Hh - Healthy Kids
Letter: Hh
Number: 8 - Eight
Skill: Over and Under
Color: Pink (by mixing red and white)
Help your child learn about their health with this exciting packet of suggested activities. It contains instructions for hands on activities and worksheets on how to teach your child about germs and how they spread, bathing habits, hair care, dental
hygiene, food groups and the food pyramid, the importance of exercise and more. It contains reproducible patterns and worksheets, songs, fingerplays, poems and games. The packet also covers the letter H, number 8, a color and over and under activities.
Letter and Number Activities:
Using the letter H outline page, make a handprint over the outline by placing the child’s hand in poster paint and than pressing their hand on the paper. Or: fill the letter H with H items, cut out the H and glue to a piece construction paper.
Trace the child’s hand. Cut out 8 of them and glue them in a circle to make a wreath. This is real cute at Christmas time.
Count to eight, what rhymes with eight? (gate, mate, state)
Color and Skill Activities:
Use white and red poster paint, have the children mix the colors together to see what happens. Paint a picture using all three colors.
Cut out one circle of each color: red, white and pink. glue them in a line adding the words white and red make pink.
Use the over and under sheets provided to complete the over and under activity.
Have the children make up a game using over and under ideas.
Hands On Activities:
Making Surprise Soap
A great activity for the sensory table: Mix Ivory Snow Flakes with enough water to make a dough. Take a small plastic toy and form a circle, oval or square shape around it with the mix. Allow them to dry, the child can use the bar of soap to wash their
hands, eventually they will find the toy again.
Prepare a Meal
Have the child prepare a meal, put a food pyramid where they can see it for their own reference. Assist when needed but try to allow them to use their own ideas and recipes.
Make an Edible Necklace
Make a necklace from food items. You could use cheerios for a dry necklace. Or make a string of goodies, using a large needle alternate fruit and vegetable items.
Good Grooming:
Talk about good grooming habits include:
Bathing - taking a bath everyday cleans and removes germs and dirt. Be sure to use your own washcloth and towel to avoid getting or passing germs. Always use soap. Using anti bacterial soap is not a good ideas because it washes away our good germs
also.
Practice giving a doll a bath, being sure not to get soap or shampoo in it’s eyes. Be sure it gets dried also and dressed in clean clothes.
Hair Care - Hair should be washed at least once a week, sometimes more. Talk about the steps you need to take to wash your hair: comb hair out, wet hair, lather in the shampoo, rinse the shampoo, rub in the creme rinse, rinse clean, blot dry, comb. If
this being done in the summer you could do the activity in bathing suits outside. Or once again use a doll for demonstration or practice.
Have the children practice brushing each others hair.
Do a hair do day, try several hair do’s.
Teeth - Be sure to brush your teeth after every meal and before you go to bed whenever possible. Always remember to rinse your toothbrush after each use. Talk to the child about different ways of brushing their teeth.
Visit a dentist office.
Getting Dressed - Be sure to wear clean clothes every day. When you take your clothes off at night be sure to put them where mom sorts the laundry so they can be cleaned to wear again. Have the child tell you reasons it may not be good to wear dirty
clothes. Examples: spread of old germs, odor, not looking nice and clean.
Have a set of dirty clothes and a set of clean clothes on display. Have the child tell why they would or would not wear each outfit. Have the outfits as similar as possible to avoid their choices being because of the color or style. If this happens do
your best to discourage those choices.
Bedding - Talk about how nice it feels to get in a nice clean bed. Does the child think they would sleep better in a clean bed or in one with linen that has not been washed in a while, have them explain why. Have the child help wash their bed linen, talk
about the choices of placing the items in the drier or hanging them on the line to dry.
Food Groups:
Using two sheets of typing paper make a booklet by folding the sheets of paper in half and stapling the edges so they stay together. On the cover, put the child's name and date, let the children decorate the cover with pictures of healthy foods. Write
the numbers 1 through 5 vertically down the left side of each sheet of paper. During the day, each time a child consumes one of the five food group items have them put a sticker of that item next to a number until all five numbers have a sticker beside
them. Do this for several days.
Sticker ideas: cut food items out of magazines and tape or paste on, purchase food stickers, create your own stickers on your computer.
Variation: Put five food items, one representing each of the five food groups down the left side of the page and place a number or a star beside each food group when it has been consumed.
I Want to Eat This Vegetable: Have a display of assorted raw vegetables on the table. Select the vegetables one at a time and ask the children: I want to eat this vegetable _____, what do I do to prepare it? If I need to cut it, what do I use? Can I eat
all the parts? You can other questions depending on the vegetable selection you have.
Picnic Fun
Have the children sit in a circle and pretend they are going on a picnic. The first child’s says something like this “ I am going on a picnic and I am taking a carrot, go around the circle until each child has had a turn. See if all the food groups have
been met for the picnic.
Floor Food Pyramid:
Use masking tape to make a large food pyramid on the floor. Have real or pictures of food for each food group. Let the children place the food items in the proper food group.
Food Pyramid:
Use the Food Pyramid Poster, talk about the food pyramid. The food pyramid is shaped like a triangle to show which foods you need the most of. The bottom of the pyramid is the largest, you need 6-11 servings of the bread, cereal and pasta. The next group
up is the fruit group, you need 2-4 servings per day. Next is the vegetable group, you need 3-5 servings, then comes the milk group, you need 2-4 servings per day of milk, yogurt, cheese. Last, at the top is the fat group, butter, chips, chocolate, you
should have about one teaspoon per day.
