Instructions:
Bring your child to the kitchen. Say to your child:
Today we will talk about healthy foods. Can you tell me some things you see in our kitchen that are NOT healthy? Now look again and tell me some things you find that ARE healthy?
What are your favorite healthy things to eat?
- Tell your child: We are going to draw/create our own plate of healthy foods.
- Using the paper, encourage your child to draw a large circle, making a “plate”. Provide support as needed.
- Next, encourage your child to cut out the plate. Again, provide support as needed. (Optional: for children who are not ready to cut on their own you could cut for them or use a paper plate.)
- Provide remaining materials
- Your child can draw, paint, or cut and create healthy foods on their plate.
- If you have enough materials join in on the fun with the whole family! Encourage everyone to make their own plate. After everyone can share the healthy foods they chose to put on their plate.
Game extension:
- For children who are ready, extend this activity by discussing the five food groups: dairy, grain, fruit, vegetable, and protein.
- Look through your kitchen and see if you can find some items that fit into each category.
- If you don’t have something to represent a category that’s okay. Use this as an opportunity to talk to your child about some possible choices. If possible, get online to look at examples.
- Including the whole family can be fun! Make your next meal together. Keep talking about the food groups and what may be good to have together as a meal. Let each member of the family pick something to include.
- Depending on what you make remember to include math into the activity. You can do this by simply using number words. Example’s: “There are five food groups let’s count to five”. “Let’s measure how much milk we will need”
- Eat your meal together and enjoy!
