April Tip of the Month
Snack Attack!

Recognize added sugar and fat in foods as a step in making choices for healthy balance. Choose foods with added sugar and fat less often or in smaller amounts.
Activity Idea: Healthy Snack’n Habits

  
Source: Healthy Kids Challenge, A La Cart Snack Fun booklet
Description: Kids learn “Healthy Snack’n Habits” using HOW, WHAT, WHERE and WHEN tips to make healthy food choices
Grades: 4-5

Supplies:

 

• Flipchart or blackboard with marker or chalk
• MyPyramid for Kids Poster
Healthy snacks will
make you smile!

Directions:
1. In advance of the activity: On a flipchart or blackboard, write the “Couch Potato’s” definition of a snack: Snacks are high sugar and high fat foods that a person munches while watching TV because they’re bored.
2.  With the class or group, talk about how the “Couch Potato’s” definition can give snacks a BUM RAP, yet snacks are actually a healthy thing to do! It is the unhealthy, HOW, WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN choices we sometimes make about snacks that give them a bad name.
Discuss healthy Snack’n Habit Tips below:
HOW: Plan how by including healthy snack foods on your family’s grocery list.
WHAT: Choose good balance! All foods fit in a healthy diet with good balance of physical activity and eating choices with a small “sprinkling” of high sugar or high fat foods.
WHERE: Turn off the TV during snack time. Snack time without TV time helps make it possible to enjoy the TASTE of foods more!
WHEN: Plan snack time at the same times each day (just as you plan meal times), to give you a boost in energy! Having snack time because there isn’t anything else to do leads to unhealthy habits!
3.  Continue the discussion by talking about the “WHAT”!
Look at the MyPyramid poster and ask:
  • Which foods are not found in any of the food groups? (items with sugar and no other nutritional value-syrups, soft drinks, fruit drinks, and candies) Explain that MyPyramid teaches: Within each group, foods high in fat and sugar are placed at the very tip-top of the food group. For example, a baked potato is placed at the bottom of the Vegetable group (green stripe) vs. potato chips which would be at the very top of the group. For healthy balance, we should eat less of those high fat and/or high sugar foods at the very top of each food group.
  • What happens when we eat too many of those foods that are a the very top of food groups or outside of the Pyramid, like soft drinks, sugared fruit drinks, cookies, candies, cupcakes, fruit pies, ice cream, and potato or corn chips? (Answer: We tip our Pyramid over!)
  • What we can do to make sure we keep the Pyramid healthy? (Answer: Choose more of the foods lower in fat and sugar, e.g. those closer to the base of the Pyramid!)
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    This activity is found on page 23 of the A La Cart Snack Fun booklet. For more activity ideas like the one above, check out HKC resource materials. See the order page for descriptors and to view the Table of Content and booklet sample pages.