What Food Is Healthy? Teaching Good Nutrition to Kindergarten With SEL

Food contains nutrients, minerals, vitamins, and other chemicals that can significantly affect bodily and mental functioning. It is one of the necessities of life, which helps the body repair, maintain, and prolong itself. This is why they must learn about the benefits of good nutrition and the dangers of poor eating habits.

Healthy food provides the nutrients the body and mind need to grow, develop, and function. Conversely, unhealthy food can carry too much of one substance which can be harmful to the body, such as sugar or salt. Determining which food is best to consume and which to avoid can be tricky, so this lesson provides a helpful guide on good nutrition for kindergarten students.

The lesson begins with a lively class discussion on healthy foods and how to make nutritious choices. Here, the teacher clarifies that healthy food can be tasty and enjoyable. To reinforce this, the teacher invites the students to share what nutritious food they like and enjoy. Students come up with different answers, such as apples, chicken, cheese, and fresh fruit juices. This part of the lesson aims to help kindergarten students opt for healthy options and understand the positive impact they can have on their bodies.

What better way is there to learn about the delicious flavors of healthy food than to eat some? This is the focus of the following exciting activity. As students explore the assortment of nutritious snacks from all food groups, they learn firsthand that healthy eating can be enjoyable and beneficial for their physical health and self-concept.

This is how the lesson ends—with kindergarten students enjoying their delicious, healthy snacks and having a newfound appreciation for nutritious food and their physical health. By engaging in this evidence-based health education lesson, students can establish good nutrition habits from a young age, which can help set them up for a lifetime of healthy eating. Doing this positive action can benefit kindergarten students significantly, as it helps improve their self-concept while providing their bodies with the fuel they need to thrive and perform their best.