Live: ‘Edible Mask’

Objective: To allow children to use different types, colours, shapes, and textures of ingredients to design their own fruit masks, arousing their curiosity and interest in fruit.

Time: 30 minutes

Materials: Bread, fresh fruit (strawberries, oranges, pineapples, etc.), vegetables, dried fruit and biscuits.

Let’s GO!

1. Teacher demonstrates the way to spread ingredients on bread, with each ingredient representing one facial feature,
   
   
2. Children create their own masks. They share with one another after completion.

Children can enhance their knowledge of balanced diet by playing the balanced diet-game chess.

Learning with fun

1. Ability to identify different types of food:

   Through the activities, children know what to eat more and learn the fundamental concept about the Food Pyramid.

    

2. Early arithmetic development:

   Children learn to develop arithmetic skills through counting fruit.

    

3. Artistic creativity:

   In designing the fruit mask, children utilise their artistic potential as they need to mould different ingredients into facial features.

    

4. Better communication skills:

   Through interaction with the others in the activities, children are exposed to a wider range of vocabulary; thus, enhancing their communication skills.

Stage 3: Sharing Platform

Ms. Wong Sin Wan , Headmistress

“300 families, not only 300 children, will be benefited.”

• This is a ‘win-win-win’ situation: the children, our school and even the families are benefited. Now children understand what food to choose for a healthy diet. They can even advise their mothers to stay away from deep-fried food of high-fat content and low nutritional values.
  
  
• After knowing the importance of a balanced diet, actions should then be taken. This will benefit not only 300 children but in fact 300 families.
  
  
• The project enables children to learn through daily lives. For example: When they suffer from constipation, that’s the best time to let them know why they should eat more fruit and vegetables.
  
  
• In designing the daily menu, teachers become more careful when choosing food for the children and will put more consideration in whether or not the ingredients are nutritious. Traditional Chinese dishes are often cooked with a lot of oil; now our food preparation staff use less oil and seasonings.
  
  
• One of the children at our school used to refuse to have vegetables. However, after hearing from teachers that the lack of fibre in take causes constipation, he then went home to ask his family for more vegetables in meals. This has not only surprised his family, but also allows the family to maintain a healthier diet.

Conclusion

Information of healthy eating from the Department of Health encourages the school to design nutritious recipes for children. As a result, the school manage to pay more attention to children’s diet and create healthy dishes using ingredients of different types and colours. Therefore, both children and their families are benefited.