It’s All in the Breathing

Posted on August 15, 2012

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand the link between their breathing and how they feel. The youth will practice focused breathing techniques to help their bodies and minds relax. Optional activities allow young people to further explore mindful breathing.

Instructor Notes

Before facilitating this lesson, you may want to review the following notes about mindful breathing. This information can be shared with young people during your discussions.

How you breathe can make a difference in how you feel. When you are stressed, nervous, frightened, worried or angry, you may notice that your breathing gets low and fast. Your breath will come from higher up in your chest when you are upset. In calmer times, your breathing will be slower and deeper. Your breath will come more from your stomach and underneath your ribs.

You can learn to slow down your breathing, making each breath longer and deeper. This will calm the rest of your body and your mind. If you practice doing this you can become good at staying calm or return to feeling calm quickly in very stressful situations.

Introduction

Ask the youth this question: How are our bodies and our minds connected? Be patient if it takes a while for them to start answering. Younger people may have much simpler answers. You may want to start with an example of kicking a ball: If we want to kick a ball our minds have to send a signal to our legs telling them what to do. Young people may also be able to understand things like:

- Our brains are inside our heads so our skulls can protect them.
- If we think (or believe) we can do something we are more likely to be able to do it.
- If we are worried or upset or unhappy our bodies might feel sick or tired or uncomfortable.
- If our bodies are sick or hurt or very tired it might make us feel unhappy or frustrated.

Activity: Focused Breathing

Explain that breathing well is good for our bodies and can help us change negative things happening in our minds to more positive ones. In other words, we can learn ways to use our bodies to help us feel better in our minds.

Ask the youth to get into a comfortable position. Explain that you are going to practice a type of breathing they can use any time they want or need to calm themselves down. Ask them to be quiet during the exercise. Then lead them through the following steps. For younger people, you may want to simplify the instructions by jumping right to Step 2.
Pay attention to your body. What are you feeling in your body? What are your different senses noticing: smells, sounds, sights, tastes? Are you comfortable? If you aren’t comfortable adjust your body so that you are.
Notice what’s happening with your breathing? Is it fast? Slow? Moving through your nose or your mouth? Is there a noise when you breathe in or breathe out? Don’t try to change it…just notice.
Practice a type of breathing that can help ease your mind and calm your body: Begin breathing in through your nose and breathing out through your mouth. Breathe in twice as long as you breathe out (try counting to two as you breathe in and count to four as you breathe out). Keep breathing like this for several minutes.
Now talk with the youth about the breathing they just did: What do you notice now after a few minutes of breathing like that? How do you feel? What do you see, smell, hear, taste? What is on your mind? What was that like to focus on your breathing?

Optional Activities

If time allows, try these breathing exercises with your class or group.

Mindful Breathing: Breathing is an automatic reflex. You don’t even have to think about it–it just happens! But being aware of your breath can help you feel more relaxed. An easy way to be more mindful is thinking about when you smell your favorite scent. Smelling is actually taking in a deep breath on purpose. Ask the youth to close their eyes and imagine smelling their favorite scent. Have them breathe in for the count of two and breathe out for the count of four.
Shape Breathing: This deep breathing technique uses your imagination. Imagine your favorite shape. As you breathe in, imagine your breath ‘drawing’ one side of the shape as you count to 2. Breathe out and draw the next side as you count to 3. For example, if the shape is round, breathe in from top to bottom, breathe out bottom to top. Continue until you draw your whole shape. You can use a picture of a shape as a guide. Trace a finger along the side of the shape while you count. You can also draw a shape in the air. Move your head and neck a little as an added stretch.

Birthday Balloons and Candles: Sit with your legs crossed (feet flat on the floor if you are sitting in a chair) and your back straight. Breathe in deeply through your nose, filling your lungs like a balloon. Imagine seeing your birthday cake with all of its bright candles. Blow them out by breathing out strongly through your mouth.

Breathe In, Bubbles Out!: Take a deep breath in through your nose. Fill your lungs full of air! Hold your breath for 1 to 2 seconds. Put the bubble wand up by your mouth and blow! Repeat 3 to 5 times, trying to blow more bubbles each time. After the exercise, ask the youth where in their bodies do they feel the stress or anxiety being released.
Belly Breathing: This exercise can help you get more air into your body. Place one hand on your upper chest and one hand on your belly. Slowly breathe in through your nose. You should feel your belly press into your hand. Keep the hand on your chest as still as possible. Breathe out. Tighten your belly muscles to breathe out all the air. Wait a little bit and do it again. Repeat 2 more times.

