National Science Standards:

Content Standard A: Science As Inquiry
Content Standard C: Life Science - The characteristics of organisms; Organisms and environments

These activities help students identify and compare basic food groups.

*NOTE: Activities increase in diffulculty. Educators/Parents may want to work through all activities or choose those most appropriate for their students/children.

(BACKGROUND INFORMATION)
What do we already know about protein?

• Protein is one of six essential nutrients needed by the human body.
• Protein is made up of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and hydrogen.
• Protein helps build and repair our bodies.

Activity One - Food Sort

magazines, scissors, glue, three colors of construction paper (one to identify proteins, one to indicate carbohydrates, one to identify fats)

1. As a group, discuss the basic food groups. For this activity, students will be sorting foods into only three of the six groups — fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Be sure to discuss that many foods fall into more than one category.
2. Give students magazines and scissors. Ask them to look through brochures and magazines for pictures of foods.
3. Students will sort these pictures into food groups. Identify a particular color of construction paper to represent each group. Ask students to glue the pictures on the appropriate construction paper.
4. As a group, discuss what common attributes are found in the foods.

Extension Activity

Encourage students to keep a log of the foods that they eat in a day. Help them identify what foods were proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

Activity Two - Food Bingo

Bingo cards with the words protein, carbohydrate, and fat in the squares; food words or pictures on slips of paper; Bingo chips or bean counters

1. Give each student a Bingo card and Bingo chips or counters.
2. Call a food word or show a food picture.
3. Students must decide if the food is a protein, carbohydrate, or fat and mark the square.
4. When they have a completed row, they call Bingo.
5. Students must justify their choices.

Activity Three - Food Pyramid

Food pyramid chart, pictures of different foods (You may use the pictures from the first activity.)

1. Draw a pyramid shape on the board. Discuss how the shape indicates the amount of each type of food you should eat. What would a food rectangle suggest about the amounts of each type food we should eat?
2. Fill the pyramid with examples of the food groups.
3. How could you translate what you’ve learned into your everyday life?

EXTENSION ACTIVITY
Ask the cafeteria manager to discuss food choices for the school based upon the food pyramid. Take a “field trip” to the grocery store to identify foods. Plan a menu that reflects the food pyramid.

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that if you eat a piece of meat, the proteins and fats must be broken into smaller molecules so that your body can absorb them? A protein molecule is made up of many amino acids. It takes several enzymes in the stomach and in the small intestine to digest proteins.