Fun and Fit Forever: The Food Pyramid May 14, 2009 6:00-7:30 p.m. All About Kids The Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 1
Standards, Outline and Materials Program Goal: To combat the rise in childhood obesity through a prevention, intervention, and community outreach program through a 3-prong approach: 1) to improve children s overall physical status, 2) to improve children s overall nutritional status, and 3) to improve families understanding of nutrition education and physical activities to prevent childhood obesity. Session Objectives: To improve families understanding of nutrition education and physical activities to prevent childhood obesity VPK Standards: Physical Health Shows characteristics of good health to facilitate learning Shows familiarity with the role of a primary health care provider Knowledge of Wellness Follows basic health and safety rules Participates in physical fitness activities Makes wise food choices Outline for Workshop Session: 20-25 minutes Mealtime 15 minutes Starter Activity: Eating Right, Exercising & Having Fun 15 minutes My Food Pyramid 10 minutes Food Pyramid Action Awareness 10 minutes Vocabulary and Letter Building 10 minutes Sorting the Food Pyramid 5 minutes Closing 2
Materials: Large concept map of Healthy Boy/Healthy Girl My Food Pyramid book Cards with food labels and pictures: meat and beans, fruits, vegetables, grains, and milk; cards with actions/directions Letter cards, word mats (fruits, vegetables, meat and beans, grains, milk) Five Food Groups chart, pictures from each of the food groups Title of Starter Activity: Eating Right, Exercising & Having Fun Length of Time for Activity: 15 minutes Format of Activity: Partners Note for Presenter: None Materials: Large concept map of Healthy Boy/Healthy Girl Our literacy topic for tonight is developed around healthy eating, exercise, and having fun as a family. We are going to do an activity where we share an experience that relates to healthy eating, exercise, and/or having fun as a family. I ll go first. My experience relates to my husband. He was raised in rural, south Georgia and his family always had a garden. As a result, he still plants a garden. We have fresh vegetables like turnip greens, collards, zucchini, yellow squash, lettuce, tomatoes, pepper plants, and cucumbers, depending on the season. Right now there are 8 tomato plants in the front yard and cucumber and bell pepper plants in the side yard. He says he just likes to see 3
things growing. However, we do have lots of tomatoes, cucumbers and greens every year. Everyone get with a partner and share an experience that relates to healthy eating, exercise, and/or having fun as a family. Allow participants to get with a partner and spend about 5-8 minutes on this sharing activity. Then allow the partners to tell something they learned about the other based on their conversation. Title of Book/Content Awareness Activity: My Food Pyramid Length of Time for Activity: 15 minutes Format of Activity: Whole group with participants sitting in U-shaped arrangement Note for Presenter: Have My Food Pyramid book available with the following pages flagged for discussion 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20ff. Materials: My Food Pyramid book Hold up the My Food Pyramid book and say, o We are going to focus on healthy eating habits this evening. Your children have been learning about the food pyramid. We are going to review the five food groups by using this book. Then you can read parts of the book with your child to reinforce what is being taught in class. o The food pyramid has changed. Let s look at the pages together and see the differences. Explain that the strips are now vertical with the width giving an indication of the amount of food that should be eaten from each group. The foods near or at the top of the pyramid are the foods that should only be eaten in small amounts or occasionally. o Divide the group into pairs. Assign each pair 2 pages (grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, or meat and beans. Allow 5 min. for them to review the information and then have open discussion of each food group. 4
o Lastly, look at pages 22ff to discuss the important information about oils, mixed dishes, daily quantities, food labels, making choices, food paths, and exercise. Making healthy food choices is so important to establishing healthy eating habits in young children. It can take as many as 10 offerings of a new food before a child indicates a liking of the new food. Why do we need to be concerned about healthy eating habits and healthy life styles? There has been a significant rise in childhood overweight and obesity. There have been many newspaper articles about the rise in Type 2 diabetes in children. Currently 10% of preschoolers (children ages 2-5) are overweight. 23% of preschoolers are at risk for becoming overweight. Tonight we will learn 3 activities that can help children learn about and practice healthy choices. (Distribute Family Literacy Bags) Title of Exercise Activity: Food Pyramid Action Awareness Length of Time for Activity: 10 minutes Format of Activity: Small groups of 3-5 parents/adults Note for Presenter: Use materials from several packets to ensure that all adults are actively involved. Materials: Cards with food labels and pictures: meat and beans, fruits, vegetables, grains, and milk; cards with actions/directions Lay the food cards on the floor. Space them 6-10 feet apart. Choose a directions card and read it to a group member, e.g., hop to the fruits group. Have the group member find the picture that matches the food group named and follow the directions. Continue to play the game. 5
After the group completes the cards, have them each do a challenge activity from among the challenge activities listed in the activity cards booklet. Title of Literacy Activity: Vocabulary and Letter Building Length of Time for Activity: 10 minutes Format of Activity: Partners Note for Presenter: None Materials: Letter cards, word mats (fruits, vegetables, meat and beans, grains, milk) Next I want you to work with a partner someone who hasn t yet been your partner. For this activity, you will be parent or child. If you are the parent, spread the letter cards out in front of your partner (child). Choose one of the five word mats and help your child match the letters to the letters on the vocabulary word mat. Continue until all the words are spelled correctly. Now ask your child to name some foods that belong in the group. Your child can look at the picture or you can use the My Food Pyramid book. Now use the letters to spell the names of some foods: bread, beets, raisin. Title of Math and Science Activity: Sorting the Food Pyramid Length of Time for Activity: 10 minutes Format of Activity: Partners Note for Presenter: None Materials: Five Food Groups chart, pictures from each of the food groups 6
Next I want you to work with a partner you choose a partner this time. For this activity, you will be parent or child. If you are the parent, spread the pictures of the foods in front of your partner (child). Choose a picture and place it in the correct category on the five Food Groups chart. For example, help your child place the broccoli in the vegetables group. Continue until all the picture cards have been placed on the Food Pyramid chart. Now ask your child to name other foods that belong in each food group. Use the My Food Pyramid book if your child needs support in naming additional foods. At home you can use grocery ads or magazines to help your child find more pictures of foods that can be matched to the food groups. Closing: Thank you for coming this evening. I have enjoyed our time together and look forward to seeing you next Thursday evening. Our topic will be Get Moving and we will be learning tips on exercising with and for young children. We want our children to be thinking Fun and Fit Forever! Hand out evaluation form. ThemodulespresentedherewerefundedbytheUNFFoundation,andtheFloridaInstituteofEducationatthe UniversityofNorthFlorida.Thecontentofthesemodulesdoesnotnecessarilyreflecttheviewsorpoliciesor implyendorsementbytheuniversityofnorthflorida. 7