Incorporating MyPlate in the Child Care Classroom Presented by: Christanne Harrison, MPH, RD National Food Service Management Institute
Course Objectives Participants will be able to: Explain basic strategies for introducing MyPlate to young children Indentify how to incorporate MyPlate into age appropriate activities Use ideas for introducing young children to the five food components
High-quality and up-to-date nutrition education helps children develop an awareness of good nutrition and empowers them to make healthy dietary choices.
Nutrition Education Provide nutrition education for children through a standardized curriculum one time per week or more. Coordinate nutrition education with meals and snacks to reinforce learning. Incorporate nutrition education into other content areas when possible. Integrate nutrition concepts into daily routines whenever possible, such as mealtimes and transitions.
Standardized Curriculum Update current curriculum. Create a large poster of MyPlate. Review the sections of MyPlate. Refer to MyPlate poster instead of MyPyramid.
http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/hsmrs/maryland/model Health.pdf
http://nfsmi.org/resourceoverview.aspx?id=247
ChooseMyPlate.gov Health and Nutrition Information for Educators http://www.choosemyplate.g ov/informationeducators.htm l
Serving Up MyPlate Lessons, songs, parent hand-outs http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/resources/servingupmy plate.htm#songs
Grow It, Try It, Like It http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/resources/growit.html
Coordinate Nutrition Education with Meals and Snacks Create MyPlate place mats or table tents. Pick a food discussed in a lesson to serve in a meal or snack. Review meal or snack using MyPlate poster.
Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children Nutrition Tip Sheets Active Play Tip Sheets Each tip sheet focuses on a specific topic from MyPlate and includes a practical application section to help providers apply the tips to their child care program. http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/resources/nutritiona ndwellness.html
Incorporate MyPlate into Age Appropriate Activities
Culture and People From Model Health! http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/hsm rs/maryland/modelhealth.pdf
More Than Mud Pies http://nfsmi.org/resourceoverview.aspx?id=247
Use Literature Read. Ask questions. Use MyPlate poster. http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/hsmrs/mi_ Preschool_Booklist.pdf
During Math Counting: sections of MyPlate, foods in a section, etc. Make a graph of favorite fruits or another section.
Teaching Science Yogurt Seeds Yeast breads
Developing Fine Motor Skills Cut out pictures from each food group and paste them in the appropriate section.
Integrate MyPlate into Daily Routines Sing songs during transitions. Old MacDonald, grew some broccoli, with a yum yum here.. Talk about breakfast menus in morning circle time. Let children help with food preparation, when possible.
http://www.nfsmi.org/resourceoverview.aspx?id=354
Kitchen Activities, 2 years old Wipe tables From ChooseMyPlate.gov Hand items to adult to put away (such as after grocery shopping) Place things in trash Tear lettuce or greens Help read a cookbook by turning the pages Make faces out of pieces of fruits and vegetables Rinse vegetables or fruits Snap green beans
Kitchen Activities, 3 years old All that a 2 year old can do, plus: Add ingredients Talk about cooking Scoop or mash potatoes Squeeze citrus fruits Stir pancake batter Knead and shape dough Name and count foods Help assemble a pizza
Kitchen Activities, 4 years old All that a 3 year old can do, plus: Peel eggs and some fruits, such as oranges and bananas Set the table Crack eggs Help measure dry ingredients Help make sandwiches and tossed salads
Kitchen Activities, 5 years old All that a 4 year old can do, plus: Measure liquids Cut soft fruits with a dull knife Use an egg beater
Ideas for Introducing the MyPlate Food Components
Day 1 Point out the section on the MyPlate poster. Bring in examples of food from that section or use pictures on website. EXAMPLE (FRUIT): Show pictures of fruit on the website OR cut out pictures of fruit from magazines.
Day 2 Talk about the nutritional benefits (summarize information from website to age appropriate). EXAMPLE: What makes your heart healthy and your tummy happy, helps you feel better.
Day 3 Use a related lesson from a recommended curriculum. EXAMPLE: More than Mud Pie, Fall Lesson 1, An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Day 4 Read a book about the food. EXAMPLE: Oliver s Fruit Salad In this sequel to Oliver s Vegetables, Oliver goes shopping with his mother to help choose fruits and then helps cut them up and make fruit salad. But when it s time to eat, Oliver decides he doesn t like fruit, especially if it didn t come from Grandpa s garden. Big, bright illustrations and a clever text make this an excellent book to introduce young children to a variety of fruits; also works as a lead-in to a fruit-tasting experience.
Day 5 Have a taste test or hands-on science experiment with the food. EXAMPLE: Cut different fruit and let the children taste it. Leave a piece of each fruit out for the day and see if it changes (browning in apples, bananas, etc).
Staff Training Train staff about healthy eating for children and how they can encourage it- see tips on ChooseMyPlate.gov under Develop Healthy Eating Habits and Picky Eating. Train staff how to adapt curriculum. Demonstrate how to informally include nutrition messages throughout the day (make sure they understand the importance of using accurate information and not personal beliefs to educate about good nutrition).
Children with Special Needs Allergies Motor difficulties Chewing and swallowing problems
Classroom Scenarios
Ana This is Ana, she is the director of a child care center. She decides that she wants her center to talk more about eating healthy. After looking on-line, she decides that MyPlate is the best resource to use. She makes poster size MyPlate graphics for each of her classrooms and makes copies of some of the fact sheets from ChooseMyPlate.gov that she thinks the staff could use. During a staff meeting she gives the resources to her staff and brainstorms ways they can use MyPlate in the classroom. She challenges each teacher to find a way to incorporate MyPlate during the month and then share what they did at the next staff meeting.
Tyrone Tyrone is one of the teachers at Ana s child care center. He really likes getting the children involved in art projects. He has the children color and cut out different foods. He then sets up a MyPlate sections in different areas of his classroom. When the children need to move around or transition from one topic to another, he hands out 2 or 3 foods and has the children put them in the correct section.
Betty Betty knows how much her children love it when she reads books. She decides to use the book list that Ana provided for them and find them in the center s library or check them out of the public library. When she reads them, she points out the foods that the books talk about on the MyPlate poster Ana provided.
Ming-Li Ming-Li read over a handout that Ana printed off from the ChooseMyPlate.gov website, Phrases that Help and Hinder. Now during mealtime she uses more positive phrases about the food, like These carrots are so crunchy; I love the sound they make; and Has your tummy had enough? She notices that the kids are responding more positively to new foods or less well liked food during mealtime.
Resources ChooseMyPlate, http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ Maryland Team Nutrition, Model Health: Promoting Nutrition and Physical Activity in Children, http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/hsmrs/maryland/mo DELHealth.pdf Michigan Team Nutrition, Preschool Booklist http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/hsmrs/mi_preschool _Booklist.pdf National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI), CARE Connection, Cooking Connection, http://www.nfsmi.org/resourceoverview.aspx?id=354 NFSMI, More Than Mud Pies, http://nfsmi.org/resourceoverview.aspx?id=247