A project for nursing school is to do a 10-15 minute class on a topic of our choice to 3-5 year old's at a Head Start program. I'm doing mine on healthy snacks.

Granted, 10-15 minutes isn't that long, but I'm not too familiar with this age group. I did get some materials off the CDC website and I'm still searching the web, but does anyone who has more experience in this area have any links? I'm looking for presentation aids on fruits and vegetables appropriate for that age to discuss healthy snacks.

I'll probably start off talking about what are some healthy snacks we should have most of the time and what's some okay snacks some of the time, with the kids interaction as much as possible. Hopefully, there is a diverse ethnicity in the room and I would like to discuss next with them what some other children of the world eat. I need to be realistic here as well.

I was thinking it could progress to some age appropriate book on the subject that I could read and maybe some take home material for the parents (i.e.- simple recipes).

david

Read the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle to them and discuss the differ things the caterpillar ate.

Inform them on healthy things such as the pears, oranges, and strawberries. Ask them personal questions about what they eat at home.

Explain to them the not so good things the caterpillar ate such as the cake and ice cream.

Three year olds are in the developing language stages and are putting together grammatical elements and relations, whereas 5-year olds may have rudimentary basics in identifying letters of the alphabet and further developing the complexities of their expressive language.

As suggested, everything would be age appropriate cognitive-linguistically. Also, A small coloring worksheet with healthy fruits and vegetables would be supplementary and applicable to the older children.

Also, children like to participate in music. You could always sing a song with them and have them sing keywords such as healthy food.

Hope this helps!

The best presentation items for young children are the real items. Your time is short, but with really young children (well, all children, actually) it is good to have them DO something - not just listen.

One activity would be to talk about how it is healthy to eat food of different colors. The children could then sort fruits into groups by color and then eat them as a snack.

Another idea would be to give each child a picture of one food item (junk or fresh). Have the children come up one by one and put their food photo into the fresh food category (under a drawing of a smiling mouth) or the junk food category (in a rubbish bin). Mix the pictures up again and repeat.

Or hold up items of food - junk food and fresh fruit - one at a time. Each time have the children indicate nonverbally whether it is healthy (by showing two thumbs up) or junk food (by putting a hand over their own mouth and shaking their head "no".


My favorite raw vegan

i agree with trive

if you are just going to talk to them

they might get bored out of their minds

but if u make it a show and tell

and bring the food items

have some cut up too and separated into little plastic tubs

with toothpicks so everyone can have a sample

then this will bring it to life

i personally feel that everyone is a kinesthetic learner

maybe that's just me

but the real thing is more interesting than talking about it

and is more firmly imprinted

Trained to be a Montessori preschool(Pre-Primary) teacher, me. Use lots of food props and ask basic questions. Let the children touch the props and smell them--they're very sense-oriented at that age. They also love animals, so bring herbivorous/frugivorous animals, especially young ones, into the discussion with photos. Above all, speak simply and enthusiastically, and you'll engage them fully. Good luck!

Some really great ideas here and I appreciate all of them. The one thing I want to do more than anything is bring fruits and vegetables but we cannot. So, it would have to be a cut out of some sort.

@newhoove-going to go look for the Hungry Caterpillar right now.

@Tamukha-your idea of animal pics sounds great. I might be able to bring real
foods as a prop only as well.

@la_veronique-You are right, I got to keep them active. My 4 year old nephew
and I horse play the whole time when I visit them. I don't think
that will fly, unfortunately, in the classroom. So I might bring
food items (as you suggest), but only as props.

@Trive-your idea of thumbs up and covering the mouth is great and probably will
get used.

Thanks everyone!

david

hey dvdai

they won't let you bring fruit and vegetables?

too bad

oh well

then. maybe you can lead them into some transcendental meditation thing and have them IMAGINE that they are eating an apple ( just kidding

i'd like to just go in there without any sort of game plan 'cause I think I act best as a 3-5 year old. More often than not kids get along with me. Having a 'script' takes the phun away. Making the grade is for the birds.

david

David,

On the other hand, just wingin' it could be a waste of time. At least know what one point you want to get across that could make a positive impact on the little ones' minds, please--this is a great opportunity

Here's my chintzy supplies:



david

Looks good! Hope it goes well!