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Food Groups Activity: Healthy Eating Plan {First 5 CA}

October 8, 2015 by Jaimi Erickson 1 Comment

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My kids would be content to eat cheese crackers all day every day, oh, wait, add chocolate chips too. If they could survive on cheese crackers and chocolate chips, they would be happy all the time. The fact is that my kids get picky sometimes. I wanted to show them with a food groups activity just what they were eating, and what they were not.

My oldest two have been asking about what foods are healthy, so I thought it was time to help them learn more about what healthy eating is and to help them get a healthy eating plan that could help them monitor their eating on their own (eventually). We started by learning about the food groups and created a hands-on healthy eating plan using free printables from the First 5 California website.

Teach children about the food groups and healthy eating habits with this food groups chart idea. Free printable coloring sheets make this easy to create!

You only need a few simple supplies to create the food groups activity charts I will be sharing with you.

Supplies:

Free printable coloring sheets of the 4 food groups (from the First 5 CA website-download directions are below)

Crayons

(4) Plastic page protector sleeves

Ribbon, yarn, or a ring fastener

dry erase marker

Food Groups Activity

I found some free printable coloring sheets that work perfectly with this activity! You can find them by visiting the First 5 California free downloads page.

Click on each printable image you’d like to print-I circled the ones for this activity in yellow below.

Then click on each printable.

This will open up the PDF to allow you to print each coloring sheet.

Food groups coloring sheets free printables for learning about food groups.

I printed the food groups activity coloring sheets and my preschooler colored each one. She is old enough to know what the foods pictured are called, but younger children may need your help to name each food.

 

 

#freeprintable coloring sheets for learning the food groups. We made a #healthy eating chart for a #homeschool lesson. #ontheblog #sp #first5ca #first5california #talkreadsing

A photo posted by Jaimi Erickson (@sahmsg_jaimi) on Oct 11, 2015 at 10:17am PDT

After coloring her pictures of the food groups, we did a little research on how many servings are recommended from each. I jotted down those numbers and then we made our charts for keeping track of how many servings my preschooler eats.

 

Trace circles onto the coloring sheets to represent the servings that are recommended to be eaten from each of the food groups.

Free printable coloring sheets to learn about the food groups from First5CA.

Slip each coloring sheet into a plastic page protector sleeve, or laminate each coloring sheet.

Tie the plastic sleeves together to keep the whole food groups hands-on healthy eating plan packet together. This is the chart where your child can record what they eat throughout the day-simply.

Your child does not have to be a reader to do this-which is why I love using it so much. They can learn just by being exposed to literacy as we talk to them. My preschooler can see the letters that make up the name of each food groups chart. When she wants a snack, it is easy to get a visual of what she has already eaten and what she still needs to eat.

Healthy Eating Plan for Kids

To start using the healthy eating chart, every time your child eats a serving of food, they make an x or color in the circle on that food groups chart. By using a dry erase marker, you can easily erase the markings each night to reuse the food groups charts the next day.

Preschoolers can learn about the food groups and make healthy eating choices easily with this hands-on healthy eating plan for kids. Free printables make this so easy to create!

When my child chooses cheese crackers for a snack, she marks an ‘x’ on one of the Grain Group servings. If she eats apple slices and cheese crackers, then she marks another ‘x’ on a circle on the Fruit/Vegetable Group page. Throughout the day, she can look at what food groups she still needs to eat from-this is the part that eventually can foster independent healthy eating habits. (Independence is my main mission as a parent!)

We hang her food groups activity healthy eating plan chart on the side of the fridge. At first, I will need to help my preschooler find the correct food group and remind her where to mark an ‘x’ to keep track of her servings from each of the four food groups, but I know she will catch on to this process and be making healthy food choices all on her own. This food groups activity has helped my children want to make healthy choices, and appreciate the value of good nutrition. I look forward to hearing how it goes in your house!

 

First 5 California

The food groups activity printable coloring sheets are not the only free activity ideas listed on the First 5 California website! There are easy-to-do activities for Babies, Toddlers and Preschool kids.

Free activities for babies, toddlers and preschoolers at First5CA.

