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Food and Nutrition Resources for Elementary Educators

Educators play an important role in encouraging students to develop a lifelong healthy relationship with food by teaching nutrition in a positive way. Building food skills and familiarity with a variety of foods is one of the best ways that nutrition education can support students to feel positive about eating and learn to enjoy nutritious foods, over time and at their own pace.

Educators should follow the principle “first, do no harm” and ensure that the learning environment is always physically and emotionally safe. Create an atmosphere in which students of all body shapes and sizes, abilities, and backgrounds feel accepted, comfortable, and free from harassment. Be aware of issues such as food insecurity and poverty, food allergies and sensitivities, eating disorders and weight preoccupation and social and cultural practices in order to ensure sensitivity to the topics presented. (The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8: Health and Physical Education, 2019 - revised (gov.on.ca)

OPHEA: Health &Physical Education Curriculum Resources – for Grades 1 to 8.
BrightBites – grade specific lesson plans for Kindergarten to Grade 8.
Food is Science – experiential, evidence-based resources to help educators understand and teach new food literacy learning in Ontario’s Science and Technology Curriculum, for grades 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Allergy Awareness Challenge with Food Allergy Canada – resources, activities, worksheets and lesson plans to raise awareness about food allergies, for Kindergarten to Grade 8.
Freggie TM In-School Program – encourages consumption of fruit and vegetables for Grades 1 to 6.
Food Share – Teaching Teachers about Good Food - food skills lesson plans and activities for JK – Grade 12.
Mystery Food – a cross-curricular lesson plan for primary grades for teaching nutrition and building food literacy.

TVO Kids - TVO’s Ontario certified teachers have developed an overview of the curriculum from Kindergarten to grade 8, as well as engaging videos, articles, podcasts, games and activities to support learning.
Let’s Meet the Garden Scavenger Hunt – interactive activity for JK/SK students to find items in the garden and in the schoolyard.
Healthy Eating Education Activities (PHE Learning Centre) – healthy eating education activities for kindergarten to grade 12 at home or at school.

Food Guide Digital Scavenger Hunt - interactive activity that provides nutrition education for grades 6-8.
Fight Bac! Partnership for Food Safety Education – Information to support education regarding good personal hygiene and safe food handling.
In Our Own Words. Bringing Authentic First Peoples Content to the K-3 Classroom - teacher resource guide with information and guidance about how to incorporate authentic First Peoples materials into instruction and assessment practices – includes lesson plans, curriculum connections, assessment resources, etc.
AgScape – resources to support curriculum with agri-food concepts for Grade 7-12 from Ontario Agri-Food Education.

You're the Chef (YTC) - A cooking program designed to help youth develop the skills and confidence necessary to prepare healthy and tasty recipes.

OPHEA Food Literacy Conversation Starters: Videos and Discussion Guides (Grades 1 to 3 and 4 to 6).
BrightBites – a comprehensive program to help create a healthy school nutrition environment, one bite at a time.
20 Great Food Books for Your Classroom - Dietitians 4 Teachers.
Mindfulness and Mindful eating in the classroom.
School Food and Beverage Policy – Ministry of Education.
Unlockfood.ca –a searchable site of nutrition topics including types of foods, eating patterns and behaviours, chronic disease prevention, food preparation and planning. There is also a section dedicated to School Health.
Health Canada:
- Canada’s Food Guide (CFG) – tips, toolkits and ready-to-use presentations.
- Nutrition Labelling – an interactive tool to educate consumers about nutrition facts tables, % daily value, ingredient lists and nutrition claims.
The Good Food Machine – information about how to access a Good Food Machine for your school or classroom.
Sustain Ontario Edible Education Network – resources and information to make it easier for people across Ontario to get children and youth eating, growing, cooking, celebrating, and learning about healthy, local and sustainably produced food.
Garden, Grow, and Learn resource (PDF) – tips, benefits and curriculum links to keep safe and healthy when gardening at school.

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