Regular Meal Time
StartSmart Pilot School : Mink International Pre-School
《Be a Smart Journalist》
Discover the secret keys to health
Stage 1: Introduction
A regular diet of the right portion is vital to our health. Breakfast is the most important of the three daily meals as proper meal in the morning provides energy to refresh children’s mind after a long night of starving during sleep.
Based on the information provided by the StartSmart@school.hk Pilot Project, the school designed various activities to reinforce children’s basic knowledge about diet, in particular regular meal time.
Some creative games were provided for children. The school asked the children to act as reporters and interview each other on their eating habits. Teachers also staged drama shows using puppets and toy clocks to deliver health messages. During teatime, children became little cooks and created refreshments with fruits. These activities successfully broadened pupils’ knowledge of regular diet.
Realising the importance of whole-person development, the school organised an athletic meet for parents and children. It facilitated parent-child interaction, and promoted to families the importance of physical activities.
Stage 2: Start Smart!
Live: Be a Smart Reporter
Objective: To help children understand that breakfast, lunch and dinner are essential; to teach them the fundamentals of diet.
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: Questionnaires, and copies of the ‘I Can Make It’ pledge.
Let’s GO!
- Boost the learning motive: The teacher first interviews children about their eating habits.
- Children take up the role of reporters, and then conduct interviews in pairs.
- Teacher explains the importance of the three meals.
- Then the teacher lists the rules for children to follow, such as: sit calmly when eating; eat less snacks; eat regularly in the right portions; and eat more vegetables and less meat.
- Post the ‘I Can Make It’ pledge in the classroom as a reminder for the children.
Live: Be a Little Cook
Objective: To help children understand the importance of breakfast; to encourage the children to foster such a habit and eat only healthy snacks between meals if necessary.
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: Apples, carrots, bananas, grapes; disposable knifes and meal record sheets.
Let’s GO!
- Boost the learning motive: The teacher shows the meal record sheet and asks the children: What are the necessary meals in a day?
- The teacher asks the children again: What should you do if you are hungry between meals? Tell them to take snack once only between main meals and that the snacks should be low fat, low sugar, low salt, high in dietary fibres, rich in nutrients, natural and barely processed.
- Children make their own healthy snacks (like fruit skewers).
- They eat the fruit skewers between breakfast and lunch.
- Extended activity: Ask the ‘reporters’ to give the record sheets to their interviewees, who will complete them at home. The record sheets will be reviewed one week later.
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