Ellie D’Andria, 9 of Urbana and Grace Patton, 10 of Westchester, Ill., surveyed the tomatoes and red peppers on a table at Market at the Square on Saturday morning.

“I think it’s really fun to shop around the market,” D’Andria said.

D’Andria and Patton were participating in a scavenger activity held by Sprouts at the Market, a new program that educates children at the market about nutrition and farm linkage.

“We got a lot of samples, and we learned how to tell the color of the fruit by the part you eat,” Patton said.

Saturday’s event was a scavenger hunt to find and sample fruits and vegetables from each of the five food color families: red, green, blue/purple, yellow/orange and white/tan/brown.

Jennifer Hewitt is a senior in ACES, and organized Sprouts at the Market along with market director Lisa Bralts as a way to fulfill her dietetics program requirement of community experience.

“We started this program as a way to get kids excited about fruits and vegetables,” Hewitt said.

It is important that children learn at a young age the importance of nutrition, and eating foods that are healthy for their body, she said.

Hewitt also added that farm linkage is another aspect of the program. This part teaches children where food comes from, and how it is grown.

“It’s really important to emphasize to kids that people grow their food and that it doesn’t come from the grocery store,” Hewitt said.

Volunteer students from the College of ACES help Hewitt and Bralts with the program. On Saturday, each volunteer manned a table dedicated to one of the five food color groups while teaching the children about the fruits and vegetables on their table and giving them samples.

Ghazal Naseri, a graduate student in ACES, was in charge of the white/tan/brown color family table. On display were peaches, mushrooms, figs, cauliflower, white and brown peppers, an Asian melon called “sun jewel” and even locally grown bananas. She said many of these fruits and vegetables were new to the children.

“Some of them, they have never sampled before,” Naseri said.

Hewitt said it is her goal that the children not only learn about and try new foods, but continue to want to eat them and visit the market to learn more.

Sprouts events will continue this summer and into the fall, Hewitt said. An event on Aug. 22 will be all about corn, and another on Oct. 24 will be a “healthy trick or treat”.

Participants on Saturday weaved their way up and down the aisles at the market, searching for the Sprouts’ tables, and stopping at local vendors’ stands along the way.

Leia Kedem, a graduate student in ACES, waited for the young sprouts to arrive at her table, which displayed blueberries, purple broccoli and plums as part of the blue/purple color family.

“My primary interest is in nutrition education and community nutrition, so this is a great way to get outreach experience,” Kedem said.

She said the children seemed genuinely curious about learning about different fruits and vegetables and their benefits.

“They seem really interested in hearing about how to stay healthy,” Kedem said. “Their parents hear that message, and hopefully they take it to heart and try to encourage their kids to eat more fruits and vegetables.”