Nutrition Unit - Introducing the Food Pyramid

November is good nutrition month, making it a great time to introduce your kinders to the food pyramid, healthy portions, and smart selections. We found a great lesson plan created by Kortni Nelson as part of her undergraduate studies. She has lots of great ideas for a nutrition unit.

The Edible Pyramid

Nelson suggests introducing the unit with Loreen Leedy's The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Every Day. The fabulously illustrated animal characters, while attempting to order dinner at a restaurant, discuss the various food groups, what dishes fall into these groups, what a serving size looks like, and how to eat a balanced meal. This provides a fantastic introduction to the main topics/concepts of the unit - in a fun way!

What's For Dinner?

With these new concepts in mind, Nelson recommends having your students practice creating a balanced meal using paper plates and magazine clippings. Not only is this a great way to assess how well your kiddos grasped the new information, it will provide your kinders with extra fine motor practice as they cut out the pictures and paste them onto their plates. Set aside time {as a class or as small groups} to allow students to present the meal they created. [NOTE: As an extra assessment, consider providing students with a food group 'frequency chart' to glue onto the back of their plate, inviting them to check off how many foods from each group were included in the meal. See below.]

For more introductory activities, lesson tips, and practice exercises, be sure to visit Kortni's full lesson plan page!