Focus on the Food Groups: A Visual Activity for Young Kids

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teaching kids about food pyramidIf you are a mom to young kids, you know that most days feel like a snack free-for-all.

Each day, I encourage my daughter to think of choices that include fruits, veggies, and protein rather than “snack” type foods.

While we talk about it frequently, I wanted a visual way to demonstrate this to my daughter. I hoped an activity with tangible pieces might help encourage eating a healthy, well-rounded diet and create an understanding of the food groups.

Here’s what’s been working for us lately:

Project Supplies:

  • construction paper
  • scissors
  • glue/glue stick/tape
  • envelopes
  • poster board or little basket
  • laminator (optional)

Project Method:

food group collage1. Decide what vegetable will represent vegetables, what fruit represents fruit, etc. We chose carrots for veggies, an apple for fruit, a fish for protein, a piece of bread for bread/grains, a water glass for water. Let your kids choose!

2. Draw each object and cut it out. Objects can be as simple or elaborate as you wish. We laminated ours so they would last longer, but that is totally optional. (To modify for older kids, you could simply use index cards with words written on them to encourage word identification and reading.)

3. Label an envelope according to each corresponding food group. I also added a piece of construction paper that matched to add an additional color/match feature. (Modification: For older kids, have them identify the word written on the envelope.)

4. You can mount the envelopes on a larger piece of poster board, or simply find a little basket that can hold the envelopes and objects. Mount the poster near your dining table, or set the basket on your table. This happy little caddy adorns our table and is part of each meal.

How This Helps Us:

food group activity clareEach time we eat a meal or snack, we talk about what food group that food belongs to. Then, we find the object that represents it. We put the object in the corresponding envelope.

At the end of the day, we look in our envelopes and count the servings or numbers of glasses of water. This gives us the chance to see how we did with servings and to talk about what we’ll do differently tomorrow.

My daughter gets really excited when she gets to add objects to her envelopes, so this is really rewarding for her right now.

It also works wonderfully when she asks for a snack! We talk about what that food is she is wanting and what food group it belongs to. Often, we determine that the food she wants is a snack, so we choose fruit or veggies instead. Because it is her choice, we seem to see fewer power struggles than when it’s just Mommy offering the alternative.

What are your suggestions for teaching your kiddos about healthy eating? Leave a comment below!

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