Nutrition Education Ideas for Kids

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Dietitians love March! Why? It’s National Nutrition Month! It’s the month we really focus on spreading our love for food and nutrition to the masses. In my dietitian circles, I see so many requests for fun ideas that engage young minds. Since my kids were little, I have been making custom nutrition education products for their classes and started sharing these with my colleagues and readers more in the last year. Food is fun or at least it should be! I am a teacher’s kid, so I have seen how to engage by watching my mom. As a parent, I wanted my kids to have fun.

You can find all of the following nutrition education kits in my shop! Use the code NNM10 at check out to get 10% off any product.

EAT LIKE A SUPERHERO

As my son and daughter have grown, I have taken their interests and developed food ideas around their interests. It all started with Eat Like a Superhero, inspired by the first Avengers movie. My son was so into superheros so I just had to do something fun. Eat Like A Superhero takes MyPlate to a new level of SUPER Awesome!

Suggested Props

Trifold Black Board

Poster board

knife

Yellow duct tape or yellow construction paper

Blue, red, or white tablecloth

Masks for kids (if desired)

Laminating sheets

Popsicle sticks for signs

Sample foods Foods of choice (examples below)

For the instructor – suggested dress up with mask & cape

Utensils if serving food

This Kit Contains:

4×6 table tent food signs

Large signs – 6 large signs & 6 food group signs

Zap sign for foods that zap your energy if eaten in excess

Food picture cards

Hero H2O labels print outs

Eat like a superhero MyPlate handout

Eat like a superhero math handout

Eat like a superhero reading handout

Eat like a superhero writing handout

Hero Up Healthy VS. Powered Down Picks & clip art

Cityscape to display

MEALCRAFT

When my son grew tired of superheros, we moved onto Minecraft. I love Minecraft but I did have to do a crash course with it to understand it. It was through this that Mealcraft was born. If you are going to build, it might as well be a healthy plate. With Mealcraft, kids will learn about the 5 food groups, Minecraft style! Mealcraft is a fun and engaging way to get your students excited about healthy eating. You can use the pdf on the Smartboard in any classroom.

The kit includes:

Mealcraft MyPlate

How to Build a Healthy Plate

Survival Servings for Kids, Beware of the Creepy Foods

Build a Mealcraft Cart or Plate

Food Bar Sort

Feed Steve game where kids can earn health points

Extras:

For the game, you can download a picture of Creeper or Steve to hang on the board. My students really loved the Minecraft heads I order online from Amazon. I just put them on the table and we played the Feed Steve game.

SUGAR WARS

This is one of my favorites! Sugar Wars is so much fun with older elementary to high school kids. You can turn kids into Sugar Jedis by helping them understand sugar vocabulary, recommended amounts per day, and how much sugar is in the most commonly consumed drinks. Since it’s a play on Star Wars, the kids love that you can dress up for this presentation. I dressed up as Princess Leia and presented with my son’s light saber. Sugar becomes fun with this unit! I am always careful to make sure they understand that sugar is not bad, but excess sugar does impact their health.

LUNCHBOX LESSONS

This unit is a fun way for kids to learn how to build a healthy lunchbox! It breakdowns the 4 main components of a healthy lunchbox and has a multi-sensory cut and paste activity. The Lunchbox Checklist is a perfect take home for parents! Use this on your Smartboard or print them out for handouts!

The four lessons include:

These kits are a hit with kids, parents, and teachers! They are so much fun to do and the kids really remember and take home a lot of new nutrition knowledge!

You can find all of the following nutrition education kits in my shop!

Use the code NNM10 at check out to get 10% off any product.

Happy National Nutrition Month!