Free Printables: Nutritious Food Cards for Kids

These free printable healthy food cards are aimed for kids. Hopefully some of the benefits will encourage them to eat nutritious foods, and maybe they will understand WHY their bodies NEED good foods.

Let's face it, most kids are not going to willingly eat fresh spinach leaves like a little rabbit. We have found two successful ways to feed our kids spinach.

Spinach success #1. The most common way we add spinach to our child's diet is adding a few leaves to their scrambled eggs. We tear apart the leaves and they get cooked lightly while the egg cooks in the skillet. Remember, the more you cook a spinach leaf, the more nutrients you will lose in the process.

Spinach success #2. We add spinach leaves to their fresh fruit smoothies. The most common recipe around here for an afternoon smoothie is half a peach (frozen), a third of a banana, three strawberries, two baby carrots, and about fifteen SPINACH LEAVES. Blend them all up. Try it. I bet your children will enjoy this smoothie. If you don't use frozen fruit, I recommend adding a few ice cubes.

• Eyesight - Spinach contains vitamin A. Vitamin A is an essential component in keeping your eyes healthy.
• Strong Bones - Vitamin D is needed to maintain strong bones. Muscles also need vitamin D to move properly.
• Helps your ouchies stop bleeding - Spinach contains vitamin K. Vitamin K helps your blood clot properly.
• Energy - The iron in spinach will give you energy. Iron helps to carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles and other organs in your body. If your child's body is low in iron, they will likely be more sleepy and grouchy. The less you cook spinach, the greater amount of iron will remain.
• Helps your heart - Spinach contains potassium. Potassium helps the muscles of the heart contract properly, and it helps keep blood pressure at a healthy low level.

• Night vision - The beta-carotene in the carrots are good for the eyes, but the vitamin A makes the carrots especially good for night vision.
• Healthy teeth - Eating carrots naturally clean teeth scraping off food particles. Carrots also have cavity preventing properties.
• Pretty skin - Packed with vitamin A, carrots naturally protect the skin from the sun. They also prevent blemishes and dry skin.
• Make you smarter - Some carrot studies have show they improve brain function.
• Prevent tummy aches - Carrots contain lots of fiber. Fiber keeps the intestines cleaned out and helps make going to the bathroom lots easier.

• Strong bones - Pears contain a good amount of copper. Copper keeps bones and blood vessels from weakening.
• Happy belly - Pears are loaded with fiber. Fiber prevents constipation and a bloated belly.
• Higher test scores - Pears contain vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 helps maintain proper brain function.
• Keep you slim and trim - Pears contain calcium. Recent studies have suggested that calcium has positive effects on metabolism. (http://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/822335/5-benefits-of-calcium)
• Healthy eyes - Pears have been shown to reduce the signs of macular degeneration. Macular degeneration is a common cause of vision loss in aging adults.

• Memory - Because blueberries contain an abundance of flavonoids, they help to reverse age related memory loss.
• Keep you thin - Blueberries contain chemical compounds called catechins. These compounds activate fat burning in fat cells.
• Energy - Blueberries contain significant amounts of riboflavin or vitamin B2. Vitamin B2 breaks down fat and carbs and turns it into some great energy.
• Helps with headaches - Blueberries contain significant amounts of riboflavin or vitamin B2. Vitamin B2 is often used to treat severe headaches or migraines.
• Helps you stay happy - Blueberries contain folate. Folate is often recommended to reduce depression.
• Healthy heart - Blueberries contain folate. Folate plays a big role in keeping the heart healthy and functioning at its best.

Blueberry Flickr image we used for the lettering.

• Good memory - Strawberries contain pigments called anthocyanins. These are known to boost short term memory.
• Keep you fit - The anthocyanins in strawberries also encourage the burning of stored fat.
• Boost immunity - Strawberries are an excellent source of Vitamin C. Vitamin C acts as an anti oxidant boosting your immunity.
• Helps your joints work properly - Strawberries contain antioxidants and phytochemicals. Both these properties help to reduce inflammation in the joints.
• Healthy skin - Strawberries are a good source of manganese. Manganese is a required component for healthy skin, and it helps to protect against UV rays.

Strawberry Flickr Image we used for the lettering.

Here you will find the album on our Flickr site to download these images for free.

These images are sized to be printed on an 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper of cardstock. Each of the healthy food cards trim down to a 4 by 6 image.

In order to print these cards, follow the below instructions:

• Go to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/117347934@N05/sets/72157644454529995/
• Click on the image you would like to print.
• Click on the icon with three little dots over on the far right hand side of the page. (Above the comment boxes.)
• Click 'Download / All Sizes.'
• Click 'Original.'
• Click 'Download.'

SIMPLE! Enjoy!

We are not smart enough to know all these benefits of all these healthy foods, but all my information came from searching through many many different sites online. We did our best to find reliable sites.

And, while we created all these free printables on our own using Photoshop, I used patterns and overlays from Mel's blog to create the borders around each of the cards. She has endless designs for free use on her blog.