Young Children's Food-Related Knowledge: Kindergartners’ Free Categorization of Food Items

Objective: Studies concerning young children's food-related knowledge have dealt mostly with specific types of knowledge or with researchers’ predetermined categories. This approach may neglect certain aspects of children's knowledge and may limit the understanding of its general structure. The present study aimed to examine and analyze a wide scope of young children's constructed food-related knowledge. Methods: Qualitative thematic analysis of 40 kindergartners’ free categorizations of food items. Results: Children's food-related knowledge was broad and derived from 3 primary sources: personal experience, environmental experience, and perceived messages. Novel aspects of knowledge were found, such as different treatments of food and partial familiarity with nutrients. Conclusions and Implications: The findings demonstrated the existence of various types of young children's food-related knowledge. Attention to the broad spectrum of their knowledge and its possible sources may contribute to the design of relevant and effective nutrition education interventions aimed at young children.