Conclusion

Remind young people that if they ever feel like they need to calm down, focused or mindful breathing is something they can do anywhere, at any time, and no one will even know that they are doing it.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, including additional mindful breathing activities, so that families can continue discussing ways to manage stress at home.

Additional Instructor Resources

ChangeToChill.org from Allina Health

For other ideas about how to help kids management stress see these two books:

Fighting Invisible Tigers: Stress Management for Teens by Earl Hipp (Free Spirit Publishing, 2008)
The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens by Gina M. Biegel (New Harbinger Publications Inc., 2009)

Stress! No Body Needs It

Posted on August 15, 2012

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand the causes and effects of stress and learn some techniques for dealing with it. The youth will identify physical symptoms of stress and list some situations that may bring them on. They will learn some skills for managing stress and make their very own stress ball.

Introduction

Introduce the young people to the topic of stress. Let them know that we’ve all had times when our bodies react to stress and we can feel it. It’s the sensation also known as “flight or fight.” Our bodies’ natural way of coping with being frightened or challenged is to release certain chemicals into our bloodstream that provide extra short-term energy and alertness. Our instincts take over and “tell” us that we are facing danger and we either need to defend ourselves (fight) or get away (flight).

Sometimes when this happens we do things we didn’t think we could, such as run very fast or lift something heavy. We may also notice that our hearts beating harder and faster, our hands getting sweaty and cold, or our faces feeling flushed and hot.

Chances are everyone will have had many experiences of this. Ask for a few descriptions of what that looks and feels like. Young people might also describe feeling “butterflies” in their stomachs or having dry mouths.

Then explain that when this happens the options for what a person can do to respond become very limited because instinct takes over and we lose our ability to fully use the part of our brains that makes rational decisions.

Fortunately, by understanding what triggers our “fight or flight” reaction and learning skills to deal with it, we can learn to prevent some stress responses and calm ourselves down from those that do happen.

Activity: How Do You Know if it’s Stress?

Distribute the handout: Your Body Under Stress

Ask young people to each draw or write images on their “body” of where they feel stress and how they know they are having a stress response.

Don’t give examples right away, but if they need a little help you can offer these ideas:

heart pounds harder and faster
hands feel sweaty and cold
face flushes (gets hot and red)
“butterflies” in your stomach
dry mouth.

After young people finish the handout ask them the following questions:

How easy or hard was it to think of ways your body reacts to stress?
What are some of the ways you thought of that your body reacts to stress?
Does everyone respond the same way?
Are there good kinds of stress? What are some examples? (Examples of positive stress might be a performance of some sort, a physical challenge, speaking in front of a group about something important to you, and so on. Positive stress creates feelings of excitement, anticipation, like right before going over a big hill on a roller coaster.)

Activity: What brings stress on?

Complete the Stress: What Brings it On? worksheet.

There doesn’t need to be a lot of discussion about this worksheet as long as you process it at the end of the session as described in the conclusion. Do point out, however, that one way of both avoiding stress and getting better at dealing with it is to become more aware of what brings it on for you personally. This worksheet helps people think about and identify their own personal stress triggers.

Activity: Make a stress ball

Introduce the stress ball as a way to help deal with stress. These objects are popular because squeezing the ball in your hand helps reduce tension throughout your body. It may be even more effective if you pay attention to your breath as you squeeze: breathe in as you squeeze the ball, breathe out as you relax your hand.

Let each young person make a homemade stress ball. Instructions:

1. Take two or three balloons and cut the tops off just above the rounded area, so that all is left is the round part of the balloon. You will also need one uncut balloon.
2. Take the uncut balloon and stretch the opening over the narrow end of the funnel. Have young people work in pairs so one can hold the funnel while the other fills it the balloon.
3. Slowly and carefully pour about half a cup of millet seed into the funnel. The amount with vary depending on the size of balloon you use. Make sure it all goes into the balloon. Add more if necessary.
4. Once the balloon is full to the top of the rounded part, without stretching the balloon, stop filling.
5. Remove the funnel and tie a tight knot just above the round part of the balloon. Do not cut off the end of the balloon.
6. Take one of the cut balloons and stretch it over the tied millet-filled balloon. Make sure the tied end is covered first.
7. Continue adding more cut balloons, always covering the open end of the previous balloon first until you have several layers. This way if one layer breaks the seed will not spill out.

