Placemat Relay

Sep 28

This fun game gets kids moving and finding healthy foods.

Place Mat RelayYou need:• Lots of pictures of food• One 11-by-17 sheet of paper for each team. Draw circles representing a plate and glass on a place mat. Print the following on each:• healthful drink• healthful grain• healthful protein• healthful fruit• healthful vegetable• Slips of paper, one set for each team, with the same 5 healthful foods and some extra points, such as:• poor choice fast food• high-calorie drink• high-fat grain foodEach team gets their place mat, and an envelope containing their slips of paper.At one side of the room, give each team a table or chair to layout their place mat.At the opposite side, mix up all the food pictures on another table. Make sure you have enough to match all the slips.At the start signal, the team opens the envelope, each child pulls a slip of paper.The first child runs to the pictures, finds one to match the slip, runs back, places it on the place mat and tags the next player.Repeat until each team has found a food picture to match each spot on the place mat.If a team finishes all the healthful choices and has time for extra points, they can run for the poor choice foods, but these must be last.It’s easy for the teacher to check the accuracy by looking at each place mat.The first team to fill their place mat correctly, or has the most correct pictures after a specified time, wins.An option with this is to use pictures of foods commonly found on their school cafeteria menu.

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Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII

Judy’s passion for cooking began with helping her grandmother make raisin oatmeal for breakfast. From there, she earned her first food service job at 15, was accepted to the world-famous Culinary Institute of America at 18 (where she graduated second in her class), and went on to the Fachschule Richemont in Switzerland, where she focused on pastry arts and baking. After a decade in food service for Hyatt Hotels, Judy launched Food and Health Communications to focus on flavor and health. She graduated with Summa Cum Laude distinction from Johnson and Wales University with a BS in Culinary Arts, holds a master’s degree in Food Business from the Culinary Institute of America, two art certificates from UC Berkeley Extension, and runs a food photography & motion studio where her love is creating fun recipes and content.

Judy received The Culinary Institute of America’s Pro Chef II certification, the American Culinary Federation Bronze Medal, Gold Medal, and ACF Chef of the Year. Her enthusiasm for eating nutritiously and deliciously leads her to constantly innovate and use the latest nutritional science and Dietary Guidelines to guide her creativity, from putting new twists on fajitas to adapting Italian brownies to include ingredients like toasted nuts and cooked honey. Judy’s publishing company, Food and Health Communications, is dedicated to her vision that everyone can make food that tastes as good as it is for you.

Placemat Relay

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