Activity Ideas: Nutrition Facts Memory and Healthful Cooking Project

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Nutrition Facts Memory:

This twist on a classic game offers a great way to help familiarize your audience with Nutrition Facts labels.

Before your session, copy a bunch of Nutrition Facts labels and cut them into uniform card shapes. You can make many copies of a single label, or choose several different products. Just make sure you have at least two of each label, so that your students can match them later.

Once you have all your copies and have cut them into uniform card shapes, highlight a different feature on matching sets of labels. For example, 2 cards might have the sodium content highlighted, while 2 others have the calories per serving highlighted. Repeat until all the cards have an aspect highlighted. Divide the sets into decks of 12 cards or so, making sure that matched sets stay together in each deck. Now you’re ready for class.

Discuss the ins and outs of reading a Nutrition Facts panel — what to look for, where to find it, and why it’s important. Once everyone is comfortable with finding and evaluating information on Nutrition Facts labels, divide them into teams and give each team a deck of cards.

Explain that the goal of the game is to match different aspects of the Nutrition Facts labels to one another. Show the class that each deck contains cards with the same information highlighted. Their job is to find those matching cards. Have each team shuffle the decks and then lay the cards into a grid. Each person gets a chance to turn 2 different cards over. If the 2 cards have the same information highlighted, they are a match and the participant can remove them from the grid. The person with the most matches at the end of the game wins.

Healthful Cooking Activity:

This activity will help your audience learn about healthful cooking substitutions.

Start with a lecture with visual aids. If people want to make what they cook healthier, where do they start? Discuss what replacements to make and why, then go into sample substitutions. For example, people can replace half the butter in a loaf of pumpkin bread with applesauce for more nutrients and fiber while reducing the levels of saturated fat.

Then have your participants submit some of their favorite recipes. In small groups, have everyone brainstorm healthful substitutions for certain ingredients. Discuss the results.