Health science lesson plans: Nutrition chemistry and recipes to fight obesity

Childhood obesity is a dangerous health issue that affects more kids annually. What can we as parents and teachers do about it? Weight loss under age 13 is tricky because preteens are still growing. Better to teach good nutrition in health and science lesson plans. Here are healthy food swaps for favorites kid foods and ways to teach nutrition in the classroom. 

* Salt: Teach properties of salt in kitchen chemistry lesson plans. Teach children to read labels and seek out low-sodium varieties of favorite snacks. Put out healthy snacks and let kids make trail mix in snack size bags to control portions. Make low salt popcorn in class. For fun nutrition lesson plans, instruct kids to research salt substitutes--lemon juice, vinegar and herbs.

* Soda pop. Have students study nutrition labels to discover how much sugar pop contains. In chemistry
science lesson plans, demonstrate how sugar dehydrates, and how the acid in pop burns grime off a penny and in the same way burns stomach lining and tooth enamel. Help students create healthy carbonated drink recipes with 100 percent fruit juice and soda water. Demonstrate the importance of plain water in curbing obesity and overall health. 

* Pizza: Kids love pizza and there are a million great ways it can be used in lesson plans. Let students make clock faces with vegetables and cheese on personal crusts. Experiment with creative pizza recipes using healthy toppings and creative crust food swaps. Made right, pizza can actually fight childhood obesity. 

* Veggies and dip: Kids love vegetables in ranch dip so let them invent healthy dip and dressing recipes. Use food swaps of yogurt, garlic, pepper and a little Parmesan cheese. Teach colors and patterns with cut vegetables. Help them to explore texture and taste and then write descriptively. 

* Spreads and condiments: This is a great place to learn measurement and portion size. Let kids practice measuring serving sizes of ketchup, jam for PBJ, butter, mayo, etc. Explore calories and teach math by counting and adding calories in math lesson plans. 

* Breads: Help kids explore healthy vs. unhealthy ingredients in breads. Bring in your bread machine and use it to teach cooking, nutrition and kitchen chemistry lesson plans. Help kids invent and write nutritious bread recipes using different grains, nuts, seeds and dried fruits. 

No nutrition lesson plans are complete without the fitness component. Get kids away from screens and outside playing. Active children will not need to worry about weight loss and obesity. 

Back to School DIY Science Nature Detective Kit

Back to School Science Kickoff Activities: DIY Nature Detective Kit Welcome kids back to school with science exploration kick off activities. Make easy inexpensive individual nature detective kits. 

Looking for summer camp kids' activities? Here's a nature science lesson plan. Make nature detective kits to explore wildlife science concepts. Use this activity to welcome kids back to school. Kids will love playing nature CSI! Homeschooling parents will love this inexpensive, hands-on science lesson.

You will need one of each of these items per student:

--large gallon size zipper bag or cheap carry-all bag to store supplies

--plastic magnifying glass (available in bulk at Great Party, Party America or Oriental Trading)

--cheap one-subject notebook

--pocket folder ($.05 -$.15 each from Walmart, Staples, Target)

--plastic disposable gloves (choose latex free; give each student one pair)

--tweezers or cotton swabs (both would be useful, but use cotton swabs to save money)

--3 or 4 specimen bags (snack size Zip-Loc)

--3-4 larger specimen bags (sandwich size Zip-loc)

--sheet of label stickers

--pen and pencil

-- roll of invisible Scotch tape

--several pieces of yarn or string

--box of crayons ($.25 at back-to-school sales)

--measuring tape (here's a free printable measuring tape)

How to Use Nature Detective Kits:

Make kit assembly part of the lesson. Set out supplies in stations and give students gallon zipper bag and supplies list. This provides experience in counting, sorting and organizing.

Using stickers, kids label notebook: Investigator (name)____________ or Detective (name)____________. Label bags: Exhibit A, B, C or Evidence. As evidence is collected, data and date should be added. For example: 'beetle exoskeleton 9-3-2015.

Go on nature investigation hunts around your neighborhood, school playground or camp. Assign students different items to investigate, native to your area. Students should not keep living specimens, but they might bring a bug box to temporarily house and examine a living critter. Look for evidence of living creatures: bug carcasses, exoskeletons, fallen leaves, feathers, owl pellets, seed pods, rocks, fallen nest, bits of animal fur, bark samples, plants, flowers and rocks.

