Give each child a copy of a blank food pyramid. To make this yourself, draw a large triangle on a piece of paper. Divide the triangle into four sections by drawing three horizontal lines. The top section is for fats and sweets. Divide the second section from the top into two areas -- one for dairy products such as milk and cheese, and one for meats, eggs and fish. Divide the third section from the top into two sections -- one each for fruits and vegetables. The bottom section is for breads, pastas and cereals. Let the children draw items in each section, emphasizing the dairy section, the various types of dairy products and their benefits.
Give each child a paper that has a picture of a basket on it. Let children cut dairy products out from handouts or magazines. Beforehand, show them the different types of dairy products so they understand what they are doing. Have the children glue the dairy products onto the basket, turning their craft into a dairy product basket.
To teach children about dairy products, many preschool teachers incorporate crafts about cows. Make paper plate cows with preschool children by using paper plates, white and brown construction paper, googly eyes, brown felt, crayons, glue and scissors. Beforehand, cut out enough cow faces out of the construction paper for each child. Have the children glue a cow face onto a paper plate. Instruct them to then decorate the cow by attaching googly eyes and drawing the cow’s eyes, nose, ears and mouth.
Another fun preschool craft about dairy products is making a cow door hanger. For this craft, you will need large paper plates, dessert size plates, black and pink construction paper, pipe cleaners, markers, scissors, glue and a hole punch. Take a large and small paper plate and place them face down. Glue the small plate to the large plate about one-inch from the bottom of the large plate. Cut out black “spots” from the black construction paper and glue them on the large paper plate to form the cow’s spots. Take the pink construction paper and cut an oval for the cow’s mouth and two pieces for the cow’s ears. Glue the oval on the bottom of the small plate and glue the ears on the top corners of the small plate. Draw the cow’s eyes, nostrils and smile with a black marker on the small plate. With a hole punch, make a hole at the top of the large plate. Insert a black pipe cleaner in the hole. Twist the pipe cleaner to form a handle to use to hang on a door.