Tips:

- The number of balloons you will need will depend on how strong and thick the balloons are. If you use good quality, thick balloons, you should only need three in addition to the filled balloon. If you use weaker balloons, you may need to use four or more.
- With use, your stress ball will become dirty, so you can either clean carefully with very mild soap and water, or remove the outer balloon and add a new one.

Conclusion

Talk about how young people can learn to make choices that help them avoid negative stress, the kind that makes it so they have a hard time making decisions, the kind that feels uncomfortable and maybe even a little bit scary. Ask the youth what kind of activities will help them deal with de-stress. Some examples include:

taking a walk
talking to a friend
listening to music
meditation.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish so that families can continue discussing stress and healthy ways to deal with it at home.

Additional Instructor Resources

Guided Imagery: Create the State You Want

Posted on August 15, 2012

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand the negative effects of tension and stress, and how you can use your imagination to help you relax. The youth will draw pictures of their minds under stress. Then the instructor will lead young people in a guided imagery exercise.

Introduction

What is guided imagery? How can guided imagery be helpful to us? How do you do it?

Explain to the youth that guided imagery is a simple, powerful technique that can have many health-related physical and emotional benefits. It can help people feel less nervous or upset, be less bothered by pain, or achieve a goal such as an athletic or academic achievement.

Through guided imagery you can learn to use your imagination to “Create the State You Want,” meaning that you can actually change how you are feeling and what you are focused on.

Activity: Picturing Stress

Complete the Create the State You Want worksheet as a way to think about the power of images and how we create pictures in our minds based on how we are feeling.

Activity: Guided Imagery

Read aloud the Guided Imagery script to your class or group. When everyone has had time to come back to full awareness of the present, allow young people time to talk about their experience. Do they feel more calm and relaxed after the guided imagery experience? Remind them that our brains are very powerful and can impact our positive and negative thoughts.

Conclusion

Encourage young people to take time to practice guided imagery. Let them know it can be done almost anywhere at any time and can be done to help them face a particular challenge (such as an upcoming test), or just because it’s healthy and feels good.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, which also includes directions for guided imagery, so that families can practice “creating the state they want” at home.

Additional Instructor Resources

Visualizing Your Special Place

Pedometer Fitness Challenge

Posted on August 14, 2012

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand how to use a pedometer to measure their daily activity levels. The youth are introduced to the pedometer, learn how to operate it and test its accuracy. In the subsequent days or weeks, young people can track their steps on the provided forms. Challenge your group by adding up enough steps to reach Minnesota landmarks or make it all the way to Disney World in Florida!

Introduction

Provide young people information on the positive health benefits of physical activity.
- It helps your body maintain overall good health.
- It helps build and maintain healthy bones and muscles.
- It increases flexibility and aerobic endurance.
- Ask the youth for more ideas on the positive health benefits of being physically active.

Activity: Introduce Pedometers

Introduce young people to the pedometers. Here are some things you may want to say:
- A pedometer is a small device that counts your steps. It runs on a battery and is breakable.
- It is worn on your clothing (pants/shorts/skirt) at waist level, straight up from either knee cap.
- “If you shake it, you may break it” or “if you shake it, I may take it” are good phases to share with the youth when you introduce these devices.
- It may be a good idea to number or put young participants’ initials on the pedometers to help keep them straight and accountable.
Distribute Pedometers
- Allow young people a few minutes to examine the unit and various buttons.
- Have them locate the reset button. Tell them to push the reset button until the numbers all return to zero. This is the number they should start at each morning.
For the pedometer to measure steps accurately it needs to be positioned correctly. Follow these three steps for proper placement.
- Place a finger on your knee cap and draw an imaginary line straight up to your waist.
- Secure the pedometer to your clothing.
- Make sure your pedometer is level and not tilted.
Test the pedometers
- In a long hallway or gym or on a sidewalk, set up a starting line and finish line.
- Have each young person put on their pedometer, push the reset button, and walk from start to finish.
- Have each young person count how many steps they are taking (silently to themselves).
- At the finish line compare the number they counted to the number on the pedometer. Tell the youth that the number should be within five steps. If it’s not, have them try it a second time and if it’s still not accurate try a different pedometer.

