Summary
Children will identify different vegetables and fruits, whole grain foods, and protein foods that are part of Canada’s food guide. They will sort them in different bins or hula-hoops according to the groupings in Canada’s food guide.
Prep time
30 minutes
Activity duration
30 minutes
On this page
- Learning goals
- Materials
- Planning considerations
- Connecting to Canada’s food guide
- Activity instructions
- Optional learning extension
Learning goals
- Identify different vegetables and fruits, whole grain foods, and protein foods.
- Sort vegetables and fruits, whole grain foods, and proteins foods into the groupings in Canada’s food guide.
Materials
- Canada’s food guide snapshot
- Three large hula-hoops or bins labeled with the following food groupings:
- protein foods
- whole grain foods
- vegetables and fruits
- Food scramble and sort cards and answer key, or a variety of play food items including vegetables and fruits, whole grain foods, and protein foods
Planning considerations
- Collect a variety of play foods or print the Food scramble and sort cards.
- Try to include foods that reflect different cultures and food traditions. If you wish, add other foods in the blank sections on the cards.
- Label and arrange three hula-hoops or bins, one for each food grouping.
- Place each hula-hoop or bin at a significant distance from one another.
Connecting to Canada’s food guide
- Review the following pages for your activity planning:
Activity instructions
Engage
- Remind children that there are many ways to group foods.
- Show children the food guide snapshot and explain that Canada’s food guide categorizes foods into three groupings: vegetables and fruits, whole grain foods, and protein foods. Explain that this is one way of grouping foods.
- Explain to children that vegetables and fruits and whole grain foods come from plants, and protein foods come from both plants and animals.
- Ask children to volunteer and name all the foods they can on the plate. If the group has already completed the Explore veggies and fruits activity, focus on naming the whole grain foods and protein foods.
- Support them with naming unknown foods. For a full list of foods in the food guide snapshot, consult the food guide snapshot – text description.
Explore
- Explain to children they are going to sort foods into different hula-hoops or bins. There is one hula-hoop or bin for vegetables and fruits, one for whole grain foods, and one for protein foods.
- Review safety rules for indoor activities; for example, no running.
- Ask a few volunteers to demonstrate the activity with some food items, to provide an example to the group.
- Divide children into pairs and provide each pair with a set of play foods or food scramble and sort cards.
- Start the sorting activity!
- As the children sort their foods, you can invite them to try to imitate the shape of their food item or dance as they make their way to the hula-hoop or bins.
- Create a fun atmosphere by playing some music in the background as the activity unfolds.
Tip: You can repeat this activity with 2 hula-hoops labelled "plant" and "animal". Ask children to sort foods in each hula-hoop depending on if they come from a plant or an animal. You can also ask children to sort foods by their size, shape or colour instead.
Explain
- Once all the food items have been sorted, bring the group back together and review what is in each hula-hoop or bin.
- Ask:
- What shapes are the vegetables or fruits, whole grain foods or protein foods?
- Name a food in the hula-hoops that you enjoy eating or would like to try.
- How do these foods grow? Are they from a tree, the ground, a bush, or an animal?
Optional learning extension
In a gymnasium or outside, use cones or lines on the ground to create three different squares in the playing area large enough to fit all children in the group. Label the squares as:
- protein foods
- whole grain foods
- vegetables and fruits
For early learners, consider colour-coding the labels of the squares or drawing an associated food on each label.
Invite children to start in the centre of the playing area and then call out various food items that were used in the Food scramble and sort activity. Children move to the appropriate square each time a food is called out.
If children are up for a challenge, consider calling out foods that were not part of the Food scramble and sort activity and support them with moving to the correct area. Change the way children move throughout the activity by asking them to skip, hop, jump, or walk to the different squares.
