• What does it mean to "eat healthy"?
• Why is it important to eat healthy?
• What else do we need to do to be healthy?

Note: Since this is the "last" week of this study, use this week to think about directions you might want to continue. Possible future directions building on the food and cooking exploration:

• the human body
• athletes
• doctors
• gardening and how food grows
• the water cycle

Morning Meeting / Circle Time:

• Invite kids to share about their weekends.
• Introduce theme for the week: healthy eating.
• Ask kids to share what they know about being healthy and questions they have.
• Read a book (ex: Gregory, the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat)

Free Play:

• Kitchen dramatic play
• Play dough with cooking utensils
• Water play "potion" or "recipe" mixing

Morning Meeting / Circle Time:

• Eating healthy can mean eating foods of all different colors. Make a rainbow of foods to eat together. Ask your kids to help you remember the different colors of the rainbow, and then go through one by one and try to think of foods that match the colors. Hand out a food of each color as you go for kids to munch on. Example foods you could buy: strawberry or red pepper, orange or carrot, banana or squash, broccoli or lettuce, blueberries or blue corn chips, and grapes or raisins.
• Read a book (ex: Eat Your Colors by Amanda Miller)

Free Play:

• Kitchen dramatic play
• Rainbow art-- use dot paints, tissue paper, water colors or something else to create colorful artwork inspired by the rainbow of foods

Morning Meeting / Circle Time:

• Make morning snack together again. Try making a rainbow smoothie where you add foods of every color (strawberry, orange, banana, kale, blueberry, grapes, and milk, juice or yogurt).
• Add all of the ingredients to the blender and encourage kids to guess what color the smoothie will turn out.
• Read a book (ex: Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert)

Free Play:

• Color Mixing activity with coffee filters
• Water play "potion" or "recipe" mixing using food coloring
• Sand play with pots, pans, utensils
• Fruit stamping-- cut fruits in half and invite kids to dip them in paint before stamping them on paper. Compare how the fruits are different.

Morning Meeting / Circle Time:

• Another way to think about healthy eating is to make sure we have a healthy plate. The USDA has a great website with information about this.
• Introduce the different food groups and practice sorting foods by group (you can do this with the food from your dramatic play or with pictures of foods).
• Read a book (ex: Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann)

Free Play:

• Practice sorting foods by groups. Print out copies of the "Choose My Plate" to use for sorting
• Water play "potion" or "recipe" mixing
• Sand play with pots, pans, utensils
• Snack-cutting station (invite your kids to prep snack for later!)

Snack Time:

• At meal time talk about the different food groups you are eating.

Morning Meeting / Circle Time:

• It's not just food that keeps us healthy: we need sleep, water, and exercise.
• Yoga is a good way to keep healthy. Introduce a few yoga poses to your kids during circle. Demo the pose for them and ask them to imitate. Yoga Journal has some great ideas for kid-friendly yoga poses.
• Read a book (ex: Zoo Zen by Kristen Fischer)

Free Play:

• Set up obstacle course indoors or outdoors
• Use a stopwatch and run time trials outside (a time trial is a race where you're just trying to beat yourself). Time how long it takes kids to run or bike across the yard or playground. Write down their time and challenge them to beat their time.