Perfect Portion

Most of us know about the portion plate, but this lesson is really about how we eat with our eyes. We have to retrain our eyes to visualize the perfect portion! Using smaller plates will naturally create smaller portions.

Learn about the importance of portion control to maintain a healthy weight.

NEW WORDS

Amount

Full

Hungry

Less

Did you know that many sugared cereals are WHOA foods even though the label lists only 3 teaspoons of sugar?

It’s all about the portion size! Most people fill up the bowl. That’s more than double the recommended serving size, which makes the sugar content 6 teaspoons or more.

Teaching Health Through

Music & Movement

The Good Food Song

Art

Portion Plate

Literacy

The Big Hungry Bear

Music & Movement

The Hello Song

Music & Movement

The Clean-Up Song

This song, sung to the tune of Old McDonald’s Farm, offers a fun, interactive way for children to sing about their favorite vegetables. It’s also a great way to introduce new vegetables.

Prepare a premade plate that clearly shows that half the plate is for fruits and veggies. Try to talk about protein and grains in the simplest terms. Visuals can really help get the message across.

Portion Plate

Children love this book because it’s all about sharing. Ask the children: How does the mouse’s portion change when he shares? Would eating half a strawberry make you feel full or would you still feel hungry?

The Big Hungry Bear

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

Collect empty cereal, show, tissue, and delivery boxes of various sizes to help your child learn about scale and size. Enjoy building small, medium, and large structures together!

Recipes

Cook ground turkey in a pan with 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. Chop fresh tomatoes, green pepper, and iceberg lettuce into small bowls. Grate low-fat or fat-free cheddar cheese into a small bowl. Warm whole wheat tortillas in an oven and then layer ingredients into a shell, enjoy!