Play, a hands-on nutrition and healthy living program provided through NC Cooperative Extension’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).
Throughout the program, students learned about the five MyPlate food groups, food and kitchen safety, physical activity, and how healthy foods help fuel their growing bodies. Lessons combined nutrition education with games, movement, food preparation, and opportunities to explore new foods.
A particularly meaningful part of the program was the Five Senses Taste Test, which encouraged students to explore foods by considering how they look, smell, feel, sound, and taste before deciding whether they liked them. This approach was especially helpful for students who experience sensory challenges around food. Rather than feeling pressured to eat something unfamiliar, students and instructors were encouraged to explore foods at their own comfort level.
Over the course of the program, students became increasingly willing to interact with and try new healthy foods.
On Graduation Day, the students had an opportunity to put their new skills into action in the kitchen. Working together, they helped prepare their graduation lunch while practicing skills they had learned throughout Camp Cook Play, including handwashing, food safety, following recipes, measuring ingredients, teamwork, and making choices from the different food groups.
The impact of the lessons also reached beyond the classroom. One caregiver shared that her grandson brought what he had learned home, telling her, “We have to eat healthy like Mrs. Angie teaches us. We need fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy to have healthy bodies.”
Moments like these demonstrate the goal of EFNEP programming: helping young people gain practical knowledge and skills they can use not only during class, but also at home with their families.
Camp Cook Play uses a learn-by-doing approach to help children build confidence around food, develop basic cooking skills, become more comfortable trying new foods, and understand how nutrition and physical activity contribute to a healthy body.
The Graduation Day lunch celebrated much more than the completion of a program. It celebrated 12 young people who were willing to learn, taste, cook, move, and try something new—and who can now take those skills home and continue putting them into practice.
