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Food Pyramid Activities for Children

What was once known as the Food Guide Pyramid has been modified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is now called MyPyramid. The changes made by the USDA include a guide to choose healthy foods as well as interactive tools and eating plans you can customize to your own tastes and needs based on the nutritional guidelines. A children's version of MyPyramid is available and encourages kids to start eating healthy at an early age. You can hit home the importance of healthy food by integrating MyPyramid into fun activities for children.

  1. Testing Food

    • Sometimes, because kids aren't exposed to every food group, they don't know if they like certain foods or not. Have a taste test and let the children try foods from every section of MyPyramid. Focus on new or unusual foods that children might not be exposed to at home. Not only will children likely find foods that they enjoy eating, but you will also teach them other ways to meet the recommended daily amounts for each food group. Make sure to take food allergies into consideration.

    Plan Meals

    • The new food pyramid offers a bright, easy-to-understand triangle that helps kids break down foods into colors. Show children an image of various foods and allow them to create a meal based on the guidelines. If the children are younger, consider cutting out pictures of food and gluing them to a paper plate to illustrate what a well-balanced meal should look like. For older children, ask them to plan a week's worth of meals, adding variety to nutrition.

    Sort Food

    • Visual games that encourage hands-on learning will help ensure children understand difficult concepts. Plan a game that lets children sort different types of food based on the six categories of MyPyramid. Draw and color a triangle to resemble MyPyramid on a piece of poster board or cardboard. Have the children cut out pictures of foods from magazines or have them draw foods to use. Instruct them to place the food in the proper categories on MyPyramid.

    Tracking Game

    • Create a chart that will allow the children to apply what they have learned about MyPyramid to their everyday lives. Draw a chart with the days of the week in rows and the recommended number of servings for each food group in columns. Each day, have the children mark what they eat at breakfast, lunch and dinner. At the end of the week, go over the charts with the children and ask them to help identify what food groups they need to increase or decrease.

    Other Activities

    • The United States Department of Agriculture offers interactive games, posters and coloring sheets for children. A two-sided mini poster helps illustrate MyPyramid and offers tips to keep physically active and eat healthier. There is also a worksheet to help children keep track of how their meals relate to the guidelines of MyPyramid. Other educational materials can be found on the USDA Team Nutrition site. See Resources 1 and 2 for links.

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