Our preschooler gets pretty emphatic about her food desires. The hubby and I have been trying to explain the basics of healthy eating for a while, and sometimes it starts to feel like nagging. So, I've been racking my brain for all sorts of ways to make learning about healthy eating more interesting for her. I was inspired by all the food advertisements and circulars that came in the mail (in one day). I thought all the food pics would make a great food group collage. We've come a long way since the four basic food groups! I decided on the "new food pyramid format." Though I think a collage would also be fun using the "choose my plate" type of format supported by the USDA. We had a lot of fun making our collage (what little kid doesn't love messing with cutting up mail and using glue?!). And of course we had a great talk about food, nutrition, health, and the concept of moderation.
What you'll need:-Circulars for grocery stores, Large piece of paper, Pen, Glue
*Optional - Items to add for yourself, such as beans, rice, dried herbs, etc.
Instructions:
1) Child, parent or both, cut out pictures of food
2) Categorize them into groups. While categorizing you can discuss what the categories are and why certain items may not go where it seems. For example, why would a chocolate ice cream bar be a treat and not dairy? Why does fatty red meat get separated from lean meat? Why is white bread separated from whole grains?
Category Examples: Red meat, fatty foods, sweets; White breads/pasta, potatoes; Dairy Products; Eggs, seafood, lean protein; Nuts & Legumes; Whole grains; Healthy Oils
*Check out the plate and pyramid examples from Harvard's School of Public Health: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/pyramid/
3) Draw a pyramid on the paper with 6 sections for each food category
4) Paste items in each category. Discuss why you would eat more of certain types of foods and less of others.
5) Label the categories with daily servings of each.
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