Healthy Foods is the first of three awards to teach our Adventurers about eating healthy foods. As this is the first award, and as it’s for preschoolers, I have chosen to focus on eating lots of colorful fruits and vegetables. There is plenty of time for food groups and pyramids in the coming years. When we eat foods from all of the color groups, we naturally consume a wide variety of nutrients. Focusing on rainbow eating is a positive way to look at food, and it’s a concrete and tangible concept our young kids can understand.
Story: I Can Eat a Rainbow
I’m going to be totally honest about the books for this award. I don’t love them. Both books I used are fine. Both books fit the requirement and are age-appropriate. I have used them to teach this award multiple times, and I’ll likely use them the next time I teach it. But, I don’t love them. I will continue looking for new books on the healthy foods topic. With that disclaimer, let me tell you about our first book and all the good things about it!
I Can Eat a Rainbow by Olena Rose is a colorful book about the importance of eating colorful fruits and veggies. The text to picture ratio is perfect for Little Lambs. It’s an upbeat book that explains why fruits and vegetables are important. I love the rainbow! It fits perfectly with the theme I used for the activities in the award.
I don’t love the way the book begins. The book starts out talking about wanting to eat chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, ice cream, candy, and cake. But first, we should eat our fruits and veggies. As a stereotypical adventist (aka vegetarian), looking for books for other adventists, this book does have this one red flag (the chicken nuggets). It is a fairly recent publication, so it may be at your local library. There are also multiple readings of it on youtube, so it’s easy to preview to see if it fits your club’s needs.
Craft: I Have a Rainbow on my Plate
Pull out your preschool scissors and gluesticks! This craft practices simple cutting and pasting skills. I pre-cut the colorful fruits and veggies into strips. The kids cut the squares apart and matched them to the appropriate color on their “plate.” There are more foods than most kids will probably want to use. They can pick out their favorite fruits and vegetables. (This craft is in the free printable at the end of the post.)
Game: Sorting Fruits and Veggies Relay
I used the cute color wheel sorting activity from WunderKiddy for this activity. After printing/laminating/cutting, I added velcro dots to the pieces. I taped the wheels to the wall (painter’s tape for the win!) and tossed the fruit and veggie circles in a basket. The kids took turns taking a random circle, running across the room, and sticking it to the appropriate color wheel. You could also lay all the color wheels on a table (or the floor) if you want to skip the velcro dots.
Activity: I Can Try Different Healthy Foods
Prepare a variety of fruits and vegetables for your class to try. I picked familiar foods – I wanted even my most timid kids to feel successful with this activity. However, this would also be a great time to bring in more unusual foods that most of us have never tried! Fit the activity to *your* club’s needs!
I created a sticker chart to motivate the kids in their food exploration. I also created tiny fruit and vegetable stickers to go on it. I am including the silhouette cut file and the pdf for those of you can use them. For everyone else, any tiny sticker will work, and, of course, a simple check mark is also great!
Preschool Skills: Sorting: Fruit and Vegetable Sorting
This is a simple file folder game. I gave each child their own game board and a pile of fruits and veggies to sort. To make this a more active activity, you could hide the fruits and veggies around the room and have them search for them first. The printables for this game are in the pdf at the end of the post. The cut file is in the zip file (for Silhouette users).
Extra: Let’s Eat Coloring Page
Need another activity? Or a substitution craft/activity? The Little Lambs’ workbook has a coloring page for you. You can find the workbook at AdventSource (and possibly your local conference) and it’s also a free pdf download at clubministries.org.
Closing Circle Time
Story: Just Right for You
Just Right for You by Cynthia Crawford Watts is an older book from the time when Pacific Press published picture books! Unfortunately, it is out of print. However, it might be hiding in your church’s library! This is an example of looking at the books you have around you when you are searching for books for little lambs. (This is book is one from my childhood!) I like the message – some foods are right for you and other foods are right for me. It tells about all sorts of foods that different animals eat versus the little boy and girl eat. However, it is longer than I’d prefer for this age group. You can find it on youtube here.
Song: Papaya Song (I Like Bananas)
The Papaya Song really does seem to be the most appropriate song, don’t you think?
Prayer
We finish each Little Lambs meeting with an abbreviated version of the Lord’s Prayer.
Reminder
I chose these activities to fit my club’s meeting length and needs. Your club is different than mine! I have more activities here than are required to complete the award. If you have less time, prioritize a book, a game, a craft, and some yummy fruits and veggies.. Add more activities in to fit your time constraints. If you have extra time, you could repeat a fun activity or add in other food-related activities. Pinterest is a great resource!
What is your favorite book to read with your Little Lambs when you teach the Healthy Foods Award? Please share with us in the comments!