Food Guide Pyramid

I'll just be honest here and say that I am not a big fan of the food guide pyramid. I think it's kind of skewed on what we really should be eating and how much. But "the 4 food groups" is just as bad. In my opinion anyway.
However, it's a great way to help kids classify foods into groups. Grains, fruits, veggies, protein, dairy, and sugar/oils. So that is why I did it.

So don't laugh at my awesome pyramid making skills. It was my very best. :)
I made a pyramid, and googled images of food online, and printed them and cut them out. It took awhile. I started out with a printed out version of the food guide pyramid, and talking about which foods went where, how healthy they were, etc. Then I would show my kids a food item and ask which spot it went into, and they would put it there.

After the food pyramid I took the girl upstairs and had food all over my counters, from each food group.

Their job as to sort it into the proper bowl for that group. They did great!

And then we ate something from each group. Crackers for grains, carrots for veggies, bananas for fruit, a piece of lunch meat for protein, cheese for dairy, and chocolate for sugar/oils. It was a great little snack, and very fun! We talked a lot about healthy foods, and why it's important for us to pick healthy food for our bodies. We talked about how it's ok to eat candy sometimes, but not a lot because it's not good for our bodies. We also talked about moderation, and variety.