Kindergarten-aged kids may clamor for soda instead of milk or water, but this chemical-filled drink is far from healthy. Help to teach your students about the negative effects of soda with a simple egg experiment. Fill one cup half way with a dark soda, a second with milk and a third with water. Place one hard-boiled egg into each cup and let them sit overnight. Ask the kids to predict what will happen to the eggs. Take the eggs out the next day and have the children make observations. They will see that the milk and water eggs remain white, while the soda egg is stained brown. Discuss how this is comparable to what the unhealthy soda can do to the kids' teeth if they drink it every day.
Sometimes the serving size can turn an almost-healthy food choice into a completely unhealthy item. Help your kindergartners understand that jumbo-sizing foods adds fat, calories and weight to their bodies with a simple measuring project. Choose a food such as chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese, putting one recommended serving on a paper plate and a megaportion on another. Use a balance scale to have the kindergarten students compare the two weights and see the difference between what they should eat and what they might want to eat.
Mold may seem "yucky" or "gross" to your kindergarten students, but it's a natural organism that grows on foods that aren't packed with chemical ingredients such as preservatives. Help your students to see the difference between a healthy, natural food -- such as fruit -- and a chemical-packed "treat." Gather together a few different food items that are healthy -- such as apples and wheat bread -- and unhealthy -- such as gummy bears. Ask the children to predict whether or not each food will grow mold. Place each food in a clear plastic zipper bag, leaving it on an open classroom shelf. Observe each food every day to see if mold is growing. After mold starts to grow, have the kids note which foods are fungi-covered and which ones aren't. Ask them to explain why there is a difference.
Although potato chips may seem like the perfect snack in the average kindergartner's mind, children need to learn that most of these "treats" are grease-filled and fattening. It's unlikely that your young students will fully understand the product label on the back of a bag of chips. Instead of simply telling them that chips are unhealthy, show them through a grease-comparison experiment. Place a few regular full-fat potato chips on a clean napkin or white tissue paper, allowing the kids to feel the food and make comments on its texture. Add another napkin or tissue layer on top and press it firmly down on the chips. Let the chip and paper-product pile sit under your hand for at least one minute. Peel the napkin or paper off and let the children observe what happened. Ask them where they think the wet, greasy stains came from. Try this again with a baked chip to make a more healthy comparison.