Making healthy eating choices is a habit children must learn in order to make nutritious choices as adults. Many schools do not include any type of nutrition curriculum, but it can be simple to include a few free activities that use materials you already have. Dolly Lambdin, Charles Corbin, Guy Le Masurier and Meg Greiner note in their book "Fitness or Life: Elementary School Classroom Guide" that most children enjoy learning about eating, and entertaining activities can reinforce the concepts.
Search the Internet
Many websites provide free educational tools to teachers who teach nutrition. You can download and print worksheets, activity sheets and other printable activities that children can cut and glue. Lamdin, Corbin, Le Masurier and Greiner note that MyPyramid.gov is one exceptional resource that allows you to print blank food guide pyramids in order to teach students about what foods to eat and what foods to avoid. MyPyramid.gov and many other websites offer free nutritional online games that students can play as well.
Head to the Local Library
Your local library will allow you to check out children's books for free. There are many picture books that teach nutrition concepts and borrowing them from the library allows you to implement several choices into your classroom without spending any money. Books open the imaginations of students and engage them in the material, Rita Schrank notes in her book "Science, Math and Nutrition for Toddlers: Setting the Stage for Serendipity." Try "Henry and the Hidden Veggie Garden" or "Showdown at the Food Pyramid" to get you started. Ask your students to take a trip to the school or public library and invite them to find one picture book about nutrition to bring to school to share.
Use School Lunches as Educational Tools
Your students either bring a lunch from home or purchase a hot lunch in the school cafeteria. Use these lunches as a discussion point and as free props for teaching about the differences between healthy foods and unhealthy foods. Ask students to volunteer to show what is in their lunchbox or what they place on their tray in the cafeteria. Discuss what foods the students should include every day, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Then talk about what foods should be occasional treats, including candy, cookies and soft drinks.
Draw Pictures
When students are involved in hands-on activities they are more likely to remember the information they are taught and better able to apply it to their lives. Give each student a large piece of paper from the school stockroom and have them take out their pencil and crayons. Call out one food at a time and encourage students to write the name of the food or draw a picture of it somewhere on their paper. Categorize the foods by placing symbols next to each one. Lamdin, Corbin, Le Masurier and Greiner suggest having students draw a bone next to foods that build strong bones and a light bulb next to foods that provide energy. A sad face next to junk foods will reinforce nutritional concepts.
References
- "Fitness for Life: Elementary School Classroom Guide"; Dolly Lambdin, Charles Corbin, Guy Le Masurier and Meg Greiner; 2010
- "Science, Math and Nutrition for Toddlers: Setting the Stage for Serendipity"; Rita Schrank; 1998
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