I love the “Learning Center” section as well that has resources all about child development and parenting for the first five years of a child’s life. It is a great reminder that our presence matters and it does not take elaborate activities to teach our children valuable lessons. When we Talk. Read. Sing® to our children in those little moments from the time they are born, we are teaching them and preparing them for a great life! I always mention how the simple Name Spelling Song I sing with my children starting when they are infants has helped all of them learn to spell their names by 2 years old! Simple activities lead to big learning-that is what First 5 CA is all about.

You do not have to live in California to use the free resources that First 5 California offers, you just have to visit their site and explore! In the Free Downloads section there are tons of coloring sheets, a free cookbook of healthy recipes, road trip activity ideas and even a sticker chart for rewarding a child with eating healthy and exercising each day over the course of a year-it is a free printable too!

Talk, read and sing to your child from birth! The first 5 years are so important for future academic success. First5CA has a ton of free activities and resources for kids and parents.

We know that the first 5 years of our children’s lives are precious and our presence is so valuable! In fact, 90% of brain development occurs by age 5, according to First 5 CA.

I know it can be difficult to think of activity ideas for your baby or toddler that do not require you to buy a bunch of supplies. Go explore the free ideas from the #First5California website-it is a great resource for stay-at-home moms. And remember to #talkreadsing every day! 🙂

 

Take a look at #First5CA and then stop back to let me know what you discovered! What is your favorite resource?

Want another creative idea for teaching children to eat healthy?

Try The Magical Plate-an ebook for kids!

 

 

Successful Mom Daily Checklist to help you gain balance between housework and play time with the kids. Get more done, and feel more successful as a mom and homemaker.

Enjoy your time at home!

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Filed Under: activities Tagged With: food groups, preschool, printables

Comments

  1. Maggie Unzueta says

    October 9, 2015 at 10:58 am

    Very cool printables. I need to get to a printer.

    Reply

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Ice cream after helped of course. 😂

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Are you guys on spring break this week? What do you have planned?

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Some days you put on the 10 year old comfy jeans, Some days you put on the 10 year old comfy jeans, fill your mind with encouragement and just keep moving forward. 

Recovery days are not just for working out. They are for the mental state we walk around with too. Yesterday felt heavy. My God is a power lifter and takes the burden away. 

Today will be better.

Today we will rest and refocus.

Hooray for comfy jeans, motivational graphics and the Word to focus on through it all. 

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That little boy is soon to turn 13, guys! I mean in a few weeks. 😅

This is a throwback but brings back so many fun memories. 

—————————————

I love creating activities and crafts on the fly. Always have even before my kids were here.

I noticed that my son did not have a lot of little toy people to play with while he was pretending one day. We have a few cylinder blocks in a set. We never used them when we built. I thought we could turn them into little DIY toy people. 

They were so cute and easy to make. It was a preschool art project for him. We made them together.

If you don’t have wooden cylindrical blocks at home, you can use pieces of wood dowel or even a few square blocks glued together. You can even make DIY toy people out of toilet paper tubes. 

🌟Full details through Blog link in bio 🌟

——————————————

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This night she was trying to finish up a play - setting, character details, order of lines - for a play she made for her younger sister. 

I am so thankful that we can count her love of writing in her free time as school work. I am so thankful that how we do school allows this passion and talent to thrive. She has stacks of drawings, plays and writing blurbs. They are all precious to her.

There are days I question whether this choice or that choice is right or “approved,” but it does not matter when I see my children dive deep into the things they love. 

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🌟Teaching Kids to Make Friends🌟 Often our c 🌟Teaching Kids to Make Friends🌟

Often our children learn hard lessons when they have to move to a new state or school. 

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It is not always simple.

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As they have grown and navigated more friendships, books are a resource for us to discuss tough challenges. I have found a great series of books that present friendship challenges and help children learn to navigate them.

It just so happens that the author is my neighbor too! How cool is that?! Moms are amazing.

These books will be treasured by your family for their quality values. The @stingrayjelly series teach children how to make friends and navigate friendships to love others well and support them through shared similarities and recognized differences.

Author, Lauren Giannella is a military wife and my neighbor! Anna Perdue is the illustrator and also a military child. 

Read my blog post for details on each book and links to purchase through @barnesandnoble 

We love our military community and all they do to give back.

What are your favorite children’s books that teach children how to make friends or help them maneuver through tough life challenges?

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