What Is it All About?
Students and teachers keep track of their daily vegetable and fruit consumption during the school day and compare the group’s results to that of Canada’s Food Guide.
Why Do It?
Learn how well students at your school are getting enough vegetables and fruit during the day.
How Do We Do It?
Keep an anonymous daily tally of vegetables and fruit eaten by your classmates during the school day. Participants add their information to a chart (e.g., using online docs or poster paper) at the start or end of the day by simply putting check marks beside categories, and a student leader or volunteer tallies everything at the end.
Encourage participants to refer to the serving sizes provided in Canada’s Food Guide.
Write a "V" for every vegetable or an "F" for every fruit eaten. Or use two different types of stickers, one to represent vegetables and the other for fruit.
At the end of one week (or each day), graph the daily tallies. Observe and discuss any patterns that emerge, such as: Was more fruit eaten than vegetables? Why was this?
What Else Do We Need?
- Chart paper
- Markers
- Stickers (optional)
How Do We Get Creative?
Challenge another class to eat an agreed upon number of vegetables and fruit at lunch over one week or one month.
To increase access to vegetables and fruit, provide a sharing bowl in the classroom with vegetables and fruit for students to try.
Adapted from: Action Schools! BC. (2011). Healthy Eating Action Resource.