Presentation Ideas: Free Radical Bulletin Board and Nutrition Games for Kids

Free Radical DisplayDottie Stambaugh, RD, set up a gorgeous free radical display for her latest presentation, and she even sent along instructions for how you can make your own.Dottie began by enlarging our Free Radical poster to a 27x16, then she tacked it onto a bulletin board. From there, Dottie added a few free radical magazine articles and a copy of the Color Your Diet: Stave Off Aging handout. That handout’s lists of various food color groups and its guide to what to eat from each color in terms of which antioxidants are present was a perfect way to highlight how a balanced diet can combat free radicals. The final element of the bulletin board was a poster that Dottie made herself. It illustrated the way that oxygen-free radicals disrupt cellular metabolism, proposing that they are the root cause of chronic disease.So, that was the bulletin board.Below the bulletin board, Dottie arranged a basket of foods in various colors in order to drive home the point that colorful foods contain antioxidants that destroy free radicals.But wait -- there’s more!There were also two cans in the display. An old, rusty can illustrated what happens to the body when free radicals run wild, while a clean, shiny can highlighted the way antioxidants can rid the body of free radicals. Dottie asserts, “The two cans really got their attention.”You can download the Free Radicals poster here!Duck, Duck, Food!Sometimes it can be daunting to make principles of healthful eating approachable for children. We like to use games to make things fun.This game works like duck, duck, goose, only instead of saying “duck,” a child will list a healthful food. When s/he get to a child that s/he would otherwise tag with “goose,” the tagger yells the name of an unhealthful food, and the game proceeds as a regular duck duck goose game from there.The teacher should highlight that most of the food (ducks) should be healthful, with only occasional unhealthful foods (goose). When the unhealthful foods are eaten, there should be more physical activity in that day.