Summary

This unit will teach students the importance of developing proper nutrition and eating habits early in life.

Materials

• Feeding Children PowerPoint
• Feeding Children Worksheet
• Cooking with Kids PowerPoint
• Cooking with Kids Worksheet
• Children's Nutrition Games (Go Fish, Old Maid, Matching, etc.)
• Child Nutrition Game Instruction Worksheet
• Paper
• Markers
• Scissors
• Rulers
• File Folders
• Games Made by Students (Made on Day 1-Used on Day 2)
• Preschool Lesson Plan
• Preschool Permission Slip
• Cooking Lab Recipes and Supplies

Student Prior Knowledge

Student Pre-Assessment:

What is your earliest memory of eating or helping in the kitchen?

Instructional Procedures

Day 1:

Introduction:

How young can children be in order to start making choices about food and helping in the kitchen? Often by the time they can start feeding themselves, they can start making choices about what they eat. They are often in the kitchen with mom and dad while food is being prepared and helping with the meal will help them learn and develop gross and fine motor skills. Often what they are served will determine the kind of nutrition they will have throughout their life.

Feeding Young Children:

Go through the PowerPoint on feeding children. Discuss each slide with the students. The students will fill out the Feeding Children Worksheet during the PowerPoint.

Cooking with Kids:

Go through the PowerPoint on cooking with kids. Discuss each slide with the students. The students will fill out the Cooking with Kids Worksheet during the PowerPoint.

Child Nutrition Game Instructions:

Divide students into about 8-10 groups and hand out games such as Go Fish, Old Maid, Matching, etc. that relate to food. Let the students play each game for about 6-8 minutes, then rotate the groups to a new game. Continue rotating the groups through the games within the time limit.

Afterwards, discuss what each game was trying to teach. Talk about how play is a form of learning, especially for young children. Hand out a file folder with the instructions for the Child Nutrition Game Activity, with grading rubric stapled to it. Each group is to come up with their own game. They can use the format of any of the games played in class, but they need to teach something about what they've learned in the class. Go through the handout with the class and answer any questions as needed. Provide the students with white cardstock, scissors, markers, rulers, etc. for them to use to make their games.

Day 2:

Finish and Play Games:

Allow the students some time to finish their Child Nutrition Games. Then, trade each groups games and allow the other classmates to play and grade their game.

Plan Preschool:

Hand out the Preschool Lesson Plan Worksheet. Remind the students that some appropriate preschool games might include: musical chairs, teaching them a song, reading and acting our a story, water games (in the kitchen sinks), playing small instruments, making instruments, crafts, red light/green light, etc.

Each group needs to plan an activity that lasts about 6-10 minutes each, depending on the number of groups. On the day of the preschool, one group will begin with their game while the remaining groups prepare for their activity.

Go through Permission Slips and have the students fill in the time. Let them know that there should not be any children for the first 5-10 minutes of the class so that they can set up the room and activities.

Students will also need to plan and prepare the snack for the preschoolers. Be sure to check your local health agencies to check on outside food guidelines brought into the school.

Day 3:

Preschool Day:

Post the times for each group up on the board and go through the instructions for the day. Put out toys and books for the preschoolers to play with while they are waiting. Be prepared with back-up activities for students who may forget their supplies.

Day 4:

Kid Friendly Cooking Labs:

There are seven different kid friendly recipes. Each kitchen makes one of the recipes and makes enough samples for everyone to try. They will also write down two of the recipes in their recipe file.