Teacher Preparation

Note: This activity is suitable for all age groups - however, selecting this fruit please check with the children’s health forms/parents in case of any known allergies.

Content information: For this activity, you can either provide a range of different fruits (Option A) or different varieties of the same fruit (Option B).

Option A: Fruits of Winter - Enough small pieces of the following fruits for everyone to sample:

Grapefruit
Kiwifruit
Lemons
Navel oranges
Mandarins

Option B: Pairs of Pears - Enough small pieces of the following pear varieties for everyone to sample (Note: We’ve chosen pears for this activity because pears are a fruit to which very few people are allergic. In addition, these varieties are usually available in stores in August. Having just 3 or 4 varieties to sample would be fine:

Packham's Triumph
Buerre Bosc
Winter Nelis
Corella / Forelle
Josephine
Red Anjou
Bartlett

Young children are often advised to “eat a rainbow” of fresh fruit and vegetables, but at the same time, can be very picky eaters. Many children prefer fruit to vegetables. The fruits in Option 1 or 2 are all excellent choices for snack foods. With the exception of the lemon, perhaps! Children should be given the opportunity to try different types of food and to express their opinions about how a particular food tastes, and to find out whether or not they can distinguish various flavours.

About Earth Hour: Earth Hour is a WWF-Australia initiative, and is the world’s largest community-driven climate change campaign. At the centre of Earth Hour is switching off lights to show a commitment to taking action. Thousands of educators use Earth Hour’s education program to enrich their curriculum and provide pathways for young people to create change in their world.

Download the Earth Hour starter kit for your service: Earth Hour for Schools

Concepts and definitions:

Healthy food – food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals.
Flavour – the distinctive taste of a food or drink.

New words for children to learn:

Healthy
Flavour

Activity: Healthy foods

What to do - Choose either Option 1: Fruits of Winter or Option 2: Pairs of Pears (see Content Information). These instructions are appropriate for either option:

When selecting this activity (Option 1 or 2) check with the children’s health forms/parents in case of any known allergies to food, particularly fruits.

Preparation: Select a range of fruits (see Option 1 or 2) and prepare the fruits for sampling. Place the fruit on plates.

Wash your hands before handling fruit.
Wash the fruit, unless it has a peel you will be removing.
Peel the fruit if necessary.
Cut the fruit into bite-sized pieces.
You may wish to serve the fruit with toothpicks or something similar (small forks may be easier for children to manage). We recommend using washable, reusable items.
Cut the fruit right before the activity, or cover and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to start the activity.
Have different fruits on different plates, so you know what children are trying at a particular time.
Children should wash their hands right before the activity, particularly if they are handling the fruit with their hands and not with a fork / toothpick.
Ensure you have enough for everyone to try.

Begin the activity by asking children to sit where they usually sit to consume food.

Explain to children that everyone will have the chance to try some fruit. They don’t have to try anything they don’t want to eat, but they are encouraged to try. They might have tried one of the fruits before, but this time you will be asking them special questions, so please do encourage them to try the foods.

Arrange the fruits in the order you would like children to try them; you may want to have other adults hand out the fruit in order.

Have all children try one fruit at a time. Ask children questions relevant to that fruit. For example:

Does it taste sweet? Sour? Salty?
Have you tasted it before?
Can you tell the difference between this fruit and other fruit you have just tried?
Would you like to eat a whole one of these fruits?

When they have tried one of the fruits, you might like to show them what the whole fruit looks like.

Are they surprised by what the fruit looks like?

Talk to children about the importance of trying different types of fruits, vegetables and other foods. There are many different varieties of the same fruit, and sometimes you might like one and not the other. And sometimes your tastes change! So if you tried something before and didn’t like it, it’s always a good idea to try it again. Food can be surprising that way!

Provocations:

I wonder why most fruit is sweet.
I wonder why the inside of this fruit is different to the outside of the fruit.
I wonder about the seeds of this fruit.
I wonder why this fruit is popular.
I wonder how other people use this fruit (in the case of lemons – we don’t usually eat them fresh or mixed with other things).
I wonder why people have different tastes.
I wonder how many different types of fruit and vegetable there are in the whole world.
I wonder why fruits become ripe / good to eat at different times of the year.
I wonder how many servings of fruit I should eat to be healthy.

Possible lines of development:

More about eating healthy fresh foods.
Where does fruit comes from and how it is grown? What about vegetables? Use Google Images to search how fruits and vegetables are grown.
How are fruits used to make other things? For example, jams, pies, juice etc.
What is the strangest food you have ever eaten? Did you like it?
How do the seasons affect how food is grown?
How is food stored and transported?

Evaluation

Complete an analysis of learning, listing evidence about:

Belonging	Finding something of interest
Communication	Expressing an idea or feeling
Exploration	Engaging with challenges and persisting when difficulties arise
Well being	Being involved

Embedding into daily practice

Eat seasonal and local food.
Fruit comes in its own biodegradable (and sometimes edible) packaging!
If you bring food to your site, only bring what you need, and try to eat it that day. No more squashed bananas and dented apples at the bottom of your bag!

Earth Hour - Fresh is Best

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