by Joan Inong

Created on: November 04, 2009

Teachers don't need to teach their students about nutrition (unless of course they are nutrition teachers) but it is always a good idea to bring up the subject once in a while. However, nutrition is often thought of as a boring subject, especially to young students. To make this topic interesting, you can integrate fun and easy nutrition-themed craft ideas into your lesson plan. The following article will teach you how.

Picture Cards

Pictures are always useful tools in the classroom, especially when you are teaching young students. To make this craft idea interesting and fun, you will need to get your students involved. To do so, start off with providing the necessary materials. You will need to print out colorful pictures of different types of food - healthy and unhealthy - and have your students glue them to heavyweight paper. This type of paper can be plain construction paper. Cut the pictures to size, then present the pictures to your students. Which ones are healthy foods? Which ones are not? Use thumbtacks to attach the pictures to your bulletin board.

Fruit Baskets

It is common for many children to not eat enough fruits and vegetables everyday. For this activity, you will ask your students what types of fruits they eat on a daily or weekly basis. Ask them to bring an example fruit everyday. Then, place the fruit into a basket. At the end of the week, divide your students into manageable-sized groups (groups of 3-4). Give each group a fruit. What can they do to make this fruit a meal? How can they make that meal healthy? Have them draw fruits on pieces of colored construction paper and then cut them to shape. Create a fruit basket that will hold these pieces of "fruit." Ask your students how these baskets are healthy.

In Moderation

You can purchase objects that look like food. This way, you don't have to go through any further actions to bring food into your classroom. Next, ask your students to separate the food into appropriate categories. Afterwards, they will create "meals" using those foods. Ask them to replicate the meals by drawing them. Compare the students' different interpretations. What interpretations are similar and what are different? What does it mean to eat a meal in "moderation"?

These ideas are meant to inspire you, so try to make them your class's by changing and adding or subtracting features that you think are necessary.

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