Early childhood is an optimal time for establishing healthy eating habits which may prevent disease later in life. In Georgia, the child obesity rate?hovers at 13% with the majority being children from low-income Black or Hispanic families. Currently, the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" recommend children aged 2-5 consume 1-1.5 cups of vegetables daily, yet only a small percentage consume recommended amounts. As nutrition gatekeepers, parents play important roles in facilitating their children's vegetable intake, but they may experience barriers that extend beyond the scope of diet. This indicates that multi-layered approaches which target multiple health determinants will be required to achieve healthy equity. Interventions to strengthen other key influencers of health and go beyond singularly addressing dietary factors are needed. Studies show there is an inverse relationship between education level and poor health, indicating that one potential intervention area is early education, which encompasses physical, cognitive, and linguistic developmental areas as well as scientific and mathematical reasoning. One under-explored area of potential intervention to simultaneously address both nutritional and educational disparities is a cross-curricular approach that integrates SAM (Science, Arts, Mathematics) into food learning experiences. Food can function as a vehicle to integrate academic and developmental learning. SAM use among school-aged children has successfully improved cognitive development and academic achievement in classroom content areas. However, utilization of SAM by parents to promote vegetable intake in younger children within a home setting remains untested. In this study, researchers developed a pilot nutrition education curriculum for parents of Head Start children ages 3-5, that focuses on cooking and SAM engagement strategies which parents can use to promote vegetables to their children. Needs assessment interviews were conducted to inform curriculum development within the framework of Social Cognitive Theory. The curriculum was pilot tested in parents (n=34) of preschool children enrolled in Head Start programs in northeast Georgia. Parental knowledge, self-efficacy, and acceptability were measured. Findings showed that SAM integration is acceptable to parents for introducing vegetables to young children with the goal of changing dietary behaviors. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]