Adult Youth Workers

As you work to give young people wonderful experiences that help them learn and grow, look for opportunities to help them also make good health decisions.

Rainbow on My Plate

Here's a good way to get pre-teens thinking about the variety of fruits and vegetables they eat—or don't eat!—every week. *

Materials

  • Cheap paper plates
  • Crayons: blue/purple, red, yellow/orange, white, green
  • Pens/pencils

Instructions

  1. Discuss the "5-a-day" idea with the pre-teens you lead.
    • Five is the minimum number of servings of fruits and vegetables we should eat every day. Nine is even better because they're such great food choices!
    • Colorful fruits and veggies provide the vitamins and minerals our bodies need to be healthy.
    • We need fruits and veggies of all colors to eat a well-balanced diet. Generally, the brighter, the better!
    • Tell the kids you work with that fruits and veggies will give them strong bones and teeth, a better memory, less risk for getting many diseases, better health as they get older, stronger vision, a healthier heart and a strong immune system. They will feel great and look better.
  2. Pass out one paper plate to each participant. Put crayons and pens/pencils on the tables to share.
  3. Have the youth draw a rainbow across their paper plates. Instruct them to draw 5 arcs and color them blue/purple, green, white, red and yellow/orange.
  4. Instruct the kids to think about ALL the fruits and veggies they usually eat in ONE WEEK—a normal week, not a holiday, or while they're on vacation, or ill but a NORMAL WEEK. Using a pen, pencil or crayons, they should sketch these fruits/veggies in the color of the rainbow they represent, or write out the word. (Strawberries in the red arc, green grapes in the green arc, and so forth.)
  5. Discuss the following:
    • How many different fruits do you usually eat in a week?
    • How many different veggies?
    • What colors do you eat the most of? The least? (Remember, this is not what fruits or veggies you LIKE, but what do you usually EAT in a week!)
  6. Write down in picture or words at least one fruit or veggie to try and add to your weekly intake.

Variation for age groups

  • Younger kids can draw pictures of the fruits and veggies they LIKE and put them on the rainbow by color. Rainbows can be predrawn for the younger kids.
  • Younger kids can also draw their FAVORITE fruit or vegetable on a blank paper plate and color it. Post all of these together on the wall on a giant fruit/veggie rainbow of colors! Talk about what colors of the rainbow have a lot of favorites and what are the favorites? Which rainbow arcs don't have as many? What fruits or veggies would the participants like to try? Have a taste test at your next meeting!
  • Teens can set goals if they'd like to increase the number of servings they eat, colors they need to add to their rainbow, new fruits/veggies to try, or grocery-shopping ideas for helping the family plan ahead.

* Used with permission of Healthy Kids Challenge.