Try-Days are easy activities that can offer both children and school staff the chance to try new foods in a fun and supportive environment. This event idea was adapted from the Team Nutrition Popular Events Idea Booklet to incorporate the Real Food Pyramid and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030 (.pdf).
You may hear some kids say that they don’t like a new food. That’s okay. It may take 10 or more tries before they will accept a new food. If a kid doesn’t like a food today, encourage them to keep trying – as they grow and develop, their tastes may change.
Objective
Encourage favorable attitudes among students about unfamiliar protein foods, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy items.
Event
Try-Day is a recurring event during which students sample new healthy food options such as kale, butternut squash, or quinoa. On each Try-Day, students and staff sample a food and indicate how much they like or dislike it, using the Try-Day Ballot or other scoring method. Hand out “I tried it” stickers to encourage students to taste-test new items. Classrooms that collect the most stickers for the month can be recognized by the principal and receive a non-food reward. Foods that are a hit can then be incorporated into the school menu.
To distribute food samples, some schools offer students small cups of new foods on the serving line as students get their lunch, while other schools set up tasting tables in the cafeteria. Consider inviting students to visit a tasting table one group at a time, to allow for greater participation and crowd control. If you do not have room for a table, consider having student, parent, or teacher volunteers bring samples to the students on a tray or cart. Another option is to hold a taste testing in the classroom as part of a lesson. Food samples may be prepared by the cafeteria and brought to the classroom by parent volunteers for sampling.
Planning
Gather a Try-Day team. Wellness committee members, teachers, parent organization members, e.g., parent teacher association (PTA) and a parent teacher organization (PTO), the school nutrition director, students, and garden coordinators may have ideas about foods to highlight during Try-Days that link to the school curricula or other activities. For instance, consider produce grown in a particular state, a past president’s favorite vegetable, or produce that may be easy for students to grow.
Create your Try-Day calendar. Monthly Try-Days are suggested. Your Try-Days do not have to be held on Fridays or even on the same day of the week every month. Coordinate dates and times with the principal and school staff; it’s critical for them to serve as role models by taste testing the Try-Day foods along with students.
Choose your Try-Day foods. Your school nutrition director may have ideas for new ways to prepare selected items for future school meals and how to incorporate USDA Foods into the tasting event. For a full list of USDA Foods, visit the USDA Foods Toolkit. Consider highlighting fruits and vegetables that are in season. Beans, peas, and lentils; and whole grains are also great options. Schools can also solicit donations from local grocery stores, farms, or restaurants. Pick methods that best support your school’s space, food policies, and resources.
Plan the presentation of food items and conduct voting. Consider how and where the food will be served and prepare volunteers to help. Decide how you’ll make the ingredients look appetizing and attractive; options include pairing a new vegetable with a familiar favorite or dip. Talk with your school district and principal about food policies (e.g., food in the classroom, allergies). Create a ballot for students to offer feedback on the foods. Find sample ballots on the Child Nutrition Sharing Site.
Get kids excited. Promote your event with posters, announcements, emails, and in the school newsletter. Ask teachers to make announcements about the event in class and promote featured foods on the cafeteria’s serving line using colorful signs that incorporate the event theme. Elementary schools can display the “Make Today a Try-Day” poster and “Be Brave and Try New Foods” poster from the Team Nutrition Elementary School Poster Set at events nearby the tasting area. Make the event memorable with balloons, table tents, songs, food preparation demonstrations, or the school mascot or food ambassadors dressed in costume. Check out Team Nutrition’s Taste Testing Event Resources for more posters, stickers, and ballots for your event.
Promote favorites. Once students have selected their favorite foods, spotlight them on the menu, perhaps with a “kid-approved” symbol. Have kids create posters and signs about these foods to decorate the cafeteria. Let families know what their kids tried – and liked – so they can serve those foods at home too.
Team Up for Success
School
- Create a bulletin board with photographs of school staff, the school mascot, and students enjoying new foods on Try-Days.
- Post findings from the school ballots. Promote Try-Day events during morning announcements and have a student organization create posters featuring the Try-Day food.
- Recruit students to serve as “food ambassadors” to inform other students about new foods and offer samples.
Classroom
- Introduce kids to the Real Food Pyramid (.pdf) by talking about healthy foods from each food group on the Real Food Pyramid (protein foods, dairy, healthy fats, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains). Check out the Eat Real Food Toolkit for free posters and graphics.
- Language arts teachers can develop writing assignments about students’ experiences trying new food items; in math class, students can tally the results of the voting.
Cafeteria
- Display signage that highlights the Try-Day food and ask school nutrition staff to encourage students to choose the new food during school meals. If it has been a while since the original Try-Day event, offer additional samples of the new food on the first day it is featured on the menu.
Community
- Ask a local chef or registered dietitian to demonstrate healthful ways the featured food can be incorporated into a recipe.
- Ask a local farmer or cooperative extension professional to talk about how and where the food is produced.
- Ask local grocery stores to post a sign near a Try-Day winning food. For example, “Kiwi: Elementary School Favorite of the Month.”
Media
- Use Team Nutrition's Shareable Graphics (or create your own) to promote each event in newsletters or on social media.
- Post student-written articles and photos about Try-Days.
- After a couple of successful Try-Days, invite a local political figure and local reporters to attend an event.
Home
- Ask your school’s parent organization (e.g., PTA or PTO) to assist as volunteers for your Try-Day team and during the day of the event, or provide funding for purchasing food and supplies.
- Host a Try-Day event at a parent meeting or family night. This is a great opportunity for parents to try and vote for new school menu items.
- Send a letter or email to families describing the taste tests and the foods their child tried.
- Include recipes families can try at home. Check out the Institute of Child Nutrition’s Child Nutrition Recipe Box and look for recipes that provide six servings.
Schools in Action
Louisiana Team Nutrition partnered with EatMoveGrow to implement a six‑week fruit and vegetable engagement campaign. Using colorful superhero‑themed posters, stickers, morning announcements, menu highlights, newsletters, and videos, the campaign energized students and promoted fruits and vegetables served through the National School Lunch Program and Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. Administrators, teachers, and cafeteria staff actively supported the effort, creating a unified, schoolwide environment that encouraged students to try new foods. The superhero stickers and posters were especially popular, helping make the campaign both engaging and highly successful.
To encourage healthy eating at the elementary school, the Collinsville Independent School District in Collinsville, TX, launched a “Taste Test Heroes” program. Students who were willing to taste a new food had their photo displayed on a “Taste Test Hero” bulletin board which encouraged participation. Food samples included dragon fruit, snap peas, cauliflower, purple sweet potatoes, and kiwi fruit. To explain the health benefits of the food samples, nutrition information was on display for students to see. The excitement grew with each taste test, with students asking what food would be next!
Watch this video to see the “Taste Test Heroes” at Collinsville!