Healthy Living
Activities
Grades 5-8
ACTIVITY #1
Decoding Nutrition Facts
This activity will help students learn how to
effectively read food labels. Through 5
easy steps, students can begin to compare
the nutritional value of foods by examining
food labels, and begin to make healthier
food choices. Expand this exercise to
include examining food labels and taking
into account various dietary needs,
specifically in relation to such health
concerns such as diabetes, high blood
pressure, healthy weight management and
high cholesterol.
ACTIVITY #2
Personal Healthy Eating Goal Plan
This activity has students examine their
personal eating habitats and set a healthy
eating goal. This activity can be expanded
to explore how social, emotional, medical
and practical factors influence our food
choices and our ability to change them.
ACTIVITY #3
Promoting Healthy Living
Awareness Campaign
This activity has students create a poster
campaign to create awareness about
healthy eating and healthy living habits and
strategies.
ACTIVITY #4
Building Healthy Eating Habitats for
Pre-teens/Teens
Using real-life scenarios, students will
create their own menus for healthy eating
in a variety of situations.
GRADE 5
Activity #1: Decoding Nutrition Facts
Curriculum Connection
Health and Physical Education, Grade 5, Healthy Living, Healthy Eating
C2.1 Explain how to use and read food labels to make healthier personal food choices.
Learning Goals



Learn the 5 steps to reading a nutritional fact label.
Compare the nutrition facts of two or more foods.
Demonstrate an understanding of how to read and analyze a food label to make healthier
eating choices.
Teaching Background to Label Reading
Use these 5 steps to help students learn to read the label.
1) Look at the serving size
The serving size shown on the Nutrition Facts Table lists the amount of calories and nutrients
contained in that serving size. If you eat more or less of the listed serving size, the amount of
calories and nutrients will differ from what is listed on the label.
2) Look at the calories
Calories tell you how much energy you get from one serving of a packaged food.
3) Look at the per cent Daily Value (% Daily Value)
Nutrients are put on a scale of 0% to 100%. This tells you if there is a little or a lot of nutrient in
one serving of a packaged food. This percentage will help you compare the nutrient content of
different foods.
IMPORTANT:
• 5% DV or less is a little
• 15% DV or more is a lot
4) Try to get more of these nutrients
FIBRE, VITAMIN A, VITAMIN C, IRON, CALCIUM
5) Try to get less of these nutrients
FAT, SATURATED FAT, TRANS FAT, SODIUM, CHOLESTEROL
Use the Nutrition Facts to a) compare products more easily, b) find out the nutritional value of
foods, c) better manage special food needs (for example, low fat or low sodium foods), d)
increase or decrease you intake of a particular nutrient.
Nutrition Facts
Per 4 crackers (20 g)
Amount
% Daily Value
Calories 90
Fat 2 g
3%
Saturated 0.3 g
2%
+ Trans 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 90 mg
4%
Carbohydrate 15 g
5%
Fibre 1 g
4%
Sugars 1 g
Protein 2 g
Vitamin A
0%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
2%
Iron
8%
This label’s serving size is for 4 crackers. If you eat 2 crackers, the nutritional facts have to be cut
in half. If you eat 8 crackers, the nutritional facts have to be doubled.
Teaching and Learning Strategies
Prior to the activity have students bring in a variety of food labels from packaged food. Use the
food label samples as tools to help students learn how to read food labels.
Review the 5 steps in reading food labels with the class. Complete the class activity as a large
group for students to gain experience and knowledge in reading food labels.
Complete Reading and Understanding Nutritional Facts assignment to consolidate learning.
_____________________________________________________________________________
CLASS ACTIVITY
Use these two examples below and have the class compare the two foods.
Nutrition Facts
Per 1 beef burger (130 g)
Amount
% Daily Value
Calories 340
Fat 27 g
42 %
Saturated 12 g
70 %
+ Trans 2 g
Cholesterol 70 mg
Sodium 330 mg
14 %
Carbohydrate 3 g
1%
Fibre 0 g
0%
Sugars 3 g
Protein 24 g
Vitamin A
0%
Vitamin C
Calcium
2%
Iron
Nutrition Facts
Per 1 chicken burger (130g)
Amount
0%
30 %
% Daily Value
Calories 200
Fat 9 g
14 %
Saturated 2 g
15%
+ Trans 1 g
Cholesterol 70 mg
Sodium 800 mg
33 %
Carbohydrate 4 g
1%
Fibre 0 g
0%
Sugars 0 g
Protein 2 g
Vitamin A
0%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
4%
Iron
2%
Have the class scan the numbers for the % Daily Value, what do they see? Which burger is
higher or lower in a particular nutrient? Which burger has more of the nutrients you want in food?