Activity: Introduce the Challenge

Pass out and explain the Pedometer Fitness Challenge Worksheet or the Pedometer Fitness Challenge Step Tracking Spreadsheets (see What You Need). These will be their method for tracking daily and weekly totals.

Tell the the young people to write the days of the week at the top of the step log. Have them start with the day of the week that the class is held. (For example, if the class is held on Wednesdays, have them write Wednesday, Thursday…all the way to Tuesday.)
The goal of the pedometer fitness challenge is to work as a group to simulate walking from the Mall of America in Minnesota to Disney World in Florida. The group will need to take about 3,290,000 steps to get from Minnesota to Florida.
Track your classes’ weekly progress on the spreadsheet and a map of the USA, if possible.

Pedometer tips

Reset your pedometer to zero each morning.
Wear your pedometer each day, all day long.
Record the number of steps you took each day at the end of the day.
Add up your step totals each week.
One mile equals about 2,000 steps.
Determine your individual daily step goal.
See if you can find new ways to add steps to your daily total!

Conclusion

Track your classes’ weekly progress on the spreadsheet and a map of the USA, if possible. Note progress toward the goal of adding up enough steps to reach Disney World in Florida. If that goal is reached quickly add other elements to keep it interesting, such as making the trip back, or calculating the number of steps needed to reach other landmarks and aiming for that many steps. Also encourage young people to work on increasing their own personal steps-per-day or steps-per-week. Help them identify challenging but realistic goals.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, which also includes these tips, so that families discuss the Pedometer Fitness Challenge at home.

Related Health Powered Kids Blog

Are you getting 10,000 steps a day?

Additional Instructor Resources

10 Thousand Steps video

Safe Food is Good Food

Posted on August 12, 2012

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand how handling food safely will help them avoid becoming sick from food poisoning. Youth will gain interest in the topic by reading a story and solving a mystery. They will learn tips for keeping food safe and test their knowledge with a quiz.

Introduction: Food Safety Story

Without introducing the topic of food poisoning, tell the young people that there is a mystery you need them to solve. Distribute copies of Food Safety Story. Have the youth work in small groups to read through it and identify the reasons they think the catastrophe might have happened. After a while debrief as a group, perhaps asking each group to share one idea, one at a time, until all ideas have been shared. Write their ideas on a flipchart or whiteboard. Then introduce the topic of food safety, assuring young people that you will come back to the story at the end of the lesson.

Activity: Learning about Causes and Consequences of Food Poisoning

Introduce food poisoning by explaining that it is an illness that can happen when we eat foods that have harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites or their toxins. The effects can range from barely noticeable to extremely unpleasant.

1. Ask the young people if they know what symptoms these harmful germs may cause.

Symptoms of food poison may include:

upset stomach
nausea
vomiting
diarrhea
fever

Tell the youth that mild cases of food poisoning are actually common and we may not even know we have it because we think it is just a stomach flu or virus. We can’t get rid of all bacteria and some bacteria can even be good for us. There are many things we can do, however, to prevent us from getting sick from the foods we eat.

2. Most of the germs that can cause food poisoning (also known as food borne illness) come from animals, such as meat, eggs, milk, shellfish, or unwashed produced. Raw or undercooked foods are also more likely to cause food poisoning because the process of thoroughly cooking often kills unhealthy germs. Sometimes the germs are transferred from work surfaces or hands that haven’t be properly cleaned after touching contaminated food. So cleanliness and proper cooking are two of the most important ways to prevent it.

3. Ask how many help their families cook at home. What kind of things do you or your family members do to keep things clean while cooking? Make sure the following are mentioned:

Wash your hands before and after handling food.
Don’t use the same cutting board you use for raw meats. It needs to be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized after each use.
Wash counters and food preparation areas with soap and water before cooking.
Wash fruits and vegetables before eating. For example, was the outside of melon before cutting into it.

4. Imagine that you are looking in the refrigerator for a snack. What kind of things do you do to make sure food is safe before eating it?