Paper Plate Meals:
Provide each child with a paper plate. Have them decide what meal they want to prepare (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack) Have them look through magazines and cut out the items they need to prepare their meal, glue them to the paper plate.
Exercise:
Exercise to music. Jumping jacks, running in place, arm swirls, toe touches, etc. Create a short routine.
Go on a bike ride.
Go on a hike.
Attend a exercise class.
Play outside, make up games that involve lots of physical action.
How Germs Spread
To help children comprehend how germs spread talk about being sick. Have them raise their hand if they have ever been sick. Have them answer the following questions: have you ever went to daycare when you were sick, have you ever gotten sick at daycare?
Do you play with toys when you are sick? What kids of things do you touch when you are sick? Do you touch your brothers and sisters, the door knobs, drink from a glass, etc.?
Talk about other ways germs may be spread, sneezing, coughing, kissing, touching, sharing food and putting things in out mouths that we shouldn’t.
To do a visual demonstration on how germs are spread give each child a paper plate with a small amount of flour on it. Have them dip their hands in the flour and tell them the flour is like the germs, you can see the flour, but you cannot see germs they
are invisible. Have the children pick up a glass and put it back down, look to see what remained on the glass. Have them toss a ball back and forth, look to see what remained on the ball. Let them look closely at the items and explain that when germs are
on the items they touch, the germs attach to them and they continue spreading them to other people.
Have the children think about how we might be able to get rid of the germs. Have each child wash their hands with warm soapy water to dispose of the germs. This activity helps show the children how easy it is to get rid of germs. Have them wash their
hands while singing the ABC’s, letting them know that is how ,long it takes to get rid of the germs.
Brushing Your Teeth Chart and Washing Your Hands:
Using the Brushing Teeth and Washing Hands Charts”, follow the activity directions on the sheets.
Hand Washing Activity Lesson Plan
Understand that cleanliness is important to your health and also mean being in charge of their own bodies.
Talk about the germ spreading activity above.
Practice washing hands:
Use warm running water
Use liquid soap or pump soap
Rub hands together while you sing the ABC’s
Rinse and dry.
Wash your hands after using the potty, before and after eating or touching food, after handling animals.
Dot to Dot:
Use the Connect The Dots Tooth Care" activity sheet. Connect the dots and color the picture.
Make a Hygiene Bag:
Give each child a zip lock baggie or a cardboard crayon/pencil box. In each kit add a toothbrush, toothpaste, bar of soap, wash cloth, comb or brush.
Donate these bags to a local organization that can distrubute them to the less fortunate in your area.
Songs, Fingerplays, Games, Poems:
Song:
This is the way we brush our teeth (To the tune of Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush)
This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth.
This is the way we brush our teeth, so early in the morning.
This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth.
This is the way we brush our teeth, after we eat meals.
This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth.
This is the way we brush our teeth, before we go to bed.
Make up a similar poem for handwashing, hair brushing, bathing, etc. Children like to make up songs.
Poem:
Basic Food Groups
Here are the food groups
Dairy, bread and meat
And don't forget that vegetable
Are important for you to eat
Have a food from each food group
Each and every day
And you'll grow up strong and healthy
Good nutrition is the way.
Ode To Bacteria
Density (I am not sure the author of this poem is)
If you look really close
at your tongue or your toes
at the back of your knees
on the tip of your nose.
Do you know what you will find?
Do you have an idea in mind?
Are there monsters and goblins
and things of that kind?
Why yes! in a way
We could spend the whole day,
watching big ones, and small ones, frolic and play.
Some are hard, Some are round
Some live only in the ground.
Some are long, Some are straight,
Some might live on your gate.
So whereever you go,
you surely must know,
be there rain or shine
or tons of snow;
If you look really close
so much closer than most,
you’ll find monsters and goblins
singing as toast.
Game Idea:
Play charades, tell each child what fruit or vegetable they are and have them try to act out the vegetable or fruit so the others can guess what they are. Examples: make a circle with your arms if the item is round, stand straight if the item is tall an
thin, put your arms out if it has leaves, take a bite if you eat it raw, stir a pot if you cook it, this takes imagination and you may need to help them.
Snack Idea:
Fruit, vegetables, breads, juices.
Orange Juice Bag: Cut an orange in half and place in a zip lock baggie. Let the children squeeze it until it all juice. place a straw through the bag and drink up!
Field Trip Ideas:
Dentist, hospital, Drs. office, grocery store, farmers market or stand.
Contacts for additional Health Fun and information
Listed below are several resource places with a wide variety if health activities and information that can add many more options to this theme unit. As I cannot copy and include their info do to copyrights.
National Dairy Council - Rosemont IL 60018-5616 - Information on dairy Milk, from cow to you.
Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee - PO Box 287, Frankenmuth, MI 48734
Proctor and Gamble Cincinnati, OH 45202 - Crest provides a Dental Education School Program with free handouts.
Dole http://www.dole5aday.com - free healthy food information
National Cancer Institute - The 5 A A Day for Better Health Program they have free information handouts and information sheets, call 1-800-422-6237
United States Department of agriculture Food and Consumer Service - ask for aide #1554 or any current aides they have available.
Utah Hygiene Education Coalition, 2001 S. State S-2500, Salt Lake City, UT 84190 800-468-2700. They have lesson plans sheets on different health activities.
Healthy Child Publications - PO Box 624 Harbour Spring, MI 49740 (877) 258-6178