Food Groups Lesson: Making Smoothies

I love events.   I'm not the biggest fan of class parties (the chips/pop/free-for-all type of parties) but oh my stars do I love an all-class event.  After the first month or two of school, once I am sure that I trust my class, and I know the dynamics of the kiddos in the room, I love planning big things.  

All class theme day around a book where we are in character?  Sure!

Set up lemonade stands around the school to practice entrepreneurship? No problem!

Drape bedsheets from the ceiling and turn the entire room into a blanket fort for buddy reading?  Done! 

Create a neighbourhood-wide scavenger hunt themed around things we have studied during the year? Yes, yes! 

In Health and Career Education we have been studying healthy eating and food groups.  As we wrapped this unit, it was time to celebrate in a fun way.  My kids have been begging for a "Mrs. P style Party", and I was happy to do it!  Together, we planned Smoothie Day, an in-class afternoon to make delicious smoothies, and celebrate healthy eating choices.  

I sent home  flyers for each parent a few days in advance.  I'm pretty fortunate that most parents in my class are able to bring something small in if we do a class event.  (Although I don't usually ask for too much throughout the year). I'm pretty specific to ask for fruit/veggies that are cut up already, because it makes the process go much quicker, and I don't have a ton of space to do a lot of chopping/peeling at the back of the room.    

On Smoothie Day, each student brought in their contributions.  I have a small bar fridge behind my desk (thanks to the hubby last year!), and I packed it full of the perishable goods.  Then we waited until the afternoon.  I quickly crammed in all of the academic subjects, so that way we could end our day with Smoothie making.  

We started the activity by brainstorming all of the food groups, and reminding ourselves why it was important to eat many different kinds of food groups.  

i.e. Why shouldn't we just have a smoothie of just strawberries and bananas?  Why is it important to also eat dairy and vegetables as well?

  (Note: this is where I really sell them on how GREAT smoothies are for eating sneaky vegetables!  So many of my kiddos are amazed about how they can't even taste the spinach/carrots/cucumber that is in their smoothie, and go right home and ask for it!)

Then comes the good part... making smoothies!  I have two blenders in the classroom, one for me, and one for my Educational Assistant.  We each took a group of three students, and guided them through creating a smoothie "recipe".  Our only instruction was that it had to have fruit, dairy, and vegetables in it.  Then they were off!  It was so great to watch them gather ingredients as they decided what they thought would taste best, and be best for their bodies.  

hile sipping their finished creations, I sent them back to their desks to write out everything that went into their smoothies.  This way, they had something to take home to their families to show how to recreate the smoothie they enjoyed in class.  (24/25 loved it, vegetables an all!)

I've gathered all of my resources Smoothie Day together, and you can grab them HERE.  The best part, it's totally free!  I hope you and your class love celebrating healthy eating as much as we did.  

Leave a comment and let me know how it goes!  Happy blending :) 

- Rachel

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