Only eat foods that are cooked right – if it doesn’t look done, don’t eat it.
If a food smells or looks different than it normally would, the food might be spoiled and you shouldn’t eat or drink it.
Keep leftovers only 3 to 4 days in the fridge and heat them up well before eating.
Check expiration dates and use the food before it expires. Don’t eat if it is after the expiration date.
Germs grow best at room temperature, so cover and refrigerate food right away to keep the bacteria from growing out of control.

Activity: Myth or Fact?

Introduce the Myth or Fact quiz explaining that it focuses on ways we can keep our food safe. Use the interactive whiteboard lesson or the worksheet located in the What You Need section above. Have the youth work in small groups or as a large group to complete the activity and see how “food safety savvy” they are.

Conclusion

Now that you have learned more about the potential causes of food poisoning, ask the youth to revisit the list of things they think could have caused the illness in the half of Ms. Carey’s class. Be sure to include the following:

Preparing raw meat (the turkeys) in the same place as the sandwiches were being made could have contaminated the sandwiches.
The tuna sandwiches might have contained mayonnaise and both tuna and mayonnaise need to be kept chilled.
Suzy’s apples weren’t washed.
Tou’s salad may have gone bad even though it smelled okay.
Victor’s chicken may have been undercooked since he rushed it.

Answer to the activity: Students may not have cleaned their hands after visiting the petting farm.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, which also includes these tips, so that families can continue discussing food safety at home.

Related Health Powered Kids Blog

Keeping your food safe

Additional Instructor Resources

Hand-Washing: A Weapon Against Germs!

Posted on August 12, 2012

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand the importance of hand-washing by showing them firsthand how everyday germs start out invisible, but when left unattended grow into something very unappealing. They will review proper hand-washing techniques.

Instructor Notes

Before facilitating this lesson, you may want to review the following information about hand-washing. These facts can be shared with young people during your discussions.

Hand-washing is easy to do. It’s one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of many types of germs in all settings—from your home and workplace to schools and more. Clean hands can stop germs from spreading from one person to another.

When should we wash our hands? You should always wash your hands:

before, during, and after preparing food
before and after eating food
before and after caring for someone who is sick
after using the toilet
after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
after touching an animal
after touching garbage
any time they feel or look dirty.

It seems simple and obvious that it’s important, but according to the American Society of Microbiology, 96 percent of people say that they wash their hands after using a public restroom, but during observations conducted as part of a study, only 93 percent of females and 77 percent of males actually do.

Introduction

Fifty percent of young people in middle and high school wash their hands, and of these, only 33 percent of females and eight percent of males use soap. That makes it even more important to wash hands since so many of the same people are touching door handles, tabletops, computer keyboards and so many other things every day.

Show the video Wash Your Hands by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The 30 seconds long.)
Review the steps covered in the video and the simple directions below for proper hand-washing.
1. Wet your hands with clean running water (warm or cold). Apply soap.
2. Rub your hands together to make a lather. Scrub them well. Be sure to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
3. Continue rubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds.
4. Rinse your hands well under running water.
5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or paper towel. You can also let your hands air dry.
If soap and water are not available, you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that has at least 60 percent alcohol.
- Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations, but they do not remove soil and other substances and do not eliminate all types of germs.
- Also, alcohol-based hand sanitizers are not good at removing elements of food for those who suffer from food allergies. A child or adult with a severe food allergy could have a reaction if someone else near them has not washed their hands with soap and water and comes in contact with that person.
Remind young people that good hand-washing is one sure way to keep you and others in good health!

Activity: A Slice with Germs

Ask young people to touch their faces, hair, desk or other object to get their hands dirty.
Give each young person a slice (whole or half) of preservative-free, fresh bakery bread and tell them to touch it all over, keeping it flat.
Have young people place the slice of bread in bag with two small drops of water. Seal the bag shut.
Label the bag with the young person’s name and date.
Put all the bread slices in a brown grocery bag. Include one piece of bread in a bag that was untouched.
Seal the grocery bag shut. Place in warm spot.
Each day, have the youth open the brown grocery bag and observe the bread for any changes. Typically it takes about five days to two weeks for good mold growth.
Explain to the youth that the mold is from the germs they had on their hands. Even though we can’t see these germs, they are there. These germs can spread easily and cause us to become sick.
Hand-washing is the simple most effective way to reduce the number of germs on our hands!

