Nutrition-Related Curriculum Expectations
- OE6: 6.2: Investigate the benefits of nutritious foods and explore ways of ensuring healthy eating
Key Concepts for Student Learning
- There are lots of different foods to explore. Food comes in all shapes, sizes, colours, smells and flavours.
- Learning to like new foods takes time.
Note: Tracking, comparing or graphing students’ food intake is not recommended.
NOTE: Educators should be aware that food guide messages may not be appropriate for all students including those who are neurodivergent and/or have health, sensory or other exceptional needs that impact their relationship with food and eating. SMHO Resource on Mental Health Promotion at Schools: Classroom Considerations – Supporting Mental Wellness Amongst Students with Special Education Needs offers tips that can be applied to support learning about food and eating at school.
Classroom Activities and Lesson Ideas
Classroom Activities and Lesson Ideas
- Class discussions
- Have students share their favourite foods or the foods they like to eat. Ask why foods are their favourite? Discuss how everybody likes different foods and how it is okay to like something different than others.
- Discuss how foods come in many different colours, tastes, textures and smells and how it’s good to learn about and try different foods. Talk about different foods, asking questions like: What does it smell like? Sound like? Have you tried this before? What does it taste like? What colour is it? How does it grow? Young children may need to learn new vocabulary to describe food.
- Set up opportunities for dramatic play through a play kitchen or play garden. Include all types of foods in the kitchen area.
- Play “Guess the Food” by putting food items in a box or bag and having students use their senses to guess what the food is. The What am I? Food literacy activity from Northern Health and Vancouver Coastal Health can be used as a guide.
- Song: I just found a kiwi in my lunch from Teach Nutrition: View the song and brainstorm additional verses describing other foods.
- Song and Puppets: 2 Food Songs and Puppets from Teach Nutrition
- Make a collage using pictures of foods for each colour of the rainbow.
- Search and find activity from Teach Nutrition
- Explore foods together through reading books about food. For example, “Eating the Alphabet” by Lois Elhert, Frankies Favourite Food by Kelsey Garrity-Riley and A to Z with Veggies and Fruit by Arielle Dani Lebovitz