I think Green Eggs and Ham is essential reading for getting kids to try new foods.
For those of you who need a refresher, Sam I Am tries to get his friend to eat green eggs and ham but he is very stubborn (sound familiar) and refuses to try them.
Sam suggests lots of places and different friends trying to persuade his friend to eat, but without success (still sounding familiar). Finally his friend agrees to try green eggs and finds that he likes them; “They are so good, so good, you see”.
Green Eggs and Ham was/is a favourite in our household and whenever the kids are not interested in trying new foods, The Big Cheese or myself would quote “try them, try them and you may” and it usually prompted them to try it.
However using this quote grew a little tired with the kids after a while and didn’t quite have the impact when we first started using it. Don’t go for overkill with it. Use the books’ message here and there but not all the time, vary it with other strategies and other messages from more of my book reviews.
As it stopped being effective for us, we moved away from using it but I am quite excited as I think I will be able to use it again. My research on the book reminded me that Green Eggs and Ham has simple vocabulary of only 50 words and makes it an excellent book for beginner readers. Brie Boy started kindergarten (first year of school in Australia) this year and now I can bring it out again shortly to help him read and revisit the message of trying new foods.
Other Mums Reviews
So you don’t think it just me and my children, I read all the reviews on Green Eggs and Ham on Amazon and Dooyoo and picked up these comments from reviewers;
“The jist of the story is to try things before you say you don’t like them. What’s neat is you can bring it back up at the dinner table when little ones don’t want to eat. You can just say, ‘are they green eggs and ham?’ It certainly works for us and really opens the door to eating new foods for toddlers.”
“Green Eggs and Ham is a particularly good one, as I always use it to encourage my fussy eater to try new foods, and usually it succeeds.”
It has also had a positive impact on their eating habits. They became more willing to try “odd” looking foods and relating this directly to how yummy green eggs and ham turned out to be. In fact, they asked FOR green eggs and ham as a meal one day, so we duly fried up some eggs after adding a few drops of green food colouring! It tasted the same as normal eggs and ham, which seemed to seal the idea the book planted firmly in their minds.
“I really find it a good way to start talking to a child about broadening a “set” perception and the importance of talking steps to overcome things that limit us, like food aversions.” (This quote was from a teacher.)
But more interestingly than the mums reviews was that a lot of kids wrote their own review for the book and many of them mention that the storyline is about trying things;
“What I learned in this story was that you should never judge anything until you try it.”
“What I learned from this book is that we should try new things like different types of food, but also trying to make new friends and get along with them.”
“His book also teaches the very important lesson of not judging things by the way they look because it could be very good and maybe you could not tell.”
“Delicious book, don’t judge food by colour! – the green eggs and ham look yummy but judging by it’s colour, that furball refuses to eat the dish ‘Sam I am’ keeps bombarding him with and they go so far until he actually tries it and it’s good. I think the book is silly but it does teach not to judge food by how strange it may look cause of it’s colour or form, cause you’re missing out on the delicious taste, and this is a subject that young kids could relate to if they are being fussy with food.”
“Green eggs and ham is my absolute favorite book. It rhymes and is very simple for little kids to read. It also teaches a very valuable lesson. It shows people that you should try things before you say you don’t like them.”
I enjoyed reading the book again because it reminds me of when I was a kid a my parents tried to make me eat something that I didn’t want to because I thought I would be gross and when I finally ate it, it was good. Then I would want to eat it all the time. It showed me that almost anything is worth trying at one time or another.”
“This book teaches us kids to try food we have never tried in our life before. It is a true fact because it’s happened to me. I was about nine years old and my mom served me brussel spouts. I thought they looked sort of funny looking, so I told her that I don’t want them, but she said that I have never tried them before, so I tried them and I loved them and now it is one of my favorite foods. Just like in Dr. Seuss’ book, kids like me should try all kinds of food. If you like to read and eat this is a book for you.”
Activity Ideas
Ask the questions or implement activities you feel comfortable with.
Questions to ask
- If you were Sam’s friend, would you try the green eggs and ham?
- Why do you think Sam wanted his friend to try the green eggs and ham so much?
- Why do you think Sam’s friend didn’t want to try them?
- Do you think that green eggs and ham would taste different in different places, or would they taste the same?
- What place in the book do you think is a good place to eat food?
- Can you think of a food that you don’t like to eat?
- Have you eaten something you thought you did not like and then changed your mind?
Make green eggs and ham
Ask your child/ren to make predictions as to whether green scrambled eggs taste the same as yellow scrambled eggs. To make the eggs green add some pureed spinach. You can pureed it yourself or pick some up for the frozen veggie section in your supermarket.
Food I Like and Food I Don’t Like
Find pictures of food they like and dislike from magazines, draw or list the foods and add to a sheet of cardboard or paper divided into the two sections . You many like to do this for other members of the family. Discuss how everybody’s tastes are different and set up a family challenge for everyone to try the food on the dislike section.
I’d love to hear from you if you decide to use Green Eggs and Ham in an attempt to get your kids to try new or different foods and how it went. If you have already read Green Eggs and Ham let me know if it made a difference to your child’s eating habits.
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