During this week’s Nourishing Kid’s Class we learned about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate initiative.  Not only do we now understand all of the elements that make a healthy diet, but we also decided to be ambassadors of healthy eating for our fellow friends and classmates.

We started off with a quick video that informed us on what MyPlate is really all about. We talked about how some people have special diets and how they can get all the proper nutrients through plant-based and whole food sources.

Did you know that kids all over America are not eating the right foods and getting sick because they eat the wrong foods? We discussed what good foods and bad foods are and took turns talking about our favorite fruits and veggies.

Next we divided into groups where we colored and cut the myplate foods from the handout and then placed the cutouts on the appropriate myplate section (as practice for the game.) We also made our own bean bags by placing even amounts of the beans into a baggie and one food cutout.

Game time!! The students toss the bag onto the large MyPlate butcher paper. If the bean bag lands on the correct section, that team gets a point.

After the game, we washed hands and got back into groups. Each group was given some fruit or veggies to cut with plastic knives. This was a great opportunity to teach basic knife skills. We discussed the colors, textures, smells, similarities/differences, and taste. Each group prepared a plate to share with the class. We ate together and revisited MyPlate principles.

A great day of food, fun and learning!