Conclusion

Remind young people that hand-washing is the simple and effective way to reduce the number of germs on our hands. Picture the mold your germs grew on the bread to remember how important it is to wash your hands throughout the day!

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that families can continue discussing good hand-washing habits at home.

Related Health Powered Kids Blog

Practicing good hand-washing techniques will help keep germs away

Additional Instructor Resources

Infection Prevention: Hand Washing video

Smile Bright! Tooth Care

Posted on August 11, 2012

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand why it is important to brush and floss their teeth. The youth will observe effects of corrosive liquids on eggshells as a demonstration of how harsh materials affect tooth enamel.

Instructor Notes

Before facilitating this lesson, you may want to review the following information about dental care for children. These facts can be shared with young people during your discussions.

There are many more reasons to keep your teeth clean than just having a nice smile, though that’s a good one too! Tooth decay (also known as cavities or dental caries) affects children in the United States more than any other chronic (long-lasting) infectious disease. If not prevented or properly treated, it can cause infections that may lead to problems with eating, speaking, playing, and learning.

The combination of dental sealants and fluoride has the potential to nearly eliminate tooth decay in school-age children, but good habits are also still a part of the equation.

Brushing your teeth twice every day keeps your teeth—and your gums—clean and healthy. Even if you don’t have permanent teeth yet, you still need to brush. If you don’t brush, the permanent teeth growing underneath can be damaged by the tooth decay that can be growing on the surface.

And you need to brush permanent teeth every day because that’s the best way to keep them healthy. Those teeth need to last your whole life! Healthy teeth are one sign of good health.

Activity

Use hard-boiled eggs to demonstrate the impact of different substances on teeth.

Explain to young people that eggshells are similar to the enamel (hard surface) on our teeth and just like eggshells, our teeth can be damaged if we don’t keep them clean and healthy.
Fill one cup with soda (cola or other carbonated sugar beverage) and place an egg it.
Fill one cup with vinegar and place an egg in it.
Fill one cup with water and place an egg in it.
Explain to young people that everyday for several days they should check on the eggs to see what’s happening with them.
After several days (3 to 5) remove the eggs from the liquid. Ask the youth to describe what they notice. The youth will see that the egg in the soda is stained, the egg in the vinegar is soft and pitted, and the egg in the water is fairly intact. Explain how cola, vinegar or other substances can cause damage to our teeth just like it did to the egg shell. Brushing and flossing and drinking plenty of water help to keep our teeth clean and healthy.
Ask the young people what they think about the experiment, and whether there is anything they’ll change about how they treat their teeth now that they’ve done the experiment.

Conclusion

Remind young people that taking care of their teeth is an important part of living a healthy life. Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that families can continue discussing dental health at home.

Related Health Powered Kids Blog

Get brushing: February is oral care month!

Additional Instructor Resources

Healthy Me Checklist

Portion Distortion

Posted on August 11, 2012

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand the importance of accurately estimating how much of a food they should eat. The youth will estimate portion sizes of snacks and compare to the actual serving size. To make estimating easier, they will compare portion sizes to common items.

Introduction

To introduce this topic, share the following information with the youth. If desired, you can reference the Nutrition Facts label on this handout.

Average portion sizes of food and beverages in America have significantly increased over the past 20 years. Often the portion size of food and/or drink we have is enough for two or three people. This increase in portion size is changing what we think of as a “normal” portion.
A portion is the amount of food that you choose to eat for a meal or snack.
A serving is a measured amount of food or drink, such as one slice of bread or 1 cup (eight ounces) of milk.
Many foods that come as a single portion actually have multiple servings. The Nutrition Facts label on packaged foods—found on the backs of cans, sides of boxes, etc. — tells you the number of servings in the container.
It is important for young people to understand that this distortion of portion sizes is causing us to think we can eat more of certain foods than our bodies truly need which can lead to being overweight or obese and an increased risk for chronic (long-lasting) disease.

Activity: What’s your portion size?

For this activity you will need a full bag of chips or box of snack crackers and two paper plates.

Any young person or instructor handling food should wash their hands prior to handling the food.

