I Love My Veggies!

This lesson helps children understand why eating vegetables is so important. The Fruit and Vegetables Body Benefits chart, a graphics handout download, is especially useful. Have children compare the different colors and shapes of vegetables.

Learn the importance of eating a variety of vegetables every day.

NEW WORDS

Crunchy

Hard

Seeds

Soft

Did you know that canned peas are as nutritious as fresh peas?

Canned, frozen or fresh, they’re the same great source of vitamins A and C.

Teaching Health Through

Music & Movement

The Vegetable Song

Art

Body Benefits Collage

Literacy

Lunch

Music & Movement

The Hello Song

Music & Movement

The Clean-Up Song

This playful song, sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, is fun to sing before snack time or lunch time to reinforce the importance of eating crunchy, healthy veggies. Highlight vocabulary words in the song and check for comprehension.

The life-size collage is a great team project, which gives children a chance to work and think together. Children love decorating the huge, personalized drawings with their own vegetable creations.

Body Benefits Collage

Lunch is a fun book with vibrant, colorful graphics that allows for lots of conversation and interaction with children. Have them guess which fruit or veggie the hungry mouse will eat next! Incorporate vocabulary words into the reading and ask which fruit or vegetable is crunchy? Or, has seeds?

Lunch

Ask children to share some of the songs they sing at home as part of their bedtime routines. You can also sing a variation of this song, substituting the words good night for hello.

Just like a family meal, clean-up time is a family activity as well. In school, this song can be used with any lesson, and is a nice way to keep children moving through clean-up activities.

Activities

Use whole wheat English muffins. Add tomato sauce, low-fat cheese, and fresh vegetables to create a delicious vegetable pizza. Fun tip: Add the vegetables in the shape of a face!

Recipes

Place steamed broccoli on a plate. Sprinkle low-fat cheddar cheese on top. Microwave in 30 second intervals until cheese is melted to perfection.