Preschool Nutrition Lesson Plan: Fruits and Vegetables

Feb 20, 2011
ChristaCarol Jones

Preschool Fruits and Vegetables Lesson Plan - jeltovski

Introduce healthy habits to kids early on by teaching to eat the colors of the rainbow. Incorporate reading, math, and more while teaching the food groups.

Objective:

By the end of this lesson, preschool or PreK students will be able to name certain fruits and vegetables based on color (70/100); properly identify colors (90/100); correctly sort fruits and vegetables based on color (90/100); explain that we eat fruits and vegetables to keep our bodies healthy (100/100); and illustrate the food pyramid with given materials in the correct order (90/100).

Materials for Preschool Health Lesson Plan:

*optional

I Eat a Rainbow by Bobbie Kalman [Crabtree Publishing Company, 2010]
Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert [Sandpiper, 1994]
Butcher paper or poster board for “Favorite Fruit/Veggie” class graph
Butcher paper or poster paper for two types of pyramids. The one found at mypyramid.gov, and the one similar to the reproducible provided below.
A large colored variety of plastic fruits and veggies
Manuscript paper and pencils
Crayons
Focus letter of the week traceable reproducible
Colored paper cut outs of fruits and veggies (can be laminated for longer use)
Magazines (preferably with pictures of food)
Blank Food Pyramid Reproducible (provided below)
Food cutouts of food items for all categories (to paste to blank food pyramid)
Construction paper
Pre-drawn blank pyramid on large butcher paper (modeled from mypyramid.gov)
Laminated cutouts of popular foods in each category (3-5 items for each category)
Fresh strawberries, bananas, cut up grapes, and mandarin oranges (for day 1 snack)
Plastic fruits and veggies, sponges and wash clothes for sensory/water table
Variety of real fruits and vegetables for science center
Hypothesis Chart (with a column for results)
Scale
Measuring tape
Magnifying glass
Laminated “shopping” lists and “menus” with pictures and the words next to them (focus on foods from the food group)
*Sorting file folder game
*Pattern file folder game
*Beginning letter sound file folder game
*Several books recommended in the reading center section below

Procedure for Preschool Lesson Plan on Healthy Eating:

Large Group

Introduce the nutrition lesson by reading I Eat a Rainbow. Always begin with this book each day and focus on sight words.
Ask children to help summarize the story after it’s been read. What happened in the beginning, middle, and end? What they think the book is about, etc.
Open-ended discussion on why we eat fruits and vegetables. Encourage each student to participate. Reinforce the idea that we eat these to help our bodies grow and be healthy and that the more colors we have on our plate, the better.
Using “Favorite Fruit/Vegetable” class graph, have each student help record his or her favorite fruit or vegetable. Discuss results and go over more/less, which foods are the same color, etc.

Small Group

Assign students a center based on graph results, i.e. “Apple lovers, head to the art center.”
Begin in the art center to guide cutting and paste project and rotate throughout each center for observational assessments.

Reading Center

Have the reading center decorated for the theme unit. Some suggested books to have available for students to read are: Eating the Rainbow(Babies Everywhere) by Star Bright Books [Star Bright Books, 2009]; Wheat (True Books) by Elaine Landau [Children’s Press, 2000]; Corn (True Books) by Elaine Landau [Scholastic Library Publishing, 1999]; Bananas (True Food) by Elaine Landau [Children’s Press, 2000]; Good Enough to Eat: A Kid’s Guide to Food and Nutrition by Lizzy Rockwell [Collins, 2009]; Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons [Holiday House, 2008]; My Food Pyramid by Rebecca Rissman [Heinemann Educational Books, 2010].
Also have available a file folder game with focus letters on each side and Velcro or movable laminated pictures of food. The directions are for students to sort the pictures of the food based on the beginning sound. Ex. The apple would be placed on the “A”; the Crackers would be placed on the letter “C”.

Writing Center

Have manuscript paper, pencils and crayons available. Have a page (from the I Eat a Rainbow book) open of a certain fruit or vegetable (specifically one that begins with the focus letter of the week). Encourage children to think of other words (not just foods) that begin with the same letter and draw a picture of them on the paper and write the beginning letter below the illustration.
On the other side of the table/center, have copies of focus letter of the week traceable reproducible (for example, letter A would have both capital and lowercase “A” to trace).
Reinforce letter of the day and the picture from the book during large group time.

