Strong and healthy children who are in good physical shape learn more in school. In trying to improve your kid’s nutrition, a good way of going about it is making sure that he does not feel too constrained by restrictions and physical activities in the form of games can certainly take his mind away from that. The following activity integrates basic knowledge of the various food groups, creativity development and a physical exercise.
With the advent of the Information Age, children have notably been prone to staying at home to watch television, play video games or even surf the internet. The convenience of digital entertainment has markedly put a difference in the lifestyle of today’s kids. Parents should encourage children to involve themselves in physical activities like sports, dance and movement games at least one hour each day.
A good way of implementing this is having your kid play a food relay game. Start by making five signs, each labeled with a corresponding food group in bold letters. Glue as many pictures of food as you can, one food item on one 3”X5” index card. Make sure you have a substantial number of pictures representing each food group.
Divide the children into teams and have them form lines; one line for each team. You will need five volunteers tasked with holding up the food group signs. Have the volunteers stand a good distance away from the teams, facing the teams with the signs held up. Place a basket or bucket or box at the foot of each volunteer.
A sixth volunteer is needed to hold a bag of food (index cards) from which the kids will pluck a card from. At the signal (when you say “go” or blow a whistle), the first child of each team runs to the volunteer with the “bag of food” and draws a card each. The child then runs to the food group to which he thinks the food item belongs to, and with the verification of the volunteer holding the food group sign, he then places the card inside the bucket/basket/box found at the volunteer’s feet.
The child can only go back to his team after he correctly matches the food item to the food group and only then can the next kid on his team proceed. The game is finished if a team finishes first, that is, all the members have played and correctly classified the food items in the shortest possible time.
This game effectively integrates physical activity with knowledge on the basic food groups as well as an avenue for healthy competition and motivation. Kids are more receptive to learning if the lessons are done in a way that stimulates them and this game is an answer to that!
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