Healthy Snack Choices Are Everywhere

This fun activity helps students evaluate a few popular snack choices and identify nutritious snack choices they can make both at home and on the go.

Activity Outcomes:

• Categorize snacks into the appropriate food groups and “Others” category
• Explain that nutritious snacks are important for energy to grow, play and learn
• Identify nutritious snack choices they can make at home or on the go at convenience stores and fast food restaurants

Materials

• Index cards with the following foods boldly printed on them:

popcorn	chocolate chip cookies	Twix Bars™
string cheese	soda	cheese pizza
apple	Goldfish™ crackers	frozen yogurt
Snickers Bar™	Wheaties™	Fruit Roll-Ups™
peanut butter	carrot sticks	sunflower seeds
orange	banana	celery sticks
cheeseburger	chocolate milk	potato chips

• Masking tape

Method:

• Introduce the activity by telling students that today you’re going to discuss snacks. Have a few students share their favorite snacks and write them at the far side of the board. Tell students that you have some cards with popular snacks written on them and you need some help finding out how healthy they are.
• Write the name of each food group – MILK, MEAT, FRUIT, VEGETABLE, AND GRAINS - and “OTHERS” category across the board. Distribute the index cards to the students and invite them to come up and place their card under the correct heading. Attach the cards to the board using masking tape. If they have a snack that combines more than one food group (e.g. cheese pizza) have them place it between two of the groups in the food.
• When students are done, decide where the choices listed at the far side of the board belong and add any other student favorites. Evaluate their choices and whether most are food group snacks or “Others” from the tip of the Pyramid. Point out that healthy snack choices are from the five food groups. “Others” food are extra and thought of as “sometime” foods.
• Discuss reasons snacks are important for kids and why it’s important to choose snacks from the Five Food Groups. Reasons include:

• Satisfy hunger
• For energy to play, learn, grow
• For the nutrients we need.

• Do a quick survey to see how many kids have an after-school snack. How about before bed? How many choose their snacks? Point out that many kids their age snack after school (40%), before bed (50%) and decide what to eat for a snack. Point out that when mom, dad or another grown up doesn’t make the decision, it’s their job to make healthy choices.
• Discuss various places that kids can get after school snacks and one or two examples of nutritious choices that can be made at each – fast food restaurant, convenience store, vending machine or home.
• Divide the class into teams. Have each team brainstorm nutritious choices they can buy from a convenience store, a fast food restaurant, and a vending machine or snacks they can make at home. Have each team share their ideas with the class. List their ideas on the board and evaluate as a group.

  Examples:
  home
  leftovers from last night’s dinner
  cereal and milk
  toast with peanut butter and fruit
  fruit smoothie
  fast food restaurant
  fajita
  milk
  pizza
  vending machine
  chocolate milk
  peanut butter and crackers
  pretzels
  convenience store
  fresh fruit
  yogurt
  sandwich
  popcorn

• Wrap up by summarizing:
  
  • Snacks are important for energy needed to grow, play and learn
  • Snacks should come from the Five Food Groups
  • “Others” foods from the tip of the Pyramid are okay sometimes, but should not make up most of our snack choices
  • Nutritious snack choices can be made away from home.

Download“Snack Master” (pdf) that students can use to make healthy snack choices at home.