Healthy and Unhealthy Food Lesson Plan

An important component of staying healthy is knowing which foods are good and which are not. Here is a lesson plan on the topic:

An important component of staying healthy is knowing which foods are good and which are not. Students will enjoy learning about it because it is something they know little about.

Here is a healthy and unhealthy food lesson plan for students in grades 1-3. Use this in conjunction with your nutrition theme.

Help students understand the role of food in their bodies by completing the following steps:

• Ask students to share the types of foods they eat on a daily basis.
• Discuss why they need to eat and what food does for our bodies.
• Compare our bodies to machines and how to work we need fuel from food.
• Ask students what would happen to them if they didn't eat. Talk about how they would feel irritable, tired, not have the energy to play, etc.

healthy eating tips

The following healthy eating tips are provided to help you take this lesson in nutrition:

• Eat fruits, unbuttered popcorn or natural foods for lunch.
• Drink lots of water.
• Eat vegetables for lunch and dinner.
• Limit the amount of fatty and salty foods such as chips and snacks.
• Drink milk, eat yogurt and eat low-fat cheeses.
• Enjoy salads often.
• Encourage your family and friends to eat healthy with you.

Activity

For this activity, students will determine which foods are healthy and unhealthy.

Materials

• Wire
• Garbage bag

Direct Instruction

Follow these steps to complete the nutrition lesson plan.

• Healthy foods are full of nutrients that our bodies need. Challenge students to create a list of healthy foods and snacks. Write this list on the board under the heading “Healthy Foods.”
• If students name a food that is considered unhealthy, such as french fries, list that item on the “Unhealthy Foods” list.
• Then ask students to list foods they consider unhealthy. Processed foods like sausages and pizza should be listed in this category.
• A good way to visually show students healthy and unhealthy foods is to hold a spool yarn and tell the students that the yarn represents the nutrients that are in the healthy foods they eat.
• Then hold up a garbage bag and tell students that the garbage represents the sugar, fat, and additives in the unhealthy foods they eat.
• Talk about how unhealthy foods do very little for your health and how healthy foods help fuel your body.
• Once your list is complete, discuss why the listed foods are considered healthy or unhealthy. Students may say that healthy foods provide our bodies with fuel and vitamins that give our bodies energy.
• Unhealthy foods can make us sick, tired or irritable.

Extension Activity

To check understanding, ask students if anyone has ever been to a junkyard. Show the other students pictures of a junkyard and talk about how the items in the junkyard are things that people can no longer use.

Compare junk food to junk food. Talk about how the unhealthy foods they eat are full of ingredients our bodies can't use.

Unhealthy foods are full of fat and sugar that make us overweight and sometimes sick. Remind students to eat healthily and limit or avoid junk food.

Closure

To make sure students really understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods, challenge students to draw and label five healthy and five unhealthy foods.

Healthy FoodLesson Plans