Have students draw living creatures, homes and habitats: spider's web, bird's nest, wasp's nest, rabbit hole, ant hill, scat (animal droppings). Students should record when and where they observed it. Students shouldn't touch but may observe scat(animal droppings) or dead animal remains.

In class, have children discuss and hypothesize on findings at their level of reasoning. Students might create a natural history museum displaying what they have found. Students can act as young docent guides, explaining discoveries to visitors. This makes a superb activity for parent-teacher conferences, which come early in the year before teachers have had time to collect much student work. It's ideal for summer camp, too. 

Free Printable Dr Seuss Recipes

Free Printable Dr Seuss Recipes Oobleck, Pink Yink Ink Drink. Dr. Seuss celebrates his birthday on March 2. We celebrate Dr. Seuss legacy of literature. Dr. Seuss's charming fable Bartholomew and the Oobleck is pure Seuss fun. Here are recipes to make oobleck with your children, homeschool or students.Dr Seuss recipes. For Pink Yink Ink Drink recipes, visit this blog. For more fun kids foods and recipes visit me at Great Food 4U (blogspot). For more kitchen science recipes, come see me at Kaboom! Fizzle! Pop! (blogspot)

Play Dough, Oobleck, Moon Sand, Lint Dough, Silly Putty recipes

March is National Reading Month. For hands-on reading lesson plans, how about homemade science recipes and kitchen chemistry experiments? Here are recipes for silly putty, noise or farting putty, Flubber, play dough, melting goop, Oobleck, Moon Sand, lint dough, modeling clay, paper mache, and soap dough.

Noise Putty, Farting putty or Flubber: Silly putty is called farting putty, because it sounds like passing gas when squished. This simple recipe has wowed generations of students in three decades of teaching. Mix blue liquid laundry starch and white school glue. Laundry starch is found in laundry section. Sta-Flo is the most common brand. Blend in cup or zippered bag with fingers. Mix till sticky glue is blended in and putty is slippery and rubbery.

Magic Melting Putty or Oobleck. This simple recipe defys the laws of matter. Mix a little water in corn starch. It hardens to a solid then "melts" when you touch it. Put melting putty in the preschool sand and water table. Or fill a child's pool with cornstarch and water for hours of messy fun. Great preschool birthday party activity!

Moldable Moon Sand. This dough recipe teaches ratios. The ratio is 2 to 1 to .5. Mix 2 cups of commercial play sand, 1 cup corn starch to one half cup of cold water (color water with food coloring if desired). Dissolve corn starch in cold water (cold doesn't clump, but you can let kids experiment with warm to discover that for themselves). The blend sand and corn starch together. Make a large batch for classroom sand table.

Perfect Play Dough: Blend 1 cup salt, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup boiling water, 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar or alum, food coloring, cooking oil (about 2 T.) Dough too sticky? Add flour. Too dry? Add water or oil.

Soap Dough: Mix 1 cup powdered laundry detergent, an eighth of a cup of water and food coloring. Mold or sculpt as you would with play-dough. Store in refrigerator.

Paper mache. Tear any recycled scrap paper in pieces. Soak in hot water till pulpy. Add a dribble of white school glue. Blend till smooth. When cool, spread over boxes and containers to form shapes. Great eco-friendly craft.

Dryer Lint Dough. Teach ratios 1.5:1:.3. Mix 1.5 cups pressed dryer lint with one cup cold water and one third cup of flour. Add a drop of oil to prevent mold. Dissolve flour in cold water and blend to get rid of lumps. Carefully add lint and stir constantly until mixture forms stiff peaks. Mold like paper mache.

Free Printable Cinco de Mayo Activities-Coloring, crafts, games

Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May. But it isn't Mexican Independence Day nor the equivalent of the U.S. Fourth of July. Cinco de Mayo is the day Mexicans remember El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (Battle of Puebla). Cinco de Mayo is mostly an Americanized Latino holiday. But also a great day to explore Mexican culture. Here are free printable Cinco de Mayo lesson plans, worksheets and games.

Mr Donn has free printable Cinco de Mayo activities, games, coloring pages, Powerpoint presentations, social studies worksheets, history lesson plans and culture study activities.

