The Art of Snacking Smart

Objective

Given a series of pictures, the students will be able to correctly identify a healthy snack by

circling the more nutrient-dense food item.

Target Audience

The audience that will be targeted during this lesson will be elementary school-aged children.

Overview

Adequate nutrition, especially during childhood, is very important to the physical growth and

optimal health of every child. Unfortunately, many school-aged children are receiving inadequate

intakes of certain nutrients due to poor eating habits. An easy way to combat this is through the

addition of healthy snacks into a childs diet. By emphasizing the topic of healthy eating,

specifically healthy snack options, I hope to get the children excited about eating nutritiously so

that they can begin to understand the significance of taking care of their bodies and overall

health.

Materials

Laptop computer
PowerPoint presentation
Worksheets with pictures of different snack foods (provided by me)
Construction paper (provided by me)
Coloring utensils crayons, markers, coloring pencils (provided by me)

Introduction
Hello boys and girls! My name is Kaitlin, and I am a college student at the University of

Delaware. When I grow up, I would like to be a Dietitian. That is just a word for people who

help other people get healthy by eating healthy food. Today I am going to be teaching you all a

little bit about some healthy foods for our bodies, mainly healthy snacks. (1 minute)

Procedure

Excite: What is a snack?

I will begin the lesson by simply asking the children what their idea of a snack is. (2 minutes)

Who here likes to eat snacks? (all raise hands) Okay, who can tell me what a snack is?

Examples of what students might answer: something that you eat in between meals,

something small, gives you more energy, but not a meal

After asking them what they think a snack food item is, I will have the students list on their piece

of paper what their favorite kinds of snacks are. After this, on the same sheet of paper, I will have

them describe the last snack that they consumed. (3 minutes)

Potential list of snacks: cookies, potato chips, popcorn, Goldfish, Oreos

Explain: What is a healthy snack?

Snacks are good! They provide our bodies with fuel in between meals so that we have the

energy to continue our daily activities. Some snacks, though, can be bad for us, so we need to

focus on eating healthy snacks to benefit our overall health.

I will give a short PowerPoint presentation listing the benefits of eating healthy snacks, as well

as provide examples of healthy snacks. Examples of unhealthy snacks will also be presented. (5

minutes)
 Benefits of eating healthy snacks: receiving more of a variety of nutrients which will

positively enhance growth, build strong muscles and bones, lower risk of heart disease

and diabetes, they will be forming lifelong healthy habits

Examples of healthy snacks: Apple slices and peanut butter, ants on a log, pretzels,

yogurt, and carrot and celery sticks will all be presented on the slides as healthy snack

examples. Also, unhealthy choices, such as cookies, chips, and cheeseballs, will be

presented as well.

Expand: Practice with healthy snacks.

Now that I have showed you a little bit more about healthy snacks, we are going to practice! As

best as you can, circle the food items on this worksheet that would be smart and healthy choices

for a snack. Put an X over those that would be bad choices.

Each student will receive a worksheet containing several pictures of various kinds of snacks. The

students will identify the healthy snacks from the unhealthy snacks by circling the more nutrient-

dense food item. We will go over the worksheets when all students are finished. (5 minutes)

Exit: Healthy snack goal setting.

You all did such a great job with your worksheets! Now, I would like you to think of THREE

HEALTHY snacks that you would like to try at home with your mom, dad, brothers, and sisters.

So, think of these snacks and write them down on the piece of paper in front of you. You will take

this home to show your families. After youre done listing them, I would like you to pick ONE of

the three that you listed, and draw it!! We are going to hang them up around the classroom so

that all of you will always be reminded of how to eat well!

Each student will make a list of three healthy snacks that they would like to try at home with

their families. After this, the students will draw ONE of their choices to be hung up in the

classroom. (5 minutes)

Possible healthy snacks: apples and peanut butter, yogurt, carrots and/or celery with dip,

pretzels, a granola bar, oranges, smoothies

Summary

Eating healthy at any stage of life is important, but making sure that all of the correct

nutrients are acquired at a young age is crucial to the proper development of a child. Snacking is

a great way to fortify energy levels throughout the day and in between meals. Depending on what

one chooses to snack on, though, can lead to positive or negative overall health effects. During

this lesson, I had the students think about what kinds of snacks they enjoy, and I had them list

them on a piece of paper. Next, I presented a short PowerPoint presentation on the benefits of

eating healthy snacks. The presentation included information as well as pictures of examples.

The PowerPoint contained examples of unhealthy snacks as well. At the conclusion of the

PowerPoint slides, the students were given a worksheet containing different pictures of healthy

and unhealthy snacks. The students were asked to circle the food items on the worksheet that

would be the better choice for a healthy snack. Lastly, I had each student think of three healthy

snacks of their choice that they would like to try at home. Out of those three, I had them draw

one of them on a piece of paper to hang up in their classroom so that they will always be

reminded of healthy snack choices.

With this lesson, I hope to have the students gain a new sense of excitement for and

knowledge of eating healthy. Not all healthy food tastes bad, so I would also hope that they learn
that foods that are good for you can also be just as yummy. While they are still in elementary

school, it is important for them to know the certain foods that are good for their bodies in order

to start forming healthy habits. All in all, I hope to have created a comfortable learning

environment for the kids through which they learned some new material and had fun while doing

it!