Little D's Nutrition Expedition™

Activity 9 - Smart Snacking Dragon

Grade Level: 2nd Grade/Primary Elementary
Rating:

Materials and Advance Prep

• Preview the Suggested Instructional Strategy
• Print the Picking a Smart Snack (PDF) story
• Duplicate Smart Snack Choices (PDF) worksheet - 1 per student
• Duplicate Royal Food Family Trading Cards (PDF) - enough for 2 cards per student
• Optional: Duplicate Smart Snacking (PDF) take-home handout - 1 per student
• Optional: Review "Smart Snacking;" pages 7-8 Nutrition Backgrounder
• Little D's Interactive Nutrition Games in Kids

Suggested Instructional Strategy
1. Begin with a quick review of the Five Food Groups, each group's health benefits, and the "Others" category. Ask:

• What are some foods that go into the "Others" category? Answers may include potato chips, soft drinks, cake, candy, cookies.
• How are "Others" foods different from Five Food Group foods? Foods in the food groups help your body stay healthy. "Others" foods are not needed for good health.
• What does "Others Come Last" mean? First eat foods from the Five Food Groups. Then, if you have any room left, you might eat something from the "Others" category.

2. Begin instruction about snacking:

• Little D wanted to learn about snacking. What is a snack? How is a snack different from a meal? How is a snack similar to a meal? Accept all reasonable answers.

Develop a general definition for a snack, such as, "A snack is a small meal." Continue, asking:

• What are some foods that people eat for snacks? Accept all answers.

3. List 10 of students' suggestions on the board. Ask students to identify which group each food belongs in.

• How many Milk Group foods are on our list? Meat Group? Vegetable Group foods? Fruit Group foods? Grain Group foods?
• How many the "Others" category foods?

4. Explain:

• There are snacks and there are Smart Snacks.
• When we think of snack foods, we often think of foods from the "Others" category.
• However, in order to grow and stay healthy, we need Smart Snacks.

Smart Snacks contain one or two foods from the Five Food Groups.

• Why is it better to snack on foods from the Five Food Groups instead of "Others" foods? Foods from the Five Food Groups help us stay healthy in many ways.

5. Practice discriminating between snacks and Smart Snacks. Explain:

• I'm going to ask you to stand, and I'm going to read a list of snacks.
• If the food or foods I read make a Smart Snack, move your hips like you're doing the Twist and say "Smart Snack" in a nice, indoor voice.

Demonstrate and then have them stand up and practice. Continue:

• If the food or foods I read DO NOT make a Smart Snack, bend forward at your waist, let your fingers drop toward the floor and say "No, no."

Demonstrate and ask them to practice the movement. Read the following list:

6. Explain:

• The Royal Food Family taught Little D how to be a Smart Snacker. Here's a story with a problem for Little D to solve.

Read the Picking a Smart Snack (PDF) story.

7. Have students think of a Smart Snack that Little D might choose. Ask them to turn to a neighbor and share their ideas. Ask:

• Show me with your fingers how many foods in your snack came from one of the Five Food Groups.
• Raise your hand if one of the foods you thought of was the same as your partner.

Ask several students what snacks they suggested. Continue:

• Little D suggested that the snack be a glass of chocolate milk and a pear. What food groups do those foods represent? Milk Group and Fruit Group
• Is this a Smart Snack? Yes
• Why? Because it is made up of food group foods.

8. Distribute the Smart Snack Choices worksheet. Have students read the two situations where Little D needed to make snacking choices and then follow the directions to solve the problems.

9. Invite several to share their solutions.

Check for Understanding
10. Distribute two Royal Food Family Trading Cards to each student. Have each student identify:

• The two Royal Food Family characters they received.
• The food group each figure represents.
• A Smart Snack that would include one food from each group.

Collect the cards when you're done.

11. Optional: Distribute the Smart Snacking handout. Have students circle two snacks they would like to try and take the handout home and share it with their parents/guardians.

12. Allow students to continue playing Get Me to the Banquet on Time!™, Little D's Picnic Adventure!™, and Little D's Tasty Tunes™ to reinforce the Five Food Group concepts.

All of Little D's games are found on NutritionExplorations.org in Kids.

Going Further
Snack Dancing
Give students the opportunity to physically experience the difference between a snack and a meal. Play a short clip of music that is popular with your students. Ask:

• What is the difference between a meal and snack? A meal is bigger than a snack.
• How would you dance to this music if you were expressing a meal? (Coach students to understand that they would dance with full arm and leg movements, they might use their whole bodies, and they might move around the room a lot.)
• How would you dance to this music if you were expressing a snack? (Students might use smaller movements, they might not use their whole bodies, and they would not move around the room.)

Play the music and have students dance the entire song as a "meal." Then repeat the music and have them dance the entire song as a "snack."

Smart Snacking Poems
Tell students that Queen Anna Banana is looking for some new poems about snacks. Brainstorm words that rhyme with "snack," then have students create two- or four-line snacking poems for the Queen.

Reviews

No reviews have been submitted yet. Be the first to submit your own rating and review.