A week of Nutrition lessons for preschool

Sensory Bin

Fruits & Veggies

I started the week with a fruit tree and vegetable garden sensory bin!

Green rice
Coffee beans
Fruit
Vegetables
Leaves
Logs

Add all of your materials to the sensory bin and harvest your fruits and veggies!

Dairy

This was a fun one!!

Milk
Chocolate milk mix
Vials
Cows
Bones
Metal ramekins
Ladles

Add chocolate mix to vials so kids can open and pour it in when they are ready. Add all other materials to the sensory bin and scoop, pour, and play!

Whole grains

Flour
Toy breads
Toy pots/pans/utensils

Add everything to the sensory bin and play!

Protein

Red colored pasta
Fire printouts
Wire racks
Toy protein
Baskets

Add your “fire” filler and place the racks on top to replicate a grill. Add all other materials and play!

Sweets, Treats, & Sometimes foods

Pink & yellow sparkle beads
Toy cupcakes
Ice cream bowls/spoons
Ice cream scoops
Large Pom Poms (colors of ice cream)

Add materials to the sensory bin and play!

Science Area

Rainbow toast

Don’t forget to eat the rainbow!

White bread toasted
Milk
Food coloring
Pipettes
Jars

Toast your bread and add food coloring to jars of milk to create the rainbow. Have kids use pipettes to transfer the colors onto their toast and then eat it! Yum!!

Digestion

Super fun, and a very silly ending.

Large ziploc (I drew the stomach, small & large intestines on them, and add a little green food colored water to symbolize the acid in our stomach)
Bread
Ramekin with water and orange food coloring (Orange juice)
Pipette with blue food coloring (Saliva)
Scissors (teeth)
Tray/dish (mouth)

Digestion starts with saliva as soon as we see our food, squirt your saliva in your mouth.
Time to eat your bread, add your bread to your mouth and use your “teeth” to chew really well.
Our mouth is feeling a bit dry, let’s have a drink of “Orange juice” dump your orange juice in your mouth.
Continue chewing.
Time to swallow your food! Dump the tray/dish into your bag and seal TIGHT! (NO AIR)
The food is in your stomach and the acid is going to help break it down more. The food tumbles around the stomach to continue being broken down. Use your hands to break down the food even more. (Squish the bag)
Now it travels through the small intestines.
Finally it passes through the large intestines, and anything left behind turns into potty!
Cut a small piece of the bottom corner and have them squeeze out the potty! (WARNING, this gets really silly!!)

For a guided and kid friendly visual version, with multiple choice at the end, check out this really cool boom deck! Digestion process

Find the food!

This is a super easy last minute game I put together!

Colored straws
White board/paper

I wrote different food groups on a board, and color coded them to straws. Each kid closes their eyes and pulls a straw. Which ever food group they pull is what they have to search for in the toy kitchen. You can also have it timed for more of a challenge.

Sugar on the teeth

White shelled eggs
Variety of sodas/juices
Jars

This lesson needs to be prepped ahead of time. On Monday, I add an egg to each jar with a different soda in each one. I then placed them out of the way and let them sit until Friday. The soda eats at the enamel, when you rub the egg you will sit it coming off of the shell. Also your “teeth” turn brown 😛