Activity Idea: Nutritious Food Fun

Take time to complete a weekly nutrition activity with your youth and don't forget to keep them moving.

Food Guide Pyramid

Discuss the Food Guide Pyramid. Highlight foods from each food group and the nutrients they provide. Review the recommended number of servings and serving sizes. Have youth create their own pyramids and include their favorite foods from each food group. They can color their own or cut out foods from magazines. Information and handouts on the Food Guide Pyramid are available at www.usda.gov/cnpp/.

Taste Test Healthy Foods

Taste tests are a great way to introduce new foods to youth and get them involved in choosing healthy snacks for your program. Always remember taste tests work best when similar foods are used. Avoid tasting a "junk food" with a "healthier version".

Taste Test Ideas:

Seasonal fruit (varieties of apples, oranges)
Crunchy vegetables (carrots, jicama, celery)
Soft snacks (rice pudding, tapioca, flan)
Healthy cookies (oatmeal, fig bars, ginger snaps)
Bean dips (hummus, black bean, refried beans with salsa)

Snack Mission

Help youth make better snack choices. Discuss the importance of reading food labels to find out what is in the foods your eating. Have youth collect food labels of the snack foods they eat and determine whether their choices are healthy ones. Together come up with criteria that will help them decide whether a snack is a healthy choice or not.

Sample healthy choice criteria:

Lowfat - less that 7% of Daily Value for fat
High fiber - made with whole grain or whole wheat flour as opposed to white or refined flour. Has at least 10% of the Daily Value for fiber.
Low sugar - sugar is not one of the first 2 ingredients on the ingredient list
A good source of vitamins and minerals. Has at least 10% of calcium, iron, vitamin C, or A.
Activity Extension: Visit a nearby grocery or corner store. Divide youth into teams to choose and purchase healthy snacks using the criteria they came up with.

Create Your Own Nutrition Campaign

Have youth talk about what eating healthy means to them. As a group have youth come up with recommendations for how adolescents can eat better. Choose one recommendation and design a campaign (i.e. poster, display, skit, rap, commercial, PSA).

Other Resources

CHOW: A Nutrition Curriculum for Grades 7-12, Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1995. Includes cooperative learning activities on food advertising, weight control, and the relationship between food and the environment. To order CSPI resources call 1-800-237-4874 or visit www.cspinet.org.

Generation Fit Action packet, American Cancer Society, 1999. Includes enrichment activities that give young people the opportunity to act on issues related to nutrition and physical activity in their schools and communities. For more information call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.

YourSelf, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food & Nutrition Service, 1998. Activities emphasize the power of choice- encouraging youth to take responsibility for their eating and activity decisions. Visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/ for ordering information.

Yummy Designs Products. Creative and innovative nutrition education materials designed to "make nutrition fun". New products include a Fruit & Vegetable '5-A-Day' Scavenger Hunt Game and Fruit & Vegetable '5-A-Day' Fun Pack. Visit www.yummydesigns.com to for a listing of materials available or call 1-888-74-YUMMY.