Teach About Healthy Eating Habits in Pre-K With SEL Lesson

Merely consuming healthy foods is not enough to ensure optimal health; it's also important to avoid poor eating habits.

This lesson reinforces to pre-kindergartners the importance of eating healthy.​​ While emphasizing the positive action of consuming nutritious foods, it also discusses the need to avoid negative actions such as indulging in unhealthy treats. Through this lesson, pre-kindergartners gain a better understanding of what constitutes unhealthy food and how they can negatively impact their body's health and development.

In the opening of this lesson, pre-kindergartners sing a song about what healthy eating can do to help them grow. Then, a class discussion follows, where the students learn something very surprising—there are foods that are not good for their bodies. Unfortunately, these are the foods that most of them like, such as candies, cookies, and chips. They learn that these foods are called "junk foods."

During class discussion, the "Sadie the Stoplight" poster is displayed to help the students remember and apply the secret to changing their poor eating habits. Afterward, rhymes are utilized as a fun and effective way to help the students remember some good foods to eat.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher marks the Positive Behavior Chart of the class to track the students’ positive action of eating healthy food.

In building healthy eating habits, pre-kindergartners need to learn what is unhealthy so they know what to avoid in their diet. This lesson teaches pre-kindergartners that healthy eating goes beyond a nutritious diet. It extends to avoiding eating unhealthy foods called "junk foods." This lesson also helps them to know what they can eat to replace their favorite unhealthy snacks. Teaching them how to practice healthy eating can result in a better outcome for their health and self-concept.