Effectiveness of Flashcard and Video Media on the Knowledge of

Pre-school Children Toward Consuming Vegetables and Fruit

at Kota Matsum, Medan Area

Chairani Dalimunthe1* Kintoko Rochadi1 Jumirah Jumirah2

1
Departement of Health Promotion, Faculty of Public Health, Unversitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia
2
Departement of Public Health Nutrition, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia
*chairanidalimunthe1980 @gmail.com

Kata Kunci: Flashcard, video, knowledge, vegetables and fruit, preschool children

Abstrak : Giving vegetables and fruit to early children will support fulfillment and balanced the nutrition for children
development optimization. This habit will also form a healthy eating which will continue into adulthood.
From the initial survey there were 69% of children do not like fruits and vegetables. The research purpose
was to know the effectiveness of flashcard and video to change the knowledge of preschool children about
vegetables and fruits. The design research was quasi experiment with pretest-postest group. This study was
conducted in PAUD Ibunda and Al-Manar in Kota Matsum. The population of research was 36 children as
sample. Data analysis was conducted with test pair T-test to see the effect of flashcard and video before and
after treatment. From the results research gained that there was influence of flashcard and video to increase
knowledge with each of p=0.001. Based on mean difference, the average means video is more effective in
improving children's knowledge about vegetables and fruits. It is recommended to school use flashcard and
video to improve the knowledge and attitudes of preschool children and encourage parents to always equip
their children with vegetables and fruits also accustomed children to consume vegetables and fruit at home.

