Disclaimer: I received a free product for my post! These views are my own and were not at all influenced by the party who gave me this opportunity..
It is important to me to teach my kids to live healthy lives. Sometimes this can be a challenge on a busy schedule, especially while my husband is deployed, which is why Fresh Baby has really helped us! We had the privilege of trying out their Adult’s and Kid’s Portion Plates, Kid’s Apron, Let’s Move Foam Puzzle, Kid’s Portion Tip Card, and Adult’s and Kid’s Water Bottles. Fresh Baby products are made to help parents teach their children to form healthy eating habits and decrease childhood obesity and they have partnered with the USDA in an effort to reach out to even more parents and guardians. One of Fresh Baby’s main focuses is eating healthy portions.
The Adult’s and Kid’s Portion My Plates each have four sections: grains, fruits, vegetables, and proteins. Each plate is meant to give you an idea of how much of your plate should be filled for each healthy serving and each section is labeled. The kid’s plate has deep pockets for each food group while the adult plate has raised guidelines and is otherwise flat. The kid’s plate is brightly colored and is meant to inspire kids to being active and “eating a rainbow of colors.” Plates are lead, BP-A and Phthalate free, made of 100%
Melamine, and are dishwasher safe. The adult plate is also Cadmium free. Kids’ plates are $8.95 and adults’ plates are $11.95. While I do not completely have luck using these plates as I tend to fill them so high, they definitely help give me an idea of healthier portions for my family. The thing that helps me even more with knowing proper portions and goes hand-in-hand with the plates is the Kid’s Portion Tip Card.
The Kid’s Portion Tip Card is a handy Polypropylene sheet with visual guides for proper serving sizes. There are pictures that compare portion sizes with a common object, such as a golfball or an egg, to give you a better idea of how much peanut butter or how much broccoli to feed your children and even shows you how much they should be eating at ages 2-3 and 4-8. The sections for each food group give you ideas for common kid foods and the amounts of each that would constitute a healthy serving. The card is easy to clean if it gets messy and is nice and sturdy. It is BP-A, Phthalate and lead-free and is approved safe for food. The tip card is $2.95 and it comes in English and Spanish versions. I 
have a hard time picturing how much to serve for each amount recommended so this tip card has been SO helpful to me. Use this card to have your kids help you dish out the proper portion sizes and let them use the fun Kid’s Apron while they help!
The Kid’s Apron is a fun, lightweight polyester apron that has Velcro in the back. The apron is 14″ wide and 22″ long and is made to best fit ages 3-5. Machine wash and line dry. The design shows MyPlate and the food groups encouraging kids to find the fun in eating healthy. You can purchase this product for $5.95 in English or Spanish. My son had a lot of fun wearing his apron while he helped me cook some eggs and using it as a giant bib while he ate his meal. Of course, eating healthy isn’t the only way to keep your kids healthy; it is also important to encourage them to stay active.
The Let’s Move Foam Puzzle for ages 3-5 is a 24-piece chunky, foam puzzle that pictures and lists 
fun activities for your kids to play with each other or you to play with your kids to keep them moving such as Leap Frog, cartwheels, jumping in leaves and many more. Putting together the puzzle makes for another healthy activity to exercise your child’s brain! The puzzle is made from EVA foam and is 12″ by 8″ by 3/8″ thick and available in English or Spanish. It is BP-A, phthalate, and lead-free. You can buy this for $3.95. My son enjoys putting together his puzzle and I find the activities useful as he is at the age where he can begin to understand how to do each of the games listed. Of course an active family needs to keep hydrated and the Adult’s and Kid’s Water Bottles are great for this!
The Fresh Baby Adult’s and Kid’s Water Bottles are collapsible bottles with screw-on pop-top spouts with caps. They expand when you fill them up and collapse back down for easy storage. They are reusable, freezable and top-rack dishwasher safe! The material is FDA approved and is BP-A free as well as free of other harmful chemicals. The bottle design is made to make drinking water fun and simple. The bottles are easy for kids to hold, have a special place to write the owner’s name, and they 
have a hook that allows you to hang the bottle on your purse, backpack, lunchbox, or in my case on my necklace to have on hand while my son plays sports. The Kid’s bottle holds 10 ounces and the adult holds 16 ounces. Each is $5.95. These bottles are great for on-the-go and worked well to keep my son hydrated during soccer practice. I only have two complaints with this type of bottle is that I do not like how it air dries as it never seems to get fully dry which makes me fear for mold. The other thing I do not like is that because it is collapsible my son has a hard time holding the bottle upright and closing the cap easily so it tends to leak out all over if I do not help him with it. Of course I love how my son finds joy in drinking water from this water bottle so I can rest assured he stays hydrated.
Fresh Baby is helping me to answer the important question “What’s the Right Amount of Food For My Family’s Plate?” Fresh Baby My Plates help me to see that my family gets the right amount of each food group, the tip cards help me to understand better how to measure those amounts, the apron keeps my son’s clothes clean while he helps to prepare and eat his healthy meal, the puzzle keeps my son’s mind and body active, and the water bottle helps to ensure that my family stays hydrated and steers away from sugary drinks to consume more water. So ask yourself, “Is my family eating the right portions? Do we drink enough water or do we resort to sugary drinks like juice and soda? What activities could my family to do stay active and spend more quality time together?” and head on over to Fresh Baby to find some tools to help you achieve these goals.
-What is your family doing to eat healthy and stay active? Tell me on my Facebook wall or in the comments! Visit Fresh Baby’s website and myplate.gov for more healthy resources!
