Lisa Osborne is the owner and director of Lisa’s Kids in Warsaw (Benton County). Throughout the week of October 14, they participated in the Missouri Crunch with activities focused on apples. This included lunch and snacks. Each day they tried a new type of apple prepared in a variety of ways. They had grilled apple and cheese sandwiches, apple cider stew, and chocolate-covered apples with pretzels. On the final day, they challenged the families to crunch on some apples during the morning drop-off.
Lisa discovered the Missouri Crunch while exploring Show Me Child Care Resources. She loves the idea of utilizing farm to table with the children. Lisa found the Missouri Crunch Off website extremely helpful in planning their Crunch activities. "The resources provided a lot of support to challenge the children to try new foods. Knowing it was a competition made it fun for them," Lisa remarked. The Crunch provided a great home to school connection in that the families were encouraged to talk to the children about apples and the harvesting process. Fact sheets on the Missouri Crunch website were sent home to promote those conversations.
In the end, they took a poll of their favorite apples, in which Washington apples were the winner. The favorite way the apples were prepared? Simply, apple slices with cheese.
Lisa and her staff, the families, and the children had a great time with the Missouri Crunch. She is looking forward to participating in the Crunch every year.
There’s still time to plan and implement your program’s Crunch! You can plan your Crunch through October 31. The Missouri Crunch is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The website has excellent resources to help plan a fun and engaging event. Resources include:
Click here to register and find ideas to plan your event
Have a specific question? Contact Lisa Lauer at the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. She can be reached at Lisa.Lauer@health.mo.gov.
Keep Crunchin’!
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