Food portion kit teaches kids healthy eating habits

This is an excerpt from Innovative Tools for Health Education by Marilyn Grechus, PhD

Help your students visualize the size of a portion of food so they can more easily follow the guidance of MyPyramid.

Materials

• File box for 5-by-7-inch cards
• Several of the following: tennis ball, baseball, deck of cards, checkbook, dice, matchbook, nickel, CD case, 3-inch-round mint tin, hockey puck, light bulb shape (mine is a stress ball), computer mouse

Instructions for Assembling

Collect the selected items that represent one portion of food. Store in the file box (figure 24.1).

• Tennis ball: 1 cup cooked rice, medium piece of fruit
• Baseball: 12-ounce potato or 1 cup cold cereal
• Deck of cards (or cassette tape): 3 ounces of meat
• CD case: 1 slice of bread, 1 pancake
• Matchbook: 1 tablespoon oil, salad dressing, or syrup
• Nickel: 2 ounces dry spaghetti (1 cup cooked spaghetti)
• Wood square (or 6 dice): 1 ounce cheese
• Mint tin (or hockey puck): bagel
• Checkbook cover: 3 ounces fish
• Computer mouse: baked potato

To Use

Along with a discussion of how much of each food group should be consumed in a day, these models can help students visualize how much they are actually eating.