The intervention group received an eight-week nutrition education program that integrated dialogic reading with real food exposure, sensory play, table-top activities, and parental involvement.

No intervention was applied to the control group

dialogic reading-based nutrition education

The Child Nutrition Knowledge Form is based on the "Eat Smart with MyPyramid for Kids" educational material developed by the United States Department of Agriculture. The Turkish adaptation of the form was conducted by Başkale in 2010. The form includes images of 30 food items from five food groups and consists of five questions. It is administered face-to-face with preschool children by reading each question aloud and asking the child to indicate the correct answer by pointing to the relevant image. Each correct answer is scored as 1, and incorrect answers are scored as 0. Therefore, the total possible score ranges from 0 to 20. A higher score indicates a higher level of nutrition knowledge .

The Dietary Diversity Score was calculated based on the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Dietary Diversity Questionnaire . A non-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to assess the frequency of consumption of eight food groups (dairy products, fresh meats, eggs, fish and seafood, legumes, nuts and seeds, vegetables, fruits, and cereals). If the consumption frequency of any food in these groups was marked as "Every day," "3-5 times a week," or "1-2 times a week," 1 point was assigned. If it was marked as "Once every 15 days," "Once a month," "Rarely," or "Never," 0 points were assigned.