Learning About Food Quality

Materials 

1. poster of the food pyramid
2. clean, empty food packages

Instructions

1. Talk about nutrition and healthy foods with the children. Talk about the food pyramid and show a poster, if available.
2. Discuss vitamins and minerals and how they are important for good health. Explain that food packaging contains information for the consumer, such as expiration date, weight, servings per container, nutritional value, and ingredients.
3. Show the children a few empty food packages and point out the nutritional information, ingredients, expiration date, and so on.
4. Encourage the children to explore the packaging.

Instructions

1. Trim the bottom of each flower at an angle.
2. Fill a few vases with different colors of water.
3. Place the carnations in colored water. It is helpful to keep one white
carnation for comparison.
4. The carnations will "drink" the colored water and the petals will turn the
same color as the food coloring in the water. Discuss the results with the
children.
5. Help the children set up a flower arrangement area. Encourage them to use
the carnations and greenery to make arrangements in plastic vases.