Interactive vending machine used to inform, educate and entertain. The thought process is not to replace sugar-laden vending machines, but place it next to them to help children make their own choice while learning about nutrition and where food actually comes from.

Fun cookery after school club for infant and junior schools… As well as learning about healthy food as part of the curriculum.

Instead of adults telling children what’s good for them, why not train children to function as food ambassadors?

Parents drag kids through the produce aisle as they enter the grocery store. So why not use the opportunity to show kids the connection between some of their favorite book and cartoon characters and the healthy vegetables that inspired them?

Put recipe cards and cooking ideas next to the healthy food choices in the supermarket. This way people can be inspired or even be given the knowledge what to do with the raw ingredients.

10 times is how many times a new food must be tried before you really know whether you like it or not. Help children get past the “peas are yucky” stage by hosting a taste test of different recipes during lunch. Provide incentives for tasting to kids like one entry into a drawing for each food tasted. Provide recipe cards for kids to take home with coupons for some of the ingredients attached. Work with local growers to bring in seasonal vegetables.

Gardens in low income subsidized apartment with garden coaches.

Teenagers will go through a chef training program to teach cooking classes in elementary and middle schools. Both teens and younger children will learn the benefits or healthy eating and get excited to cook with their friends and family.

We all know: School food service sucks. Kids don’t get enough time outside. Families don’t cook. Basic kitchen AND farming skills are being lost in a single generation. A problem? Yes. But not one without a beautifully integrated solution: Seed to Tray Education. In plain English: put kids in charge of their own school lunch!

A multi compartment shopping cart, where the compartments represent a healthy balance of food, such as 50% of all food having to be fruit & vegetables. So families and kids automatically shop “the right way”.

Create a student run farmer’s market within high schools. This can be organized as part of a economics club or perhaps a completely separate club. The idea is that a set of students (led by a teacher/sponsor) will be responsible for creating a farmer’s market (on school property during the school week and potentially off school property on weekends). Students will be responsible for: – Sourcing produce from local farmers – Learning about each product they sell – Selling fresh produce at their schools “Farmer’s Market”

Classrooms will be empowered to choose that day’s school lunch for the entire school.

Get social influence inside the house with ‘Taste and rate’. Every time you taste new (healthy) food as a child you can add it at your ‘taste collection’ and indicate if you liked it. The more you collect and the more you like, the more points you get. With a certain amount of points they can get a free mysterious product at the supermarket. The height of ranking and amount of free mysterious products, will be compared with friends and stimulate to eat more varied, healthy and to taste more.

Vending machines are required to allocate a percentage of space for locally produced and sourced produce and snacks.

The idea is to teach kids about the importance of fresh and healthy foods by a clear connection to their heroes. Everyone has a hero whether it’s Superman or Neil Armstrong. The idea also involves the parents but the key here is to let the kids take the first step since they are easier to reach. The goal is to create a positive spiral among student and parents in understanding the importance of fresh and healthy food.

A Vegetable Circus stage show uses movement arts and circus skills to teach children about healthy eating and living. The performers are cool role models who visibly demonstrate the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, while keeping the audience captivated with their skills. We would start with a revamped stage show that tours underprivileged elementary schools across the country. Along the way, we can recruit and train new talent to lead shows and after-school programming, through which we can integrate many of the other most important concepts presented here on OpenIDEO. This concept not only promotes healthy eating and food knowledge, but also thinking for one’s self, anti-peer pressure and bullying, healthy activities, physical fitness, and trying new things, while including the parents in the process.

Last class of the day would bring cooking curriculum back into schools and solve an age old daily question ‘WHAT’S FOR DINNER?’. Kids would cook a tasty meal with enough servings to feed their family and bring it home for dinner! This addresses several opportunity areas: (read more in description)