1 INTRODUCTION unfortunate considering that Indonesia is a tropical

The government through the Ministry of Health of the
Republic of Indonesia seeks to improve the quality of
health degrees in Indonesia, one of them through
GERMAS (Healthy Living Society Movement).
There are 3 main pillars of Germas and one of them
eats fruit and vegetables. The problem of consuming
vegetables and fruit is not only happening in
Indonesia, but also in other countries. As in America,
only 31.5% of school children who consume less fruit
and 80.3% who consume less vegetables (Kerbs,
2010 in Harnack et.al, 2012). Similarly, in Canada,
only 20.9% of school children lack vegetable and
fruit from Pabayo, Spence, Casey and Store research
(2012). In Indonesia, consume vegetables and fruit is
still low. Riskesdas Data in 2007 and 2013 is seen
that the population is ≥ 10 years only about 5.1 and
5.3 that meet the standards of WHO consume
vegetables and fruit. While Riskesdas in 2018, the
population aged 5-9 years only 3.1 meet the standards
of vegetable and fruit consumption. This is very
country that is rich in vegetables and fruit, but the
consumption of vegetables and fruits in Indonesian
society is still relatively low compared to other
countries that do not have the resources to produce
fruit and vegetables (Astawan in Putri, 2016).
The World Health Organization (WHO) also
recommends children under five and school-age
children to consume vegetables and fruits as much as
300-400 grams per day. Related research was
proposed by Melati and Enik (2010) that 93.6% of
pre-school children in Semarang have less than
73.5% of vegetables per day, and 100% of children
consume less fruit. Another study conducted by
Gunanti (2000) that school children consume less
vegetable than the average.
Vegetables and fruits are the biggest enemies for
children. Lots of parents who have difficulty in giving
vegetables and fruit to their children. Though
preschool is a period where children are growing.
Introducing fruits and vegetables to children at an
early age is very important so they are accustomed to
consume vegetables and fruit because will carry on
until adulthood. But if not, it will be difficult for
children to recognize the importance of vegetables
and fruit well.
Early childhood education is very important,
considering that early childhood is a "golden age",
which is the most decisive period in human
development. Because 50% of the variability of
intelligence in the brain and nerves already occurs
when a child is 5 years old, 30% next at the age of 8
years and the remaining 20% when the age of the
child reaches around 18 years old. Often parents
force their children to eat vegetables and fruit by
being scolded, but this method is not suitable,
because if a child is forced to eat vegetables or fruit,
one day the child will hate vegetables and fruit
because the child thinks he or she is being scolded for
vegetables or fruits so that the child is getting away.
Therefore parents should act as models in eating food,
not just eating, but displaying pleasure when eating in
front of children. So without being forced, children
will be eager to eat these foods. According to Karyadi
(1993), eating habits are one of the important factors
that influence children in consuming vegetables and
fruits. The formation of eating habits at an early age
is very important for the development of eating habits
later in adulthood.
Preschoolers have a changing nature in eating
food, they tend to choose food without knowing what
it feels like. According to Tuti Soenardi (2006)
rejecting food is the child's first way to flex muscles
and express free will. The attitude of refusal to eat
becomes a problem, but a mother does not need to
rush to respond as a problem if the right way to deal
with it has not been sought. Vegetables provide many
health benefits if consumed regularly. But not all
children have the awareness to consume it. Another
finding is that children know and like food consumed
according to what they usually eat (Drake, SC 2013)
Benefits of vegetables and fruits can provide
benefits for health (1) Vegetables and fruits are rich
in minerals and vitamins, minerals and other nutrients
needed by the body. Examples of nutrients contained
in vegetables and fruits are vitamin C, Vitamin A,
potassium, Folate. If consumption of fruit and
vegetables is low then there are nutritional needs that
are not met. (2) Vegetables and fruit contain active
enzymes that can accelerate chemical reactions in the
body. Nutritional components and non-nutritious
active components contained in vegetables and fruits
function as anti-oxidants and neutralize free radicals,
anti-cancer and inhibit cholesterol buildup in the
body. In vegetables and fruits there is also a fiber
content the beneficial for digestive health and
intestinal microflora, ie soluble fiber and insoluble
fiber. Soluble fiber improves intestinal performance
so that the number of bacteria that are beneficial to
the body can grow properly while insoluble fiber
inhibits the growth of bacteria that harm the body.
Some studies have shown that adequate consumption
of fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of some
chronic diseases. The results of He et.al (2007)
showed that increased consumption of fruits and
vegetables that were previously less than 3 portions
into more than 5 servings a day with regard to a
decrease of 17% the risk of coronary heart disease. It
is in accordance with the proposed by Dauchet et.al
(2005), the risk of stroke decreased by 11% for each
additional portion of the fruit per day.
Children's knowledge about the importance of
vegetables and fruit is very important because it has
an impact on attitudes and behaviors in consuming
them. Therefore, it is necessary for us to know the
habits of the children from an early age so we can
anticipate them.
2 METHOD
This type of research was a quasi experimental with
pre-post group design. This study used two groups,
the first group using flashcard on PAUD Ibunda and
video on PAUD Al-Manar. Research samples
amounted to 36 children. The study was conducted in
