Young NaturalistYoung NaturalistStudents discuss the human diet, food groups and the food pyramid. They practice identifying food groups by playing a bingo-style game.
Print out the Food Pyramid sheet and the Food Group Cover-up Boards (there are two versions of the boards). Make enough photocopies for each student to use.
Review the Young Naturalist story. Discuss the fact that humans are omnivores, or "meat and plant eaters." Have students give examples of plants and meats that people eat. Define and discuss raw foods and processed foods and share examples of each, including those pictured in Young Naturalist. If you had students try the scavenger hunt described in the story, discuss results.
Discuss examples of healthy foods and "junk" foods. Hand out copies of the Food Pyramid sheet. Review each category, share examples of foods that belong to each one, and discuss the importance of daily servings.
Ask students to bring in 10 food ads from magazines and newspapers (coupon inserts from the Sunday paper are ideal).
Divide students into pairs. Help them sort the pictures by food group. Have students paste the pictures onto cardstock to make cards for the game (you may need to make reduced photocopies of pictures that will be too large to fit on a Food Group Cover-up square). Note: As an alternative, you can make your own "deck" of cards randomly labeled with the name of each food group. Give each pair copies of the Food Group Cover-up boards (one version for each player), along with a lunch bag. Explain the game rules:
1. All food cards go into the bag.
2. Players take turns pulling out cards (no peeking). Each player identifies which food group the card fits into and places it on a matching space on the board. If there is no matching space, the card gets returned to the bag.
3. The first player to cover up all his or her squares is the winner.
Have students record what they eat for a day, then sort these foods by food group. Ask them to analyze which types of foods they eat most, and challenge them to come up with healthier substitutes for junk foods in their diets.
