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Recommended book: The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood-- Ten Ways to Get Your Family on the Right Nutritional Track by Dr. William Sears & Family
*Items needed:
1-Pillow
2-Sport’s item or something to represent exercise (I bought a “frog” at Target that dances and sings “You’ve Got to Move it, Move it”)
3-Food related item (paper plate or fork)
4-Flashlight
5-Toy car
6-Boxing Gloves
7-Pictures of foods or Containers of Food (empty egg carton, Oatmeal container, Whole Wheat Bread, Plastic Fish, Pop Tart Box, Donuts, Soda, etc) from Traffic Light Eating
8-Balloons (5 Colors representing Rainbow-each one represents a different food—Take 5 chairs and tape a balloon to each chair)
9-Three Grocery Bags with a sign on each “Red Light” “Yellow Light” “Green Light”
10-Red/Yellow/Green circles cut out of construction paper
11-Popcicle sticks (optional) If you don’t want to add popcicle stick to circles, just use cut out circles.
12-Scissors
13-Glue (optional)
14-Model of a Brain (optional-bought at Teacher Store)
15-Model of a Heart (optional-bought at Teacher Store)
16-Handouts: Traffic Light Eating
If possible, put items 7-15 on a table in front of the children.
Put items 1-6 in a Large Bag and place on table.
Instructions
- Introduce myself (mom, 6 children, used to homeschool, work as a nutritionist now.
- If the group is large, I might just mention a few rules/guidelines.
Ex: Raise your hand if I ask you a question OR if you have a question, Listen to others, etc
- I will then let them know how excited I am to be there and that we are going to be talking about “Being Healthy” and all the things that can help you stay healthy…”So, let’s get started!”
- WHO CAN TELL ME WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HEALTHY? (GET RESPONSES) -Feeling good, not being sick, being able to play, not tired all the time…
- HOW MANY OF YOU WOULD LIKE TO FEEL HEALTHY??
- LET’S TALK ABOUT 3 THINGS THAT YOU CAN DO TO BE HEALTHY: Have everyone hold up 3 fingers! (Have these items: pillow, sports item, healthy food item or food related item like a fork/plate) I will have all of these items in a bag and pull them out as I speak. I will say, “Ok, boys and girls, I need some help…There are 3 things that you can do to be healthy, but I have forgotten them and need to pull these items out to remember, Can you help me?” Then, hold up the pillow and say, “What does this have to do with being healthy??”
SLEEP! You need sleep to be healthy! You can say, “Did you know that when you are sleeping, that your body is GROWING? REPAIRING?” Have the kids pretend to sleep.
Hold up the Sport’s Items (Basketball, Ballet Shoes, Tennis shoes, Dancing and singing frog) and say, “What does this have to do with being healthy?”
EXERCISE! Talk about the benefits of exercise. Have the kids get up out of their seats and have them “dance or move” to the song.
Hold up the food item (plate or fork) and say, “What does this have to do with being healthy?”…
FOOD!!
- Today we are going to be focusing on food and what foods keep you healthy!!!
- “Let me show you something…” (Pull this out of your bag!) I then show them a flashlight and say, “What makes this flashlight turn on?” Batteries! This flashlight needs batteries to make it work.
- I then show a toy car and ask the same thing…batteries, BUT then I say, what about a REAL car? Gasoline! If it is easy to turn lights on and off, talk about “electricity” that makes the lights work….
- I then ask, “WHAT DO WE NEED TO RUN OR WORK?” FOOD!! I might get a little silly here and say, “We don’t run on batteries or gasoline!!! AND you don’t put APPLES in a gas tank or CHEERIOS in a flashlight!!!”
- Talk about how food keeps your body running. It helps you play, read, heal you when you get a cut/bruise, etc
- NOW, Point to the 3 grocery bags you have sitting on a table…One bag has a sign that says “Red Light” another “Yellow Light” and the other “Green Light”
- LET’S TALK ABOUT GOOD FOODS and NOT SO GOOD FOODS!!!
