Wellness Message Lesson Plan

Teaching wellness message: Food helps our bodies grow strong and healthy.
Learning outcome: Children will learn about what important foods can help their bodies to
grow strong and healthy.
Vocabulary focus: nutritious, healthy, vegetables, fruits, vitamins/minerals, grains, dairy,
protein.
Safety watch: This activity will need to be conducted in an open space in the classroom. There
must be observations going on throughout the activity as well as when the food is served to
insure cleanness and safety.
Target age group: Preschool and elementary.
Goal: Children will be able to name the foods that should be eaten daily for their bodies to grow
strong and healthy.
Materials: Play food kitchen set (This is just an example of one
https://www.amazon.com/Lantch-Kitchen-Accessories-Educational-Pretend/dp/B0814BVLX7),
fruits such as bananas, oranges, grapes, etc., napkins, healthy/unhealthy chart worksheet, green
and red markers.
Activity Plan: Students will be asked to come to the carpet so that they can hear and understand
what the teacher is saying. Introduce the activity by talking about how our bodies need foods that
are rich in vitamins/minerals (so that our bodies including our bones/muscle become strong).
Talk about the five food groups that should be incorporated into daily meals (include fruits,
vegetables, grains, dairy, and protein). Give examples of foods that are not good (unhealthy) for
our bodies (junk food, foods high in sugar, soda, etc.). Now introduce the matching game. Tell
students that they will be in groups. Each group will have part of the food kitchen set. As a
group, students will work together to figure out the foods that will make their bodies healthy and
strong and the ones that make their body weak and not healthy. Show children the
healthy/unhealthy chart worksheet. On your healthy/unhealthy chart worksheet, there are the five
categories (fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and protein). Each person in your group will take a
turn to pick up a piece of food. As a group, you will come up with which category that you think
it belongs in and write it under that category. Once you take a piece of food, you can place it off
to the side so that you know that you have already written down that food on the worksheet.
Once all pieces of food have been written down, you will use a green marker to circle foods that
are healthy and a red marker to circle foods that are not healthy. Remind students that eating
healthy foods will help their body to grow. Once all groups have finished, you will all be
provided with a fruit. (Take students to the cafeteria to provide clean and safe spots to eat their
fruit of choice).
How to adjust the activity: Prepare to support English language learners by creating cards with
the names of the food items in the child’s native language. Include phonetic spelling to help the
students to pronounce the word. Make adjustments to include children with special
developmental needs, such as drawing the items on the chart worksheet instead of writing out the
items. Repeat directions for children who need reminders or place the directions in an orderly
manner on the board for all children to see. Allow children extra time for the activity and when
eating their fruits at the end of the activity. Be aware of any food allergies ahead of time.
Reinforce the concepts of healthy/unhealthy foods as well as the five categories of food when
students are at lunch. Have students identify the foods at their plate at lunch. Show students the
website, https://www.choosemyplate.gov/, and how students can find games/activities to play
that talk about the wellness message that was presented in the activity.
Did you meet your goal? Can you observe children placing the foods into the correct
categories? Are children able to identify food items in each of the five categories? Do children
know how healthy foods impact their bodies?