Live: Fruity Painting

Objective: To promote children’s interest in eating fruit.

Time: 30 minutes

Materials: Sketch paper, colouring pencils and pastel.

Let’s GO!

Children draw their favourite fruits with different colours.

Six Learning Outcomes

1. Interaction:

   We observe that the children shared their daily experience during the visit to the supermarket, such as ‘I like big watermelon instead of sour lemon’.

    

2. Understanding denomination of currency:

   Children learnt about monetary matters when buying fruit.

    

3. Language development:

   Children were made to tell others how they felt while groping for the fruits in the ‘mystery box’.

    

4. Obedience:

   Children learnt to respect each other and obey the teacher’s instructions.

    

5. A caring atmosphere:

   Children got along better with each other and thus created a caring learning environment.

    

6. Fostering a healthy lifestyle:

   Parents were encouraged to learn more about fruit with their children and to cooperate with the school to foster healthy eating habits in children.

Stage 3: Sharing Platform

Ms. Chan Yuk Shan , Headmistress

• The StartSmart@school.hk Pilot Project has brought positive messages to our children. We have included health issues in our daily curriculum, and we found the pupils more appreciative of fruit. The project is worth retaining.
  
  
• In accordance with the ‘Nutrition Guidelines for Children Aged 2-6 (For Pre-primary Institutions)’ by the Department of Health, we have designed a more balanced diet. New attempts such as cheese sandwiches, oat congee and bean congee (including haricot beans, red kidney beans, peas, red beans and mung beans) have been introduced to meet the nutritional requirements. Children were curious as they had never tried haricot beans. They even shared with their mothers such experience.
  
  
• We have fruit parties and parent-child athletic meets. We encourage families to keep their healthy habits.
  
  
• Since most kids prefer only sedentary activities or an exclusively home-bound lifestyle, parents should take them outdoors for working out.

Ms. Lee Chi San , Teacher

• I was surprised at the how unusually experienced the children were at supermarket visits. Once I picked up a loquat there; one of the children told me, ‘Miss Lee, it’s a loquat!’ They knew durians too. I was so pleased that they were much more knowledgeable than we thought. Their sharing of life experiences was very helpful to the coming teaching sessions.
  
  
• We have achieved our aims. Now children know perfectly what to eat. When I tried to reward them with sweets, they declined immediately and suggested having fruit instead. They can even tell that we should eat more fruit because of the rich nutritional value, especially the vitamin C.

Ms. Cheung Mei Ling , Teacher

• When we cut open the fruits in class, we discovered that some children were able to peel them. After the activity, they would ask their mothers to buy more fruit as they liked to peel it.
  
  
• Children ate fruit with enthusiasm during the project. They told us what kind of fruit they ate every day. Some of them thought it was a mission to eat fruit and the mission should be accomplished. They reminded their parents to prepare fruit for them.
  
  
• I was glad to see the changes in our students. They had never tried any fruit before. Then they began to try it in small pieces. Now they like eating fruit very much. Some parents witnessed these changes, which are inspiring for us.

Conclusion

The StartSmart@school.hk Pilot Project offered training workshops of different natures, which provided the school with practical guidelines. With reference to nutritional advice, breakfast, lunch and tea menus are improved. With the aid of the 'letter-to-parents’ and the ‘physical activity chart for child’, health information is delivered to families. The school hopes that the children will grow up healthily by eating more fruit and engaging in a variety of physical activities.