This post dives deeper into the concept of blending MyPlate Nutrition Education with Instant Activities to start your physical education lessons. I wanted to provide another activity example (see link below) in order to highlight the three following points.

  • IT’S EASY to work Serving Up MyPlate Objectives and Essential Questions into any unit that you’re planning. In this week’s activity I focused on the essential question, “Why is it important to eat a variety of foods from all food groups?” By quickly examining one specific fruit with the class you can quickly highlight the good nutrients the fruit provides (carbohydrates with fiber, plus vitamins and minerals), as well as the important nutrients that it’s missing (protein and fat). Now the discussion can quickly turn to why it’s important to eat a variety of foods from all groups. All of this great dialog in a 2-minute debrief session!
  • THE MYPLATE SUPERTRACKER is a great resource! I used the Food-A-Pedia tool to look up the fruit that I highlighted on the Fruit Fact Cards used in this activity. It’s easy and accurate (accuracy is critical in the often confusing world of nutrition education). Additionally, the USDA just released a set of new High School Lesson Plans focusing on teaching teens how to use the SuperTracker tool.
  • PHYSICAL EDUCATION OUTCOMES can remain the focus of your activities while also planting important seeds of nutrition awareness. I wanted to provide an activity that was skill-specific with a quick but effective way to create dialog around nutrition concepts. I’d love to hear how others do this with a focus on a variety of skills/outcomes.

One final note on this week’s activity – it’s a variation on the classic basketball game of HORSE. When you open and look at it, you’ll notice that one of the Fruit Fact Cards provided is Blueberries. Playing out a full game of BLUEBERRIES would not be an instant activity, and I’m not suggesting that you try it. I’d set a time limit for the game rather than have students play through to the end – for example, 3 minutes of game time followed by 2 minutes of discussion. By implementing a time limit you can use any word you want, including Lingonberries.

I hope everyone enjoys this week’s resources!

Work hard. Have fun!

Free PE Resources