Teaching kids about nutrition happens around the dinner table, in the grocery store, at the fast food restaurant, in the classroom, and now also on the Internet with this bunch of sites that make use of fun, online games, cartoon characters and printable activity sheets to get the message across.
Although not specifically for kids, this CDC site has interactive tools, tips, and information for all ages. How many fruits and veggies do you need each day? Enter your age, sex, and level of daily physical activity into the tool on the front page, and learn the benefits of adding more fruits and vegetables into your daily diet. Other reasons to visit include Fruit & Vegetable of the Month (pretty pictures to enjoy with your little ones) and Analyze My Plate (drag food items to your virtual plate to get a nutritional analysis of your choices.)
With games, cartoon characters, recipes, and advice on eating right and being fit, Dole has something for everyone. My favorite sections are the Nutrition Database (where I learned that apples are a member of the rose family!), the healthy recipes, and the games. The Superfoods Mighty Gobble & Chomp is a Pacman style game where fruits and vegetables increase your strength, and candies, fries and soda pop decrease it.
With bright colors and cartoon mascots, Food Champs has fun and games for kids as young as two. Choices include coloring pages, printable stickers, printable recipe cards, interactive games, printable activity sheets, and a gallery of artwork. Games are divided into two age groups: two to five, and six to eight. They include Farm to Fork (learn how food gets from the field to your table), Fruit & Vegetable Math, and Fruit & Veggie Pyramid Game.
Although the kids home page at MyPyramid.gov lacks color and pizzazz, they have great games and content. MyPyramid Blast Off Game is a flash game for students six to eleven, “where kids can reach Planet Power by fueling their rocket with food and physical activity. Fuel tanks for each food group help students keep track of how their choices fit into MyPyramid.� There are several variations of the healthy food pyramid to print and color. And for classroom or homeschool, there are printable lessons and activities for grades one through six.
"How many servings of Milk Group foods do you think you need every day? Three or more." Explore the world of nutrition with the National Dairy Council. Play games, learn about the food guide pyramid, and get recipes for healthy snacks like a Carrot Cake Smoothie. Games include Arianna’s Food Force One ("Go on a global adventure to find ingredients for combination foods"), Quintricious (match foods from five food groups as they fall arcade-style), and Nutrition Mixer (use your knowledge of serving quantities to "mix" a song for a rock band.)
Buy Healthy Food Printable for $2.00
or try a FREE trial of the Printables ClubThe following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Keep Kids Healthy: NutritionNutrition Data | Nutrition.govPacific Science Center: Nutrition Cafe |
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