Health & Nutrition Activities For Children

Healthy living skills are important, yet many children are not being taught how to live a healthy lifestyle at home or at school. Teaching them how to eat nutritious foods and to exercise regularly is essential when you're educating children about health. Incorporate interesting activities into instruction to engage the children so they will remember health and nutrition lessons for a lifetime.

Five-a-Day Charts

Give children the goal of eating five servings of fruits and vegetables every day, advises Lynn R. Marotz, author of "Health, Safety, and Nutrition for the Young Child." Help children make "Five-a-Day" charts to track their progress. Divide the charts into seven sections, each labeled with a different day of the week. Include five columns next to the days. For each serving of fruits or vegetables children eat, they place a sticker on their chart. Discuss how fruits and vegetables help children keep from getting sick and keep their bodies healthy. Marotz recommends taking children to the grocery store to show them how many different fruit and vegetable options there are, as an extension to this activity. Encourage each child to choose one new fruit or vegetable to try as another way to earn a sticker.

Interactive Websites

Watching animation and playing games on the computer are engaging ways for children to learn new things. A variety of websites teach children how to eat healthy foods and show them different ways to exercise for lifelong health. BAM! Body and Mind is a children's website from the Centers for Disease Control that includes games, quizzes and easy to read information that teaches a variety of different health and nutrition concepts. The Dole Super Kids and Dole 5 A Day sites include education about eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. Children can play games, listen to music and complete online puzzles. Nutrition Explorations is a website from the National Dairy Council that includes games, recipes and puzzles that teach about health and nutrition.

Food Guide Pyramid

Marotz recommends using the Food Guide Pyramid as a visual aid to teach children how much of each type of food they should eat each day. Illustrate appropriate nutrition by gathering up a variety of children's books. Look through the books to find pictures of food. Each time children spot a food in a book, they identify which food group it belongs to. Provide blank copies of the Food Guide Pyramid, and allow children to draw pictures of each food in the appropriate spot. Develop a kids' exercise routine that aligns with the movement aspect of the Food Guide Pyramid. Encourage each child to choose an exercise to include.