Show children the chart of the food pyramid and ask them the shape of it. Ask them to see the largest part of the pyramid at the bottom. Ask children if they eat grass. Do they eat pasta?
SEEDS FEED THE WORLD.
Hold the ear of corn up and ask them what part of the plant it is; root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit, or seed?
Teach them the song (with rhythm and movements) about the six parts of a plant.
Tell a story about corn. When we pick corn fresh from the plant it is young and tender and delicious, but if we let it stay on the plant it becomes hard and matures into seeds. We can take a seed that looks very dead and plant it in the ground and if the seeds needs are met, it will grow a new corn plant! We can pop the seeds into popcorn, grind them up into grits, or cornmeal to make hushpuppies, muffins or cornbread or grind them fine to make cornflower for tortillas. Let children see a sample of bread and notice that it has holes in it from a gas that forms and makes the bread rise when it is baked They can eat it too!). All kids love bread. You know they say bread is the staff of life.
Pretend to make cornbread and put some cornflower in a bowl, add egg, some milk and a secret ingredient that makes air and the batter rises when it is baked. Show them what happens by doing the experiment creating a gas (Co2) from a solid (baking soda) and a liquid (vinegar). Pour some vinegar in a clear soda bottle. Fill the balloon with some baking soda using a funnel. Show children the funnel and tell them it is used to make a little mouth into a big mouth. Attach the rim of a balloon to the bottle and lift it to let the soda fall making a gas that blows up the balloon.
Materials: Chart of the Food Pyramid, ear of corn, samples of grains (from feed store wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice, corn) Samples of things we make from grains (cereal, popcorn, grits, cornmeal, cornflower, bread, and cookies.) 1 soda bottle, baking powder, funnel, vinegar, and balloon.
Activities: Examine grains from grasses. We make flour, bread, pasta, and cereals from them. Do rhythm exercise and teach the song about plant parts. Give each child a slice of bread to examine the holes in it. Then do the experiment making the reaction of vinegar and soda blow up the balloon. This is what happens when we bake bread, filling it with holes from the air created. Children can plant seeds of grains and with care, see them grow!