RETHINK YOUR DRINK LESSON (grades K-2):
*This lesson requires use of the “Drink Cards” which can be found at: www.healthedcouncil.org/rethinkyourdrink. A cup,
sugar cubes (or sugar packets or regular sugar and a teaspoon) will be needed for the optional activity.
Introduce yourself and Rethink Your Drink Week
-
SAY: As you know, this week is Rethink Your Drink week, so we are learning about the importance of
choosing water over sugary drinks for our health. Today, we’re going to talk about how much sugar is in
popular drinks.
Talk about Sugary Drinks: (10 mins)
-
ASK: What drinks do you like to drink that are sugary?
o
o
-
ASK: How do you think sugary drinks affect our health?
o
o
o
-
Some responses may include: soda, fruit juice, juice drinks, sweet tea, sports drinks, energy drinks,
coffee drinks, Kool-Aid, etc.
Answers can be written on the board as students share them out.
Increases your risk of getting cavities
Increases your risk of getting heart disease and type 2 diabetes
 *diabetes = a condition where the body cannot process sugar normally.
Sugary drinks also cause weight gain
 Sugary drinks have lots of CALORIES which leads to weight gain, but ZERO nutrition
 Drinking just 1 soda per day can lead you to gain an excess 15lbs in a year!
SAY: Now that you know how sugar can affect your body, we are going to learn how many teaspoons of
sugar is in our favorite sugary drinks!
o
SAY: One teaspoon of sugar equals one sugar cube (or sugar packet) or 4 grams. Sugar is
measured in grams on drink bottles, but teaspoons are easier to see or imagine.
Show an image of a soda bottle (from the drink cards or from online) and a picture of a sugar cube
or sugar packet.
o
ASK: How many TEASPOONS of sugar do you think is in this soda?? Hint – it’s between 1-20
teaspoons. (Use the drink card soda bottle image)
o
ANSWER: The answer is 14 teaspoons…BUT a lot of sodas actually have 17 teaspoons or more!
o
ASK: Do you know how we got this number?
o
ANSWER: We used the nutrition label on the back of the drink. It lists how many grams of sugar
are in one serving of the drink. Using some math, we can get the number of teaspoons of sugar in
the whole bottle.
You can take out a few of the different drink card labels and tell the kids how many teaspoons of
sugar are in the more popular drinks (juice drink, sports drink, fruit-flavored soda, etc).
o
-
SAY: If you consume ONE bottle of soda per day for a year, you will consume 65 lbs of sugar for
the whole year!
ACTIVITY OPTION IF TIME & MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE (10 mins):
o
1 student volunteer can come up to measure out the teaspoons of sugar for various drinks. Actual
teaspoons of sugar can be used, or sugar cubes, or sugar packets.
o
o
-
(1 sugar cube = 1 sugar packet = 1 teaspoon).
Use the drink cards to provide examples of drinks (teaspoons of sugar are listed for each drink on
the first page of the drink card packet).
Recommended for 3 different drinks to be measured with a different student volunteer each time.
GROUP DISCUSSION (10 mins):
o
ASK: Are you surprised or shocked about the amount of sugar in these drinks? (5 mins)
o
ASK: What are healthier alternatives? (2 mins)
o
ANSWER: Water, sparkling water, spa water (water infused with fruit, veggies, or herbs like mint
and basil), 100% juice, unsweetened tea and unsweetened coffee, low fat or fat free milk
o
ASK: What will you do now? (3 mins)

Choose water, read the label, drink less sugary drinks, continue with the Rethink Your Drink
pledge or challenge.