Which burger has more of the nutrients you want less of in your food? Which burger would you
choose if you were looking for an iron-rich food? Which burger would you choose if you were
looking for a lower in fat item? Which burger would you choose if you needed a low sodium
option?
High in fibre means:
If food contains 2 grams of fibre it is considered a source of fibre. 4 grams of fibre is
considered a ‘high source of fibre’ and 6 grams of fibre is considered a ‘very high source of
fibre’.
Low Fat means:
"Low fat" means that the food contains no more than 3 grams of fat in the amount of food
specified in the Nutrition Facts table.
Cholesterol-free means:
The claim "Cholesterol-free" means that the product has a very small amount (less than 2 mg of
cholesterol in the amount of food specified in the Nutrition Facts table) and it is also low in
saturated fat and trans fat.
Sodium-free means:
A "sodium-free" claim means the amount of food specified in the Nutrition Facts table contains
less than 5 mg of sodium.
GRADE 6
ACTIVTY #2
Personal Healthy Eating Goal Plan
Curriculum Connection
Health and Physical Education, Grade 6, Healthy Living, Healthy Eating
C2.1 apply their knowledge of medical, emotional, practical, and societal factors that influence
eating habits and food choices (e.g., allergies and sensitivities, likes and dislikes, dental health,
food availability, media influences, cultural influences, influence of family and friends, school food
and beverage policies, environmental impact, cost) to develop personal guidelines for healthier
eating
Lesson Goals



Identify factors which contribute to individual food choices
Understand factors that influence personal food choices
Develop an eating strategies to promote healthier personal food choices
Teaching and Learning Strategies
Have students brainstorm about how individuals make food choices: likes and dislikes, allergies,
time and place (home versus school versus eating out), who in their family decides what foods to
buy and what meals to eat, food availability and cost, cultural preferences, advertising, peer
pressure.
Have students reflect on how much control or lack of control individuals have in making food
choices. How does this factor into what individuals choose to eat?
Highlight how no individual makes perfect food choices all the time, and that the purpose of
setting healthy eating goals is not to shame or judge anyone’s food choices but to take a step
towards healthier eating habits when and where a student has control over those choices. Our
food choices are not always in our control and it is okay to eat less than optimal foods on
occasion or when we have no control over those choices. Going hungry is not a food choice.
Use the assignment template below to have students record their food choices for one week and
set their own personal healthy eating goal. This exercise is not meant to be shared as a class but
to have students reflect on how they can make small changes to their eating habits in order to
make healthier food choices. Some students may feel uncomfortable sharing their eating habits,
this exercise can be modified so that the food journal is already filled out and students analyze
the eating habits of a fictitious student and create a healthy eating goal for that character.
PERSONAL HEALTHY EATING GOAL PLAN
In this assignment you will record your personal eating habits for one week. Write
down everything you eat.
Think about how you feel after you have eaten a recorded food item and record
where you ate the food item (at school, at home, in front of the TV, on the way to
soccer practice, at the hockey arena, in the car).
At the end of the week, analyze your eating habits. Do certain foods make you
feel better than others? Do you eat certain foods depending on where you are
eating them? Use the guiding questions to help you analyze your eating habits.
At the end of the assignment, develop one goal for personal healthier eating.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
1) Examine your recordings about how you felt about what you were eating.
Which foods make you feel:
a) the most full or the least full
b) the most thirsty or the least thirsty
c) the most hungry or the least hungry
Think about why these foods might make you feel this way.
2) Examine your recordings about how you were feeling before you ate the food
item. Think about whether you were feeling hungry or thirsty and why? (just
finished playing sports, it was lunch time, you were mad about something, you
were bored)
3) Examine where you are when you eat. Do you eat healthier foods in certain
places and not others? Examine why or why not.
4) Think of one eating habit goal you want to try and achieve. Explain it in detail.
DAILY FOOD DIARY
DATE
breakfast
lunch
dinner
snacks
FOOD ITEMS
PLACE
HOW YOU FEEL
BEFORE AND
AFTER EATING
PERSONAL HEALTHY EATING GOAL
GOAL: __________________________________________________________________________
PLAN TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
ACTIVITY #3
Healthy Living Awareness Campaign
Curriculum Connections
Health and Physical Education, Grade 6, Healthy Living, Healthy Eating
C3.1 explain how healthy eating and active living work together to improve a person’s general
health and well-being (e.g., both provide more energy and contribute to improved self-concept,
greater resistance to disease, and better overall health; both help a person to maintain a weight
that is healthy for them) and how the benefits of both can be promoted to others
Learning Goals
 Describe the benefits of healthy eating and active living
 Demonstrate way to serve as a role-model for healthy living
Teaching and Learning Strategies
Review some key points of healthy eating with students. What are some key benefits of healthy
eating? Write the responses down on the board. See how many ideas students can come up with
(gives you more energy, help build strong muscles, get the nutrients my body needs, feel more
alert, feel less tired, can be more active).
