Youth Programs

Teen Cuisine

Teens learn important life skills for optimal health, such as creating a balanced meal based on MyPlate, preparing recipes, handling food/knives safely, and making food and beverage choices by reading nutrition facts labels. Teen participants prepare and taste a healthy recipe at each lesson. This 6-lesson series is available in English or Spanish and is offered in group settings at various community sites.

Around the Table

Teens enjoy hands-on cooking, conversation, and interactive activities that support healthy connections to food, self, and community. This trauma-informed curriculum helps teens learn mindfulness skills and practice mindful eating tips. Participants improve cooking and food resource management skills by preparing a healthy recipe together at each lesson. This 6- lesson series is available in English or Spanish and is offered in group settings at various community sites.

Small Bites

Middle school youth learn about nutrition and healthy eating through hands-on nutrition activities and knife-free cooking. In every lesson, students prepare a healthy snack using recipes that meet the USDA Guidelines and learn about nutrition concepts and food prep skills. This 6-8 lesson series can be offered in-school or afterschool.

Show Me Nutrition

Students in grades 1, 2, and 5 learn more about the MyPlate food graphic and how to eat a variety of food from the 5 food groups each day. Through age- appropriate interactive activities and games, kids learn about nutrients their body needs to stay healthy and the best ways to ensure their bodies get those healthy nutrients through foods. Students also learn about the importance of staying physically active. Kids have an opportunity to try new foods at each lesson, such as fruit & veggie taste tests and easy, healthy snacks they can make with their families at home. These 5-8 lesson series are offered during the school day.

Serving Up MyPlate

Third grade students learn the importance of eating from all 5 food groups using the MyPlate icon and a variety of hands- on activities. Serving Up MyPlate complements what third graders are already learning in science, math, English language arts, and health through activities such as “Measuring Up MyPlate” where students learn how much from each food group is recommended and “The Science of ‘Sometimes’ Foods” where kids discover the amount of sugar in common beverages. Students also learn the importance of physical activity to staying healthy. This series of 5 lessons is offered in classrooms during the school day.

Food Day

Fourth graders learn how to “Eat Real” by eating more fresh food and limiting highly processed foods in their day-to-day food choices. Students learn what processing is and how it can change foods in both positive and negative ways. Students investigate where foods come from by identifying plant parts (stem, root, seed, etc.) and knowing which foods we eat everyday are made from these plants. Kids think about their community’s “food environment” (where they get their food), whether it be school, grocery stores, restaurants, farmers markets, etc. At each lesson, students try a healthy food sample corresponding to the lesson. This 5-lesson series is offered in classrooms during the school day.

Choose Health, Fun, Food, and Fitness

Kids learn about healthy eating and active play! Youth grades 3-5 participate in interactive activities and active games to help them learn about eating more vegetables and fruits, replacing sweetened drinks with water and low-fat milk, eating more whole grains, and playing actively every day. Kids try a healthy food sample at each lesson. This 6-8 lesson series is offered as an afterschool or summer program.

Color Me Healthy

Preschoolers get excited about eating smart and moving more! Kids learn about healthy fruits and vegetables through games, songs, books, and hands-on activities. At each lesson, children taste fruits and vegetables corresponding to a specific color (e.g. red fruits) to try a rainbow of fruits and vegetables by the end of the series. Color Me Healthy gives preschoolers the opportunity to try fruits and vegetables they have never tried before. 

Read for Health

Kids in grades K-2 engage in nutrition lessons featuring children’s books about healthy eating or physical activity. Read-aloud activities are shown to improve motivation, engagement, and comprehension in children. Read for Health increases children’s exposure to fruits, vegetables, and whole grains through activities and food tastings. 

FoodWIse Contact

 

Jill Herz
FoodWIse Administrator
jill.herz@wisc.edu
(262) 548-7877

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