Health Lesson Ideas

What should you do a few days before the lesson will be taught?

Divide the class into 2 groups.

Tell group “A” to bring in empty jars, boxes, wrappers and labels from the foods and drinks they typically consume. Each student should bring in 1 to 3. Tell them to clean the items before bringing them in to school. Collect them each day leading up to the lesson. Put them in a bag or box. Label the bag or box “Packaged Foods and Drinks Typically Consumed”.

Tell group “B” that they are going to be assigned specific items to bring to school. Each student in this group will bring in 1 to 3. Here is a list of items that should be assigned.

Fruits (Apples, Bananas, Oranges, Grapes, etc.)
Vegetables (Kale, Carrots, Broccoli, etc.)
Whole Grains (Oats, Rice, Quinoa, etc.)
Nuts (Almonds, Walnuts, Pecans, etc.)
Seeds (Sesame, Pumpkin, etc.)
Legumes (Beans, Peas)
Oils (Olive, Canola, etc.)
Meat (Turkey, Chicken, Beef)
Lentils
Eggs
Fish
Water

Assign plastic or hard boiled eggs instead of fresh eggs. Assign play food or pictures of food for the fish and meats. The intention is for each of these items to only have 1 ingredient, so make sure canned nuts or seeds with added salt are not brought. Make sure regular water is brought, not vitamin water. Make sure whole grains in their natural state are brought, not Rice-A-Roni or a loaf of bread. Put these items in a bag or box. Label the bag or box “Foods with 1 Ingredient”.

What should you do on the day of the lesson?

Hand out the items that group “A” brought. If you have enough, give each student an item. If not, put students in pairs or groups.

Call on a few students to read aloud the ingredients in their packages.

Facilitate a discussion with the class. Focus your discussion on the fact that most of the foods and drinks we typically consume have a long list of ingredients. The ingredients usually include sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sugar substitutes, additives and preservatives. These chemicals are harmful to our body and mind. Here is a list of some ways these chemicals affect us.

Causes skin problems (dry skin, rashes, etc.)
Causes an increase in body fat
Causes constipation and/or diarrhea
Causes stomach aches
Causes us to feel tired, fatigued, sleepy, etc.
Causes us to have difficulty concentrating
Causes tooth decay, gum disease and bad breath

Continue the class discussion. Focus on the fact that consuming these chemicals on a regular basis has a negative affect on every system and organ in our body. People don’t just “get” a disease. Disease is a result of how we choose to treat our body. Our choices lead us to health or disease.

Collect the food and put it back in the box or bag.

Hand out the items that group “B” brought. If you have enough, give each student an item. If not, put students in pairs or groups.

Call on a few students to read aloud the ingredients in their food.

Facilitate a discussion with the class. Focus your discussion on the fact that these foods don’t have a list of ingredients. These foods are what they are. They only have 1 ingredient. The healthiest foods on earth are foods that are in their natural state.

Continue the class discussion and focus on the fact that many of us eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Many of us eat snacks between meals also. Ask them to make a list of all the foods they ate yesterday. Have them circle the foods from their list that belong in Group “B”. Ask them to think about the food choices they made yesterday. Ask them what they chose most frequently, foods with 1 ingredient or foods with added chemicals.

Incentive for the Future

Is there something you can do to motivate your students to eat “Group B” foods? Can you give out “No Homework” passes or “Jean Day” passes to students who ate healthy snacks all week? Can you give the class extra “outside play” time as an incentive? Can you have an ongoing game with your class? Bring in a healthy snack every day. Eat your healthy snack at snack time and give a prize to any student who has the same exact snack as you. If it is too much to do this every day, maybe you could pick one day out of the week to do it. This is a great opportunity to try many different foods and make students aware of unusual foods. This game will not be much fun if you eat the same thing every day for snack.