Now ask students to describe some of the benefits of active living. What are some key benefits of
active living? Write the responses down on the board. See how many ideas students can come
up with. (some answers might be the same – gives me more energy, feel more alert, my body
feels stronger, do the things l like – sports, dance, play).
Ask students to take out a piece of paper and brainstorm on their own about how they personally
could promote healthy eating and healthy living at school.
Have students work in groups to come up with a healthy eating/healthy living plan and poster
campaign.
Use the Health Promoter assignment below as a template.
PROMOTING HEALTHY EATING AND HEALTHY LIVING
GROUP MEMBERS:______________________________________________________
List some ways to promote healthy eating at school:
List some way to promote healthy living at school:
Create a poster presentation with your group members to promote healthy
eating and healthy living at school.
Here are some tips:
1) Make it colourful!
2) Create a slogan.
3) Be Creative!
Grade 7 & 8
ACTIVTY #4
Building Healthy Eating Habitats for Pre-teens/Teens
Curriculum Connections
Health and Physical Education, Grade 7, Healthy Living, Making Connections for Healthy Living –
Healthy Eating
C3.1 demonstrate an understanding of personal and external factors that affect people’s food
choices and eating routines, and identify ways of encouraging healthier eating practices.
Learning Goals



Develop a healthy eating plan
Utilize knowledge about serving sizes, nutrients, and number of servings to identify
beneficial food choices
Demonstrate an understanding of the factors that affect an individual’s food choices
Teaching and Learning Strategies
Discuss with your class the importance of making healthier food choices when they are able to
control what they can eat. Re-examine the factors that influence how much control or lack of
control individuals have over their eating choices: likes and dislikes, allergies, eating out, who in
the family grocery shops and cooks the meals, cultural preferences, media influences, peer
pressure.
Have your class choose one of the two case studies and create a healthier eating plan based on
their prior knowledge on healthy eating.
Before beginning the assignment, read out each case study and have students evaluate the
factors that influence Jack and Sabrina’s food choices. Write these responses down. List some of
the ways that can help encourage healthier eating habits in either scenario.
Have students complete the case studies either individually or in a group. Have the students
create a visual presentation of their menu plans and share it with the rest of the class. Discuss
how healthier eating would benefit both Jack and Sabrina.
CASE STUDY #1
PROFILE: JACK
I like to eat. I mean, I’m a teenager. What do you expect?
The thing is when I get home from school I’m starving! My mom is at work when I
get home so I usually just pop something into the microwave like popcorn or those
frozen pizza pockets. Sometimes I eat a bunch because they really aren’t that big.
Sometimes my mom has to work late. She’s a nurse. That means sometimes I have to
make my own dinner.
What I usually do is head for the freezer and find something like frozen pizza or
other frozen food. I usually wash it down with pop or juice.
Later on I usually get the munchies so I grab a family size bag of chips or maybe the
leftover cheesecake in the fridge. Lots of times I eat both! It really doesn’t seem like
that much.
Before bed I usually watch some TV or play on my Xbox. When I go to bed I still feel
hungry.
It gets boring eating the same food from the freezer.
The weird thing is I seem to be growing out of all my clothes. My pants are too short
and my mom just got those for me a couple of months ago!
Any ideas? What kind of menu do you think would help?
(Adapted from http://kidshealth.org)
After creating your healthy dinner and snack menu for Jack, discuss the
calories, fat, and carbs in the food choices Jack is presently making compared
to the options you have suggested. Explain why Jack is always feeling hungry.
Use The Canada Food Guide and other sources to help you choose the number
of servings, serving sizes and food choices that are appropriate for a growing
teenager.
CASE STUDY #2
CHARACTER PROFILE: SABRINA
Okay first off I love sports. I play baseball, hockey, volleyball, and soccer. Right now,
it’s basketball season. My high school team is in the semi-finals! I also play on a
soccer team on the weekends. So I am either practicing for my next game or out
playing. I’m really busy.
Here’s my problem. I know that to perform better I need to eat well. But, who’s got
the time? With evening practices and weekend games, fast food has become my next
best friend. We usually end up at a burger place. If I do eat at home, I am usually in a
rush.
I’ve got to get my life in order. Take this food thing. What would you do in my shoes?
I need a fast food fix-up. The clock is ticking.
(Adapted from http://kidshealth.org)
After creating your healthy dinner and snack menu for Sabrina, discuss the
calories, fat, and carbs in the food choices Sabrina is presently making
compared to the options you have suggested. Explain how your menu choices
will help Sabrina perform better.
Use The Canada Food Guide and other sources to help you choose the number
of servings, serving sizes and food choices that are appropriate for an active
teenager.