Math Center

Have a basket of pretend food available for sorting by color or type (vegetable/fruit/meat/bread/etc.) During teacher center rotation, encourage students to count his or her results. Have paper available for students to practice writing the number of their results.
On the same or different day, have a math file folder game with numbers from 1-10 on the inside (1-5 on one side, 6-10 on the other). The laminated manipulatives can be fruits and vegetables with dots (or pictures of the same food item) on them, each with a different amount of dots up to 10. Encourage students to match the correct picture of dots to the correct number that matches the results.
On the same or different day, have laminated cutouts of 3-5 fruits and/or vegetables with several copies of the same kind to encourage students to create patterns. Stamps or stickers can be used as well if available, on skinny strips of paper.

Science Center

Have a water table with a bucket full of plastics foods and a bucket full of real foods (orange slices, apple slices, asparagus, zucchini slices, broccoli, etc.). Encourage students to see how many they can fit in the water table. Ask questions like, “Do they sink or float?” Explain how we always wash our fruits and vegetables before we eat them, but not with soap. Encourage them to wash the plastics fruits and veggies.
In another area of the science center, have the scale, measuring tape, and magnifying glass along with some of the real fruits and vegetables for children to explore and discover. Ask them to smell, touch, and see the differences of each item. Encourage them to find the difference in weight and length and if they have any distinguishing characteristics by using the magnifying glass (like strawberries having seeds on the outside).
On another day, have the hypothesis chart available. Define what a hypothesis is, “an idea that can be tested”, and ask what they think a particular fruit or vegetable would taste like: sour, sweet, citrusy, tangy, crunchy, soft, juicy, dry, etc. Put the student hypotheses on the chart and then during snack time, explore the true results and record them.
Discuss results in large group time.

Block Center

Encourage students to build a store or restaurant with the blocks. Have them build “baskets” (squares with blocks with room inside to put things) and sort pretend food based on food group into each one.

Home Center

Have a mini store set up with cash registers and plenty of pretend foods set up for children to role play shopping for healthy foods. Have several copies of the laminated grocery list and encourage students to go shopping, looking for the items on the list.
On another day, have a table and chairs in the “grocery store” for other children to pretend they are at a restaurant. Have laminated “menus” categorized by food group for them to order.

Art Center

Have several magazines available and prompt children to pick a food group and find pictures of items in that food group to cut and paste onto colored construction paper. Have the construction paper color match the My Pyramid color of the food group they choose.
On another day, you can have two columns on a piece of construction paper for healthy foods, and not healthy foods. Have children search, cut, and paste in the appropriate spot.
Near the end of the unit, have the blank pyramid reproducible provided below, and food cut-outs, and encourage children to cut out the food and paste in appropriate area of the pyramid.

Computer Center

Have Nourish Interactive on the computer and pick a different nutritional game for children to play on each day.

Snack Time

For the first day, provide a mixed bowl of fruit (strawberries, cut up grapes, bananas, mandarin oranges) and discuss which food group they belong in and the similarities and differences. Introduce a different snack from another food group the following days.

Large Group

Every day, reconvene into large group and go over what has been learned in each center.
Reinforce the food pyramids and what they each look like.
Read Reading the Alphabet and discuss the illustrations.
Each day afterward, pick a book from the reading center to introduce to the children.
End large group time by teaching a new song to reinforce nutrition and the food group.

Assessment for Preschool Nutritional Lesson Plan:

The best way to access is to observe during small group time. Use a checklist with the objectives for each child and mark each day where that child is on his or her understanding of the activity. The other form of assessment is during large group and each student’s participation and appearance of understanding. Also assess the art projects: did they put all fruit for the fruit category, all vegetables for the vegetable category, sugary treats in the unhealthy column? Did they get 90/100 correct on the cut and paste food pyramid? (Performance-based assessments and portfolio assessments)

For more ideas and printables to add to this nutrition and health preschool theme unit, visit MyPyramid.

ChristaCarol Jones - A stay-at-home mother of two and preschool music teacher during the school year, ChristaCarol thrives on finding or creating educational, ...