Fruit and vegetable playing cards: Utility of the game for nutrition education

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to measure the effectiveness of fruit and vegetable playing cards for teaching schoolchildren about fruits and vegetables, health, and nutrition.

Design/methodology/approach

The participants come from two primary schools in Slovenia: 53 boys and 57 girls. Their average age is 10 (8, 11). The pre‐intervention questioning is completed two or three days before and post‐intervention questioning is completed a week after playing the card game. The participating children answer ten multiple‐choice questions and one open‐ended question. Each participant plays the game for two 45‐min lessons. The main goal of the research is to measure changes in their knowledge about fruits and vegetables, health, and nutrition.

Findings

After the intervention more children understand why the human body needs dietary fiber, water, and vitamins. The majority of those questioned also understand why fruits and vegetables are important in nutrition. The children learn which fruits and vegetables contain the most vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, dietary fiber, and water.

Originality/value

The evaluation of the fruit and vegetable playing cards demonstrates that this game helps teach children about the nutrients in fruits and vegetables and importance of fruits and vegetables in a healthy diet.

Citation

Torkar, G., Pintarič, M. and Koch, V. (2010), "Fruit and vegetable playing cards: Utility of the game for nutrition education", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 74-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/00346651011015944