On one plate, ask a volunteer to pour out the amount of snack they think one serving would be.
Next, have him or her look at the Nutrition Facts label on the package. It tells you how many servings are in the package and what amount equals one serving size. Have the volunteer take out one serving size and put it on the other plate next to the plate with the serving size he or she thought might be one serving.
Ask the youth to compare the two, and let them share their thoughts about it.
What happens if we are always eating portions that are more than one serving and we start to think that a bigger portion of food is “normal?” Give the group time to answer. If we eat portions on a regular basis that are larger than our body requires we may gain excess weight or become unhealthy.
Give a few examples of portion distortion:
- A single serving of pretzels is 10 pieces, however many people will eat twice as many without realizing they’re eating a double portion.
- Many brand name cereals list a portion as ¾ or 1 cup. If you were to pour out ¾ cup of cereal it would look rather small, especially if you use a typical cereal bowl.

Understanding portion sizes is an important component to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Activity: Estimating Accurate Portions

Show young people the Portion Distortion Slides/Quiz-Interactive Web Application.
Ask them, what are some ways we can keep our portions within a single serving size? Possible answers might be:
- Don’t eat snacks like chips or cookies right from the bag. Instead, put one serving size on our plate, close the bag, and put it away.
- Look at the Nutrition Facts labels on foods more often so we know the actual serving size.
Review the importance of understanding what is an acceptable portion size of the food they are eating.

Serving sizes are listed on the labels of most foods, so use the Nutrition Facts label to decide the amount that is right for you. For foods that don’t have a label, common items can be your guide to help you decide the right portion.

Deck of cards = 3 ounce serving of meat/protein
Tennis ball = serving of fruit or 1/2 cup ice cream
Fist = 1 cup serving vegetables and grains
Tip of thumb = dressings, butter or cream cheese
4 dice = 1 ounce of cheese

If time permits, use the ChooseMyPlate.gov Food Gallery to come up with your own comparison of portion size to common objects.

- Vegetables
- Grains
- Protein Foods
- Fruits
- Dairy

Conclusion

Have young people write down the most surprising thing they learned about portion sizes today and post it on a visible area in the classroom or take home to post on their refrigerator.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that young people can continue discussing healthy portion sizes with their families at home.

Related Health Powered Kids Blog

Portion sizes: What amount is ‘right’?

Additional Instructor Resources:

Smart Snacking

Posted on August 11, 2012

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand how choosing healthful snacks is a habit that can benefit them every day as they grow. The youth will discuss their snacking habits and make a plan to switch out unhealthful snacks with healthful ones.

Instructor Notes

Before facilitating this lesson, you may want to review the following information about snacking. These facts can be shared with young people during your discussions.

Snacks are foods we eat between meals to satisfy hunger and supply us with consistent energy. To lots of kids and teens, a snack is a bag of chips, some cookies or other high calorie, low nutrient food. Kids are eating more snacks than ever and their calorie intake from those snacks has nearly doubled over the last 30 years. Unfortunately, the extra snacking has contributed to individuals becoming overweight in our society.
Does that mean snacking is bad for kids? Definitely not! Snacking can help them stay focused at school and while doing homework, and give them a nutritious boost for the day.
When we think of healthful snack choices we should look to the five food groups (vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein).
Healthful snacks are ones that fit into the five food groups. For example, string cheese (dairy) and carrot sticks (vegetable). Potato chips may start out as a healthful vegetable but after processing, it becomes high in calories, fat and sodium.

Activity: Snacking Habits

Ask the youth: What is a habit? A habit is something you do often or regularly, without even thinking about it.
Ask young people to name some habits and write their answers on the board. Habits might include brushing teeth, cracking knuckles, biting nails, smoking or exercise.
Ask young people to circle the habits that are good for you. Are there more unhealthful habits listed than healthful ones? Why? Possible answers might be:
- easier to do unhealthful habits
- harder to do healthful ones
- healthful ones might need reminding or support from family or friends.
Have each young person take out a piece of paper and pencil and ask them to write down up to five things that they eat on a regular basis for snacks. Give the youth time to write their answers. Invite young people to share what they wrote.
Ask the youth, why do we eat snacks? When do we eat snacks? Can the snack choices you make over and over become a habit? How do you know if your snack choice is a healthful habit for you or one that is not healthful? Give them a few minutes to brainstorm and share their answers. Explain how foods that fall into the five food groups are healthful snacks and ones that we should choose regularly over unhealthful snacks.
Ask young people to share what might be some consequences (results) of making unhealthful snack choices a habit over time. Possible answers might be:
- extra weight
- blocked arteries
- heart disease
- cancer
- being tired.
Open the Online Interactive Lesson and Activity. This helps you review the benefits of healthy snacking and gives examples of many snack foods from the five food groups. Young people can choose snacks from the food groups to build their own creative snack idea.
Have the youth to create an action plan for choosing healthful snacks instead of unhealthful snacks on the My Pledge to Eat Right and Move More worksheet.

