Crunch Time: How Polish Educators Used Design Thinking to Tackle Unhealthy Snacks in Kindergartens

In Olsztyn, Poland, a group of teachers, nutritionists, and preschoolers joined forces to take on a challenge faced by many kindergartens around the world: children’s poor eating habits. How do you get young children to enjoy healthy food when they’ve already developed a love for crisps, sweets, and sugary drinks?

The answer came through a multi-stakeholder Design Thinking process—one that mixed creativity with evidence-based strategies and, unexpectedly, gave birth to a superhero named Captain Carrot.

The Challenge
Despite growing awareness about childhood nutrition, many kindergartens in Poland struggle to promote healthy eating in a way that sticks. The existing food education materials were too generic or unengaging, and teachers found it difficult to connect nutrition messages to real behavioural change.

Could a new approach—one that listens to children, includes families, and values play as much as pedagogy—offer a breakthrough?

The Design Thinking Approach
Led by the “Green Spoon” project, the process brought together educators, psychologists, designers, and children over several weeks. They set out not only to improve food education in kindergartens but to co-create solutions with children rather than just for them.

🧠 Phase 1: Empathize

Observation and direct interaction with children became the foundation of the empathy phase. Educators documented children's preferences, reactions during meals, and emotional responses to food-related activities.

At the same time, they interviewed parents and teachers about perceived challenges. The key insight: education around nutrition needed to be more fun, tactile, and integrated into children’s play and daily routines.

📌 Phase 2: Define

The team crystallized their observations into a shared challenge statement:
"How might we make healthy eating exciting and natural for preschoolers, while involving their families and teachers in the process?"

💡 Phase 3: Ideate

This stage sparked a wealth of ideas—from superhero-themed menus and storytelling to sensory-based cooking workshops. Using post-its, idea funnels, and prioritization grids, they filtered the most feasible and impactful concepts.

Two standout ideas emerged:

• “Captain Carrot” – A fictional superhero character who guides children on food adventures through storybooks, songs, and classroom activities.

• “Survival School Without Crisps” – A hands-on workshop simulating situations where children needed to make food choices in “adventurous” scenarios.

✏️ Phase 4: Prototype

Teams developed the first visuals of Captain Carrot—a friendly, colorful mascot paired with story cards, worksheets, and songs. For the workshop, they created a guided activity where children faced challenges like packing healthy snacks for a jungle journey or guessing ingredients in smoothies.

🧪 Phase 5: Test

Both ideas were piloted in several kindergartens. Children responded enthusiastically, especially to Captain Carrot’s adventures. Feedback from teachers and parents showed increased curiosity toward fruits, vegetables, and even unfamiliar grains.

The storytelling method helped children remember what they learned, while the games enabled them to apply new knowledge in real-life contexts—like choosing snacks at home or in shops.

Impact and Results
Captain Carrot became a popular classroom fixture, and the “Survival School” workshop was adopted into the yearly activity calendar. Some kindergartens even created kitchen gardens, linking DT with experiential learning.

Children showed increased willingness to try new foods and talk about what’s “good for their tummy.” Parents reported fewer battles over snacks and more collaboration at home around healthy choices.

Lessons Learned

• DT tools can help educators reframe even familiar topics like nutrition in fresh, exciting ways

• Involving children as co-designers deepens engagement and ownership

• Prototyping with young learners requires flexibility, observation, and quick iteration

Why It Matters for Early Childhood and VET Educators
This case is a model for how vocational education—especially in childcare and early years pedagogy—can integrate Design Thinking. It empowers educators not just to deliver content, but to shape environments and materials tailored to real learners’ needs.

Next Steps
The team now plans to develop a digital Captain Carrot toolkit, complete with an interactive app, printable activities, and a guide for educators on how to replicate the process in different contexts.