- INTRODUCE TRAFFIC LIGHT!! Show a picture of a Traffic Light. ”Boys and Girls, who can tell me what this is?” Go thru and explain what each light means in traffic terms. Red/Stop Yellow/Caution Green/GO Now, we can take that and do the same with foods.
- Go over what each light means: Red-stop, can you make a better choice? Yellow- think about it! Green-GO FOR IT!
**Here I have 3 Grocery Bags full of those Traffic Light foods.
- FIRST, LET’S TALK ABOUT GOOD/GROW/GREEN LIGHT FOODS…Foods That KEEP YOUR BODY STRONG!
- YOU might ASK THEM TO GIVE YOU SOME EXAMPLES of what they think is a Green Light Food… Discuss FRUITS (Pull out some plastic fruit or real fruit from your Green Light Bag): They give you vitamins and energy that your body needs and fiber, (example: fiber helps you “SWEEP” out the “dirt” in your system).
- Discuss VEGGIES (from your Green Light Bag): Vitamins and minerals-Iron Calcium Magnesium, etc…healthy skin and eyesight, strong teeth, bones, muscles, heart function… **I sometimes will show a model of a heart and tell them a little about it…I will have them hold up their fists and tell them that their heart is about as big as their fist….how it is one of the STRONGEST muscles in the body.
- **Use Boxing Gloves and explain how the immune system is “fighting” for the body all the time…and when we eat lots of fruits and veggies (GREEN LIGHT FOODS), then our immune system is REALLY STRONG. I have a kid come up and put the gloves on and have them hit my hands (pretending that I am a “bad guy” trying to “bring down” the immune system) They LOVE this!
Talk about RAINBOW EATING to encourage the kids to “EAT 5 A DAY!”
You can set up 5 chairs with 5 different colors of balloons taped to the back: Red, Green, Purple, Yellow, and Orange. Ask, “Who has eaten a red food today/last night?” Have them sit in the RED balloon chair. Just another way to engage the kids and it’s fun.
DISCUSS GRAINS: Pull Whole Wheat Bread out of Green Light Bag: White bread vs. Whole Wheat bread (Do you want your muscles soft and squishy or firm and strong? WHOLE grains are a WHOLE LOT better for your body!!
Discuss GOOD FATS: Pull a Plastic Fish or Nuts out of Green Light Bag: (Can also show model of the brain) Nuts, seeds, fish, almonds etc. Good for healthy skin, hair, brain. ”Did you know that your brain is 60% fat and weighs about 2-3 pounds??” Omega 3’s keep your arteries smooth, so nothing will stick. Bad fats can make your arteries rough, like Velcro.
Discuss GOOD PROTEINS: Lean meats, beans, and eggs, etc. Good for muscles, organs, blood, growing your entire body, repairing hurts.
The more healthy foods you eat -- the MORE YOU WILL GROW HEALTHY!
- NOW, LET’S TALK ABOUT “NOT SO GOOD”/RED LIGHT FOOD…
Discuss SUGAR: (High Fructose Corn Syrup) Show sugar visuals, Show Pop Tarts and other high sugar items.
Discuss FATS: (Hydronated & Sat Fats) Show food examples.
- **Might use the Boxing Gloves again, showing that when you eat a lot of sugar, the immune system is not as strong. You might even put the gloves on and in a “weak” manner, throw a few punches….obviously, not as strong as before. J
- Now, let’s look at YELLOW LIGHT FOODS…Foods that you should “THINK ABOUT IT”. These are foods that you can have once in awhile. Look at Dr. Sears Traffic Light Sheet for examples.
- In order to help them have a little fun with this and to reinforce the concepts, pass out plastic bags with red, yellow, green circles on Popsicle sticks (optional)…Each child receives a bag…Have them pull out and play a game…Hold up food cards (purchased at School Supply Store) OR ITEMS YOU HAVE IN YOUR GROCERY BAGS and have the kids hold up their red/yellow/ or green circles…They love this…
- After doing this for a while, it’s time to “wrap up” and go over what they learned. Suggest they go through the foods in their kitchen at home and show their moms what they learned.
- Pass out Traffic Light Eating Handout from Dr. Sears
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