Conclusion

Ask the young people to identify someone (friend, family member, or teacher) to help support or remind them of their action plan to change their snacking habit.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that families can work together to plan smart snacks at home.

Related Health Powered Kids Blog(s)

Healthy snacking: Moving beyond milk and cookies

Additional Instructor Resources

Are You a Smart Snacker? – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
There Are Sneaky Sugars! – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
What Kind of Sugar is in Your Food? – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
Check the Nutrition Facts Label! – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)

Create Your Own Healthful Snack

Posted on August 11, 2012

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people think of healthful snacks they can eat. In this two-day activity, youth will use their creativity to invent a healthful snack and market it to their peers.

Instructor Notes

Before facilitating this lesson, you may want to review the following information about snacks. These facts can be shared with young people during your discussions.

Kids often view snacks as a bag of chips, cookies or candy. In doing so, they are missing an opportunity to get much needed nutrients through planning ahead for a healthful snack choice.
Snacks should be part of a healthy diet that helps kids to refuel between meals and satisfy their hunger.
Their snack choices are often influenced by catchy names and marketing strategies geared toward kids.

Introduction

Display a variety of food packaging for the youth to review. Ask the kids to name some of their favorite snacks. Analyze the snacks they mention, as well as the ones on display, and decide as a group if they are healthful. Do they include the five food groups found on MyPlate? Are they high in sugar, fat or salt?

Activity: Day 1

Tell the youth that they will be inventing their own made-up healthful snack. They will have the opportunity to use their creativity to invent a made-up healthful snack on paper. This will include naming their product, what it looks like and its packaging (including a nutrition facts label). They will decide the pricing and marketing/advertising strategy for their snack. They will then give a brief presentation/commercial promoting their product idea to their classmates.

Provide the youth background knowledge on inventing a healthful snack item. Remind them to consider factors that would make the item healthful or unhealthful. Encourage young people to think about MyPlate as they create their snacks. Does it have ingredients that are part of the five food groups (vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy, and protein)? Is it low in fat and added sugars and/or too much salt?

Feel free to share the following made-up snack ideas to help jump start their imaginations.

“Merry Cherry Salsa” – Salsa made from a variety of fruits instead of vegetables.
“Popping Corn” – Popcorn coated with something healthful and not butter.
“Apriana Bars” – Bar made with apricots and bananas.
“Blick” – Fruit smoothie drink named after Blake and Nick, “You’ll never get sick with Blick,” was their slogan.

Provide each young person or group with white poster board, blank nutrition facts label, scissors, colored paper, colored markers and/or pencils for drawing.

When their created snack item is complete it should include the following:

Attractive packaging
Ingredient list
Nutrition Facts label
Price
Marketing slogan and/or advertising campaign

Activity: Day 2

Have the young people present their healthful food product to the class.

Ask the following questions:

What is the name of your product?
How would you describe it – taste, texture?
Which of the food group(s) did you use?
Why do you consider it to be a healthful snack?
Describe the packaging you created for the product.
What are highlights from the Nutrition Facts label?
How much does your product cost?
What is your marketing pitch or slogan for the product?

Optional: Post creative healthful snack displays in the classroom or school cafeteria.

Conclusion

As a group, reflect back to the creative snacks that the youth invented. Remind young people that they can be creative with their snacks each day to make healthful eating more fun!

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that families can continue discussing healthful snack ideas at home.

Related Health Powered Kids Blog(s)

Healthy snacking: Moving beyond milk and cookies

Snacking made easy!

Looking for a quick and healthy after-school snack?