Make a class collage to hang in your preschool classroom as a reminder of healthy food choices. Give preschoolers a stack of magazines containing pictures of food. Choose cooking- or homemaking-themed magazines. Buy a poster-size sheet of cardstock for the activity. Give each youngster a pair of scissors and a glue stick. Help the children choose healthy, nutritious foods to cut out and glue to the poster. Talk about the benefits of healthy foods as the children cut and glue. Pre-cut the food pictures if your preschoolers are not yet proficient with scissors.
Before the painting activity, teach children about the food groups and recommended daily servings. Download a copy of the colorful poster, My Pyramid for Kids, available at the USDA website. Print the poster and display it in your preschool classroom. Show your students the six colors on the pyramid. Talk about the foods represented by the colors and the amounts of food recommended to eat each day. Draw a pyramid shape on a white, 9-by-12-inch sheet of construction paper for each child. Draw lines to divide the shape into the food pyramid sections. Give preschoolers paint in the colors used on the food pyramid. Help the children determine the correct color of paint for each section.
Make a preschool matching game from colored sheets of construction paper and plastic play food. If your classroom play-kitchen isn't already equipped with a plastic food assortment, buy a set where toys are sold. To make the game, refer to the USDA Food Pyramid for Kids, available on the USDA website. Select construction paper in colors matching the food pyramid. Lay the paper sheets in a row on a table. Place them in the order they appear on the pyramid. Put the plastic food in a basket. Let the children select pieces of play food. Ask the children to place each piece of play food on the correct paper.
Obtain a stack of grocery ads from your local market before presenting a paper plate food activity to preschoolers. Give the children dinner-size paper plates, scissors and glue sticks. Let each child look through a grocery ad to select pictures of items that make up a healthy dinner. Talk with the children about making good food choices at every meal. Instruct preschoolers to glue the selected pictures to the paper plates. Let each child show and describe his finished plate to the class.