Nutrition Curriculum and Supplements
Posted by Karin | 0 comments
In this Review Round-Up our focus is on educational materials that you can use when instructing your children on the importance of good nutrition and healthy habits.
The United States Department of Agriculture offers complimentary My Pyramid for Kids classroom materials by request for grades 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6. You may also download the program lesson plans immediately from their website but if you request the printed copy you will also receive two cd’s including a MyPyramid Blast Off game that is not available for download on the website.
Healthy Hops is a healthy eating and physical activity program for children ages 3-6. The nutrition units focus on healthful, body-friendly foods that can reduce the long-term risks of obesity, heart disease and more. The units use the concepts of “Go” and “Slow” foods. GO foods are low in saturated and trans fats and sugar and are high in complex carbohydrates, protein and other nutrients. They are taught to the children as food that gives the body lots of energy and fuel to make it GO. The SLOW foods are simply foods that should only be eaten in moderation. These are foods that are high in saturated and trans fats as well as added sugars. They do not give energy and instead make the body work more slowly and are less healthy. Thus, they are taught as being SLOW foods.
Junk Food Jed got out of bed,
tripped over his feet and fell on his head!
He didn’t stop to blow his nose
or brush his teeth or wash his toes
He just buttoned his shirt and put on his shoes
and walked to the door while rubbing his bruise
Yesterday Jed ate only junk
so today he woke up and fell, kerplunk!
He ate no fruit, or bread to grow strong
He drank no milk or water all day long.
He ate only candy and cupcakes for lunch
and when he was thirsty he drank purple punch
He had nothing for breakfast and greasy chips for snack
and he drank sugary soda which turned his teeth black.
For dinner last night he settled for soup-
made of marshmallow fluff and thick orange goop.
This morning Jed felt very bad
because of all the junk food he had.
Heading for the door he heard a voice call, “Wait!”
“You need a good breakfast,” said his plate.
From Junk Food Jed gets out of bed.
Curriculum and Teaching Strategies:
• 3 units covering nutrition and physical activity with more than 25 learning activities
• 7 reproducible worksheets to reinforce the lessons
• Designed to be easily integrated into preschool lesson plans
Inside my chest there are two lungs
that help me to breathe clean air.
I’ll exercise to keep them strong
and treat my lungs with care.
What I like about the program:
Everything you need is laid out. You can just simply follow the guide. Or you can easily integrate with your other materials or lesson plans. It’s flexible and adaptable.
It is a fun hands-on program for preschoolers that really offers a strong foundation in nutrition and healthy eating. I believe learning should be educational and fun. This program is both.
Although it’s written for classroom application, it is easily customized and adaptable for use in a home education program.
The fitness portion of the program is fun and quick. You can do do each activity in minutes at either the start or middle of your day top get everyone charged for the day (or recharged).
Songs and Poems are used throughout to help the children learn and remember important concepts.
You may download a sample page from the Healthy Hops curriculum guide here.
Healthy Hops retails for $39.95 and is available for purchase below.
Healthy-Start, LLC
PO Box 115
Huntington, NY 11743
(631) 549-0010
Email: info@healthy-start.com
Learning Resources has a variety of materials to help you supplement your nutritional lesson plans or use to create your own.
Magnetic Healthy Foods Set includes write-on magnetic place mat, 1 order pad and 33 magnetic pieces including 3 utensils, 1 glass of water and 29 foods. Before using parents should introduce a brief lesson on the Food Pyramid. Then, using the magnetic pieces, allow children to sort the foods into the various food groups. From there you can use the set to plan a menu and discuss the importance of healthy eating. The quality of this affordable set is amazing. The photographs of the food are so lifelike you may find yourself getting hungry!
Item LER-0497 # $32.99
Healthy Food Playsets come in a variety of sets (19-piece to 21 piece) and allow you to do the same hands-on activities above with play foods. If you have young children you’ll get double duty out of this playset when they use it for general play (dramatic play activities). By introducing this lesson and then having the playfood available in our play area afterward, my children kept repeating the lesson in their pretend play.
Foodgroup Magnetic Tabletop Pocket Chart encourages the classification of magnetic foods right onto the food pyramid on the front and 48 double-sided food cards 
into pockets on the back. There are so many ways to utelize this chart in teaching the Food Pyramid. Again, I cannot say enough about the picture quality of this set.
Item LER-6503 $32.99
Karin Katherine is a proud stay-at-home mother of four who feels blessed to be the mother of 5 year old fraternal twin boys and two daughters, ages three and 4 months. As someone who never changed a diaper until she had children, Karin is surprised by the fact that she has been changing diapers for the past 5 years straight with no end in sight! As the 7th of 8 children, Karin feels blessed by her average size (in her mind anyway) family and wouldn’t mind a few more– God willing and her husband notwithstanding. Her biggest homeschooling dream is to one day homeschool across the United States in an RV. Please visit her blogs Mommy Matters and Passport Academy.
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