National School Breakfast Week, referred to as NSBW, promotes the importance of healthy choices for breakfast by getting parents and students involved. Through social media, newsletters and various other channels, parents are encouraged to learn more about their local school nutrition program and initiatives in local schools to help children make healthy choices in the morning. National School Breakfast Week also encourages schools to participate to increase breakfast participation among students.
For resources, please visit the SNA National School Breakfast Week website or view their toolkit here!
What breakfast can do for kids:
- Students who eat breakfast have better attention and memory. Research indicates the quality of foods children eat impacts cognition—with poor nutrition linked with absenteeism, hunger symptoms and psychosocial problems.
- Students who eat school breakfast attend, on average, 1.5 more days of school per year and score 17.5% higher on standardized math tests.
- Providing students with breakfast in the classroom setting improved attendance, behavior, and academic performance as well as decreased tardiness and fewer disciplinary office referrals.
- It’s the perfect opportunity to get energy-boosting carbohydrates like whole-grain bread, oatmeal and fruit.. Breakfast is an ideal way to energize so there will be no sleeping in class!
Fun Ideas to make students excited about Breakfast:
-Breakfast burrito bar, waffle bar, oatmeal bar–the list is endless! The growing trend of customization for breakfast options is such a fun way to let kids pick what they are eating for breakfast. Letting kids choose their toppings is a creative way to increase breakfast participation!
-Use fun combos to get kids excited about school breakfast: protein and carbohydrate combos like fruit and yogurt, whole-grain cereal with milk or a whole-grain waffle with nut butter.
–Grab-and-go breakfast items have become increasingly popular within schools. Sometimes students are getting to school right before the bell rings, so offering a grab-and-go option gives more kids an opportunity to have a nutritious breakfast!
Check back to see our next blog post to see how some school districts have gotten creative with how they are serving breakfast to celebrate National School Breakfast Week!