Childrens Creative Learning Center preschool student Abigail Bauman reacts as she tries a lemon as during a Nutrition lab setup by BC3 Nutrition students.

BUTLER TWP — Several preschool children at Butler County Community College got to taste a lemon for the first time, thanks to a college nutrition class teaching them about healthy eating.

A 4-year-old girl scrunched her nose and puckered her lips after tasting the fruit. A little boy spit it out, while another happily licked the sour yellow fruit.

Trying lemons was just one way they learned about new foods. They also learned about more exotic fruits and vegetables that some hadn't known about before, such as cantaloupe, avocados, eggplant, and even blueberries.

The partnership, between the school's Children's Creative Learning Center and the Principles of Nutrition class, has been popular for preschoolers and college students alike for a few years.

“We just finished a lesson on nutrition for young children,” said Nichol Murray, who is the class instructor. “It's one thing to talk about; it's another to interact.”

The class set up five stations to expose the younger children, ages 3 to 5, to healthy foods and eating habits. Stations included making fruit and vegetable puppets with Popsicle sticks, a tasting station that lets children try sweet, sour, spicy and bitter foods, and a “Grinch kebab” craft, made with marshmallows, strawberries, green grapes and banana slices.

“Throughout our program, we promote healthy choices,” said Judy Zuzack, director of the learning center. “This is a great way to reiterate that message to them.”

But the program was a learning experience for the preschoolers as much as it was for the college students.“It was nice to learn from them, that they're still growing up,” said Allison Lesko, a freshman nursing major.Meanwhile, for Amanda Heckathorn, who is transferring to the University of Pittsburgh in the fall to major in nutrition, the experience was helpful because it was a great way to interact with others, and a great lesson to add to her portfolio.She said her class learned that children are more likely to try new foods if they play a role in making it.They also learned that intimidating or bribing children to eat foods they aren't eager to try makes them dislike those foods even more.

Kyleigh Rodgers, a preschool student at Butler County Community College's Children's Creative Learning Center, smells an avocado that BC3 student Sierra Huellen holds up during a nutrition class.