Teach your students how to grow up strong and healthy with activities focusing on nutrition and fitness. Talk to students about healthy foods that help the body grow. Bring in examples of healthy foods for snack time, such as whole grain crackers, low fat cheese, strawberries and carrot sticks. Ask a student to share some of her favorite healthy foods, and talk about foods that are not as good for growing bodies, such as soft drinks and sweets. Talk to the class about how exercise keeps bones and muscles strong and helps growth. Engage in fun activities like jumping rope, jogging or jumping jacks to get exercise.
Document your students' growth throughout the school year. Tape a large piece of paper onto the wall in your classroom. Write each students' name across the top of the paper, and ask students to stand below their name. Use a marker to mark each students' height on the paper, and write the date. Measure students regularly and chart the growth. Alternatively, use a tape measure students. Bring in a bathroom scale so that students can check weight as well.
Show students how plants grow by planting a class garden. The garden can consist of a space out in the playground, pots on the windowsill or plants growing inside the classroom. Plant anything, from vegetables to flowers. Let students help you dig in the dirt and plant the seeds. Explain to students that plants need water and sunlight to grow. Encourage students to water plants regularly and observe the plants carefully to see the growth. Let students take turns measuring plants, and document the growth through weekly photographs.
Use a sorting activity to help students differentiate between living things that grow and non-living things that do not. Draw or cut out pictures from magazines of things that grow, like plants, trees, fruits and vegetables, animals and people. Also collect pictures of items that do not grow, such as desks and chairs, books, dishes or shoes. Glue the pictures onto plain index cards and laminate. Shuffle the cards ask students to sort sort the cards into two piles: Things that grow and things that do not grow.