Easy Fun School offers printable Cinco de Mayo recipes, crafts, a pinata making how-to and several history and geography lesson plans. Lesson Plans offers links to Cinco de Mayo printables.

A-Z Teacher Stuff has free printable Cinco de Mayo unit and lesson planner kit with materials, worksheets, games, crafts, recipes, movies and activities.

Enchanted Learning has free printable Cinco de Mayo worksheets, mini-booklets, history and social studies lesson plans. Print a map of Mexico, Mexican flag, info on the Battle of Puebla, Mexican leaders, posters, history, images and recipes. Print a nice poster featuring Cesar Chavez and other Mexican labor activists, political figures, scientists, artists, musicians and more.

The Teachers Corner has free printable Cinco de Mayo crafts, counting lessons, words in Spanish, cultural heritage activities and more. Lesson Planet has free printable lesson plans on Cinco de Mayo to sample.

For preschool and younger kids, visit DL-TK for free Cinco de Mayo coloring pages, crafts, games, puzzles and recipes. Kids Soup offers free Cinco de Mayo printables to sample.

Apples 4 the Teacher offers free printable Cinco de Mayo lessons, maps, history projects, puzzles, games, music, crafts, recipes and more. There are ideas for several ages groups. ELCivics has printable Cinco de Mayo lessons for older students

Healthy School Lunches, Snacks, Treats

Healthy Foods for Kids Nutrition and food is the core of learning. Here's a perfect food and snack guide for students in your classroom. Print out this healthy guide for parents. Nutritious snacks, party food, lunch foods. This is not a list of 'healthy' snacks based on advertising and marketing, but real healthy foods researched by a conscientious mom and teacher. Feed your kids great foods that will give them all they need for busy days! 

Apple and Eve juice boxes-100% fruit and vegetable juice, 100% vitamin C, 30% Vitamin A, no high fructose corn syrup, no additives. 

Peppridge Farm goldfish crackers- no transfat, MSG, hydrogenated fats, made with unbleached flour.

rice cakes: low sodium, no transfat.

Aldi fruit leather; organic, full of vitamins, no sulfites.

Spaghettios: low fat, full serving of vegetables

vegetable egg rolls: lowfat, high protein, full serving of vegetables. Look for MSG (monosodium glutamate) free egg rolls.

Healthy Choice and Annie's soups chicken and vegetarian varieties: no MSG, full serving of vegetables, high in protein, low in fat. Avoid varieties with ham, bacon or sausage as these are cured with nitrites.

tuna packets: low fat, no transfats, rich in Omega-3 oils

bagels: lowfat and high protein and fiber. Look for varieties which do not contain high fructose corn syrup or bleached flour.

Hormel Natural Choice lunchmeats and cold cuts: naturally cured, nitrate and nitrite free.

baby carrots, cucumber slices, green pepper slices, broccoli florets, fresh pea pods, cauliflower florets:

Mann's pre-cut vegetable blend</b></i>

Newman's Own Salad Dressing: no transfat. use for vegetable dip and salad dressing. Made with olive oil.

pretzels: fat free. Look for oat bran varieties. good source of fiber

Lay's Baked Chips and baked tortilla chips: no transfats, hydrogenated fat, baked with sunflower oil.

Newman's Own salsa: no fat or high fructose corn syrup. Perfect dip for chips, pretzels, rice cakes and 

raisins and any dried fruits

Jif Natural peanut butter: no hydrogenated fat or high fructose corn syrup

Chex, Life, Cheerios, Kashi cereals: Dry cereal with almonds and raisins makes a delicious healthy DIY trail mix.

Kraft cheese sticks with no added growth hormones

Kraft cheese singles with no added growth hormones

Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies: all natural ingredients

popcorn with sea salt

Terra sweet potato chips: vitamin A, beta-carotene, no transfat

Silk protein milk drink boxes

Mott's Healthy Harvest applesauce pouches or cups (no added sugar)

hardboiled eggs (keep cold with ice pack in lunch bag)

shelled almonds

Luna Bars organic, made with evaporated cane juice, soy isolate protein. Chocolate Raspberry is my favorite

Clif Bars: made by same company as Luna.

Garden of Eatin' organic Red Hot Blues nacho chips

Give your children the best brain fuel available for their busy days with these healthy brown bag lunch foods. And remember to pack lunches in an insulated lunch container.