Snacking Up the Pyramid

Who

Why

Children need to have healthy “mini-meals” or snacks offered throughout the day in order to supply the fuel for their high energy needs.

Time

Setup

Objectives

• 
  stated the role snacks play in their child’s daily eating;
  

• 
  created two healthy snacks using the Food Guide Pyramid as a guide.
  

Lesson Overview

1. 
   Welcome and Introduction 5 minutes
   

• 
  Introduce self
  
• 
  Conduct ice breaker and have families introduce themselves
  
• 
  Distribute handout packet for lesson
  
• 
  Note that class is for both adults and children
  

2. 
   Book Sharing: The Edible Pyramid 7 minutes
   

3. 
   Solving the Pyramid Puzzle 8 minutes
   

• 
  Participants learn and share about each of the food groups within the Food Guide Pyramid
  

4. 
   Physical Activity 3 minutes
   

5. 
   Planning Healthy Snacks 5 minutes
   

• 
  Using the Food Guide Pyramid as a guide, participants plan a healthy snack
  

6. 
   Recipe Sharing and Tasting/Evaluation 5 minutes
   

Materials

• 
  Music and tape player (from other lessons or instructor’s choice)
  

• 
  Book: The Edible Pyramid by Loreen Leedy
  

• 
  Food models representing all groups within the Food Guide Pyramid
  

• 
  Flannel board with food choices from the Food Guide Pyramid
  

• 
  Food Guide Pyramid poster
  

• 
  Video: Smart Snacking for Children
  

• 
  Recipe ingredients (see recipe)
  

• 
  Blender and/or hand-held blender
  

• 
  Paper cups and napkins for tasting the recipe
  

• 
  Coloring sheet for children to use during the lesson
  

• 
  Big color crayons
  

• 
  Incentives: Food Guide Pyramid Magnets (if available)
  

• 
  Handouts:
  

• 
  Pyramid Basics
  
• 
  Food Guide Pyramid for Young Children
  
• 
  Working Together to Eat Better
  
• 
  Snack Ideas from the Food Guide Pyramid
  
• 
  Love Is Happy Healthy Mealtimes
  
• 
  Butterfly Bites (instructions for Wacky Snack Activity)
  
• 
  Healthy Snacking Tips
  
• 
  Change Foods to Make Them Safe (parenting tip for lesson)
  

Getting Ready

1. 
   Review the book The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Everyday
   

2. 
   Gather all the necessary materials and props (see Materials List)
   

3. 
   Gather ingredients for the recipe and paper goods for sampling the recipe.
   

The book selected for this lesson is titled The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Everyday by Loreen Leedy. It is a colorful book where the animal characters attend the grand opening of the Edible Pyramid restaurant. They learn to make healthy food choices and to eat a variety of food. The Food Guide Pyramid graphic appears throughout the book. Each one of the food groups is presented and serving sizes are introduced. Depending on time it may not be possible to read the entire book. The first 22 pages cover the food groups and should not take too much time to read.

the third Family Activity outlined in the lesson. Listening to what the parents are saying will provide insight that can be used to enhance the lesson.

1.

Welcome and Introduction

Introduce yourself and tell families that the purpose of the class is to learn about the importance of snacks as part of a child’s diet. Explain that parents and children will join together to share a book, learn about the Food Guide Pyramid, and taste a healthy snack.

2.

Book Sharing

Hold up the book, The Edible Pyramid, and read the title. Share that the book is about a group of animals who go to the grand opening The Edible Pyramid restaurant. While they are there they learn about the Food Guide Pyramid.

As the story is read show the pictures to the children and parents and take time to ask questions.

• 
  How many different food groups are there on the pyramid?
  

• 
  Which food group is the biggest?
  
• 
  Which food group is the smallest?
  
• 
  What food groups are in between?
  
• 
  Describe what you see in the Milk group?
  
• 
  What are some foods that are at the tip of the Pyramid?
  

End the book sharing by recapping the basic concepts of the Food Guide Pyramid.

3.

Solving the Pyramid Puzzle

Pyramid.

4.

Physical Activity

Invite parent and their children to take part in the physical activity called I See, I See.

5.

Planning Healthy Snacks

Invite parents to create a healthy snack using two-three felt food models. To begin, the educator models the activity by sharing a healthy snack she/he created using the felt food models.

6.

Recipe Sharing and Tasting

Breakfast

Kids tend to eat what they are offered. As parents it is our job to decide what foods to offer our children at snack and mealtimes. It is the child’s job to determine how much he/she will eat. In order for them to be successful with eating, children must come to dinner

hungry but not starving.
Since their stomachs are small it does not take much for a child feel full at mealtime. But, children also have high energy needs. It is important for children to eat often throughout the day. This is where snacks come in. Offering children something nutritious every 2-3 hours will allow them to meet their energy needs and keep them from being overly hungry at mealtimes.
When planning snacks for children consider them as mini-meals. Making sure they contain protein, starch, some fat, fruit and/or vegetable. Also, think “outside the bag”—that is, out with foods that are sold as snacks in those cute packages and bags.
Building on the knowledge parents already have, this lesson provides information on using the Food Guide Pyramid as a guide to planning healthy, tasty snacks.

Readiness Skills

This lesson plan addresses the following school readiness skills:

• 
  Literacy (reading a story)
  
• 
  Math (counting, measuring, shapes, sizes)
  
• 
  Physical Activity (art, cooking together, movement)
  
• 
  Science (classification of food groups, discovering, predicting)