Having good nutrition is an important part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle for kids, adolescents and adults. Good nutrition is more than just “eating healthy” – it involves understanding how food gets processed in the body, why water is important for our cells, and how different foods impact the digestive system.
Use our lesson plans to start open conversations about nutrition at home, encourage curiosity about health and the body, and inspire discussions about treating others with kindness.
Our Lessons
Our lessons are designed for grades K-5 with the flexibility for you to decide how much depth is appropriate for your children. The activities themselves usually take about 5-10 minutes; full lessons might be 20+ minutes with lots of conversation! Most of the materials should be easy to find around the house; feel free to reach out if you want to brainstorm alternatives.
| Nutrition Lessons | From Fork to Stomach | It’s Great to Hydrate! | Let’s Make Poop! |
| Description | In this activity, you will learn about how food changes form during digestion | In this activity, you will make different reminders to drink lots of water! | In this activity, you will make a model of how poop exits the body. |
| NGSS | LS1.A, , LS1.D, ESS3.A | LS1.A, LS1.D,ESS3.A, | LS1.A, LS4.D, |
The Digestive System with Drew and Nia
About Nutrition
- Good nutrition requires a combination of a healthy diet, hydrating with fluids, and physical exercise. A well balanced diet gives you the vitamins, minerals and nutrients your body needs.
- Very few Americans get enough servings of fruits and vegetables. A HealthyEating Plate suggests that we eat twice as many servings of these plant foods as servings of whole grains and healthy proteins.
- Food labels provide important information on exactly what is inside a food before we eat it. Whole plant foods don’t have labels but are naturally packaged with vitamins, minerals, nutrients, fiber and water. Food labels only give information for one serving size. Not every package only has one serving size! This information tells us how many calories are in a serving of food and how many servings are in a package.
- Calories are energy that fuel our body. If we eat too many calories without burning them as fuel, we can gain too much weight. An easy way to reduce calories during the day is to choose water or low fat, unflavored milk instead of soda or energy drinks and to snack on fresh fruits and veggies instead of chips or other processed baked snacks, whether sweet or salty.
- Drinking fluids is crucial to staying healthy and maintaining the function of every system in your body, including your heart, brain, and muscles. Fluids carry nutrients to your cells, which are made up mostly of water. Being well-hydrated also improves sleep quality, cognition, and mood. When we don’t get enough water, cells can start to work less efficiently.
- We lose water through sweat and breathing hard (which is why our breath fogs up in the cold), so it’s important to replace that water especially during high activity. In general, healthy people should get the equivalent of eight 8oz glasses of water per day (2 liters) but the amount you need depends on factors like age, activity level, and even the weather outside! Use your thirst and pee color to guide your water consumption. Not only do you drink your water, but you eat it too! Doctors recommend eating water-rich foods such as whole fruits and vegetables and broth-based soups.
Nutrition in Context
Nutrition is important for healthy development, reducing the risk of chronic diseases, and maintaining overall wellness. Incorporate conversations about nutrition into your home by talking your children about food labels!
Food labels provide important information on exactly what is inside a food before we eat it. Whole plant foods don’t have labels but are naturally packaged with vitamins, minerals, nutrients, fiber and water. Food labels only give information for one serving size. Not every package only has one serving size! This information tells us how many calories are in a serving of food and how many servings are in a package.
Use the Nutrition Facts Label below to begin a conversation on nutrition, health, and the body with your children. Encourage them to practice interpreting and explaining facts from nutrition labels of many different foods to increase their nutrition fact literacy!
If you would like more information on Nutrition Facts Labels, the FDA has many resources online.
Discover SCIENCE with Dr. Bear 