August-September. This research aims to see the
effectiveness between the flashcard and video to
knowledge of preschool children in consuming
vegetables and fruit. Data collection method was
done by asking directly to the child with a
questionnaire that contains a picture of vegetables and
fruit. Data analysis was conducted with test pair T-
test.
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Children's knowledge of vegetables and fruits in the
group of flashcards and videos before and after
treatment can be seen in the following table :
Table 1: Age distribution of preschool children
No Age Amount %
.
1 4 years 7 19
2 5 years 13 36
3 6 years 16 45
Total 36 100.0
Based on Table 1 shows that 6-year-old children are Table 4 shows there is an increase in knowledge after
at most 45%. This shows that the most 6-year-olds in being given treatment using video, previously no one
the kindergarten. Some research suggests that have a good category, after being given treatment the
the level of eating difficulties often occur good category to 11 children (68.8%), the middle
in pre-school age children (Beautris, category change from 14 children (87.5%) reduce to
2007). The knowledge of preschool five children (31.2%) and the low category is two
children about vegetable and fruit is very children (12.5%) become no more with low
low which is caused by many factors. One categories
of them is the young age between 4-5
years. In that age, knowledge has not Table 5: Influence of flashcard on fruit and vegetable
been perfectly developed. Children knowledge
knowledge is formed through the process Flashcard
of mimicking and sensing. The more they Knowledge
Pre-Test Post-Test
saw, heard, and flavored the learning N 20 20
process would quickly be received. In Mean 9.85 15.10
accordance with the theory, that age is Standard Deviation 2.64 2.29
one of the things affects the knowledge. P 0.000
Table 5 shows that there is an increase in children’s
Table 2: Male and female frequency distribution knowledge after being given treatment using
No Gender Amount % flashcards, visible from the mean before the 9.85
. treatment change to 15.10 with the standard deviation
1 Male 17 47 of 2.64 to 2.29. From the results of paired T-test that
2 Female 19 53 there is a flashcard influence on the increase in the
Total 36 100.0 children's knowledge in the consumption of fruit and
Based on Table 2 show that the distribution of female vegetable with a 0.000 < 0.05, with the difference of
is 53%. This shows that the kindergarten students post-pre 5.25.
have more girls. According to Kristjansdottir et.al
(2006) and Rojas (2001) gender affects the Table 6: Influence of video on fruit and vegetable
knowledge
consumption of vegetable and fruit.
Video
Knowledge
Table 3: Distribution of knowledge flashcard groups Pre-Test Post-Test
N 16 16
Flashcard Mean 10.00 16.88
Knowledge Before After Standard Deviation 2.45 1.82
n % n % P 0.000
Good 0 0 8 40
Middle 14 70 12 60 Table 6 show that there is an increase in children’s
Low 6 30 0 0 knowledge after being given treatment using video,
Total 20 100 20 100.0 visible from the mean before the 10.00 treatment
Table 3 show there is an increase in knowledge, changed to 16.88 with a standard deviation of 2.45 to
before being given treatment the good category is 14 1.82. From the results of the paired T-test is seen that
children (70%) and the low category is six children there is a video influence on the increase in fruit and
but after being given the increased treatment into the vegetable knowledge with P 0,000 < 0.05, with the
category of good 8 children, the middle category is 12 difference post-pre 6.88.
children, and no one child who is low category. The mean difference between flashcard and
video shows that the video's difference is higher. This
Table 4: Distribution of knowledge in video groups indicates that video is an easy-to-receive medium for
the child to convey information. Counseling with
Video video is more interesting than flashcards because the
Knowledge Before After condition of children who are currently growing in
n % n % technology culture. In addition, learning with video
Good 0 0 11 68.8
arouses the sense of vision, hearing, or conformity
Middle 14 87.5 5 31.2
Low 2 12.5 0 0 with student learning levels. The more sensory tools
Total 16 100 16 100.0 are used the greater information we receive. This is in
accordance with the research of Bandura (1997)
which says that we see the behavior displayed in the
media, we will replicate and eventually adopt such
behavior. Similarly, Ikada (2010) states that
interesting images can stimulate children's capture
power to receive messages. Related research is also
presented by Fitriani (2011) stating that the video is a
media that can convey a fact or fictional message that
can be informative, educational and instructional. In
addition, video is more effective because it can be
carried everywhere and used repeatedly.
4. CONCLUSION
From the results can be concluded that
there is an influence using the media
flashcard and video to convey information
to improve children's knowledge about
vegetables and fruits. Counseling with
video is more effective than flashcards
because the video displays images and
sounds that are appealing to the child. The
school should educate children about the
types and benefits of vegetables and fruits
using media that attracts children's
attention and interest. Hopefully, the
school can use the media in particular
video to convey the message to children.
In addition, school should give appeal to
parents in order to prepare vegetables and
fruits to children so that knowledge gained
in school can be applied to daily attitudes
and actions. The behavior of consuming
vegetables and fruit will be formed if
children is given an education as early as
possible. The early knowledge is implanted
then the easier it is absorbed and
acceptance of children is higher. Likewise,
the school as playground for children
should be able to influence the change in
the children behavior in consumption of
vegetables and fruit.
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