Bone-Building Foods on Parade
In this fun activity, students paint or draw a parade of foods that help build strong bones and share the message by displaying their work for others to see.
Activity Outcomes:
- Identify bone-building foods
What You Need:
- (For window) tempera paints, brushes and dish soap.
Add 1 or 2 drops of soap to each container of tempera.
- (Mural or posters) mural paper or poster board, crayons,
markers, or paint and brushes
- Eat the Five Food Group® Way handout (pdf)
What You Do:
1. Decide which art option to use –
window painting, mural or posters. For the window option, add 1 or 2 drops
of soap to each paint container.
2. On the window or mural, write “Foods
That Help Our Bones Grow.”
3. Have students squeeze their forearm, then their finger, then their knee. Each time, ask them what they feel inside? (Bones) Ask:
- What can we do to help our bones grow and to be strong and healthy? (Eat healthy foods and get plenty of exercise.)
4. Review the Five Food Groups using the Eat
the Five Food Groups® handout. (pdf)
Ask:
- Why do Milk Group foods like milk, yogurt and cheese, help build strong bones? (These foods have calcium. We need calcium to build strong bones.)
- How many servings of Milk Group foods do we need each day for strong bones? (Three servings.)
Note: Other foods like broccoli, kale, oranges, almonds and some tofu provide calcium. However, the amount is small and children should not depend on these foods to meet their daily calcium needs. Likewise, calcium- fortified juices should not be the primary source of calcium in children’s diets. Juices do not contain other bone-building nutrients that Milk Group foods provide. Depending on your students, you may or may not want to discuss these foods.
5. Ask if anyone has ever been to a parade or watched one on television. Tell students they are going to create a "Parade of Bone-Building Foods". As a class, select the parade style: animated foods marching, children carrying food, foods in wagons, train cars, etc.
6. Have each student identify a bone-building
food they would like to draw or paint in the parade It’s most likely
that several students will have the same food, so have them be more specific,
e.g. chocolate or banana milk; Swiss or American cheese, yogurt in a tube,
strawberry yogurt, etc when describing their food.
7. Explain the logistics for working
on the project. Give students time to draw or paint their food to complete
the window, mural or poster. Display murals or posters in the classroom, hallway
or cafeteria.
