Healthy kids quest: Living well

1. Prepare a box for each group of three to five students.
2. Use shoeboxes or boxes of a similar size.
3. Fill each box with items that represent activities, products, or food that can contribute to living well, or print and cut out the illustrations below.
4. Place three or more items (or illustrations) in each box. Vary the items from one box to another, making sure that each has something from at least two of the categories listed below.
5. Choose from the following items:

• • Food (Examples: Fresh or canned fruits and vegetables, a package of whole grain pasta, a clean, rinsed yogurt or milk container, a package of whole grain crackers or cereal, canned beans, an empty egg carton)
  • Items related to exploring and enjoying food (Examples: Mixing bowls and measuring cups, garden plants or images of gardens)
  • Water (Examples: A small water bottle or a reusable water bottle)
  • Small sports items (Examples: A tennis ball, golf ball or ping-pong ball, a hockey puck, a skipping rope, a dog leash, knee pads, cycling gloves, running shoes, elbow pads)
  • Sleep-related items (Examples: A small blanket or stuffed animal, a recording of relaxing music or lullabies)
  • Items related to spending time with others (Examples: A picture of a family eating at a table, something representing a cultural celebration such as a Christmas card)
  • Mental health-related items (Examples: A yoga mat, a jigsaw puzzle, pencils and sketch pad, hiking boots, a colouring book, a novel or a storybook)
  • Body hygiene products (Examples: Soap, shampoo, hair conditioner, a washcloth)
  • Oral hygiene products (Examples: A toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss)
  • Sun protection essentials (Examples: Sunscreen, a sun hat, sunglasses, a cap with visor)

8. Ask students to help expand the concept web by providing more words or phrases that are connected with the idea of living well. They can use the items (or illustrations) from the boxes as a starting point.
   • If the word or phrase relates to food, write it on the board near the ‘enjoy food’ circle and draw a line connecting it to that circle.
     • The words or phrases relating to activities around food (e.g., cooking, gardening, a family meal and cultural celebrations) should also be written near the ‘enjoy food’ circle.
   • If the word or phrase relates to physical activity, write it on the board near the ‘be active’ circle and draw a line connecting it to that circle
   • If the word or phrase is not about food or physical activity, write it on the board near the ‘living well’ circle. Draw a circle around the new word and draw a line connecting it to the ‘living well’ circle.
     • The topics that will connect directly to living well will be: Sleep, mental health, oral hygiene, bodily hygiene, and sun protection
   • Some items may be related to more than one concept and may form a cluster concept
     • For example, enjoying a family meal is related to both enjoying food and mental health, since we are enjoying food while spending quality time with others
9. Ask students what they think living well means. Living well means feeling good and spending time learning, playing and doing the things we love. Ask the students what “living well” looks like to them. What do they like to do? Living well will look different to everyone.
10. Explain to students that, in order to live well we need to take care of ourselves by making sure we meet our bodies’ basic needs. Ask if they can list them. We need food, water, air, warmth (from clothing and shelter), sleep and space; we also need to be active and to be safe; we need to protect our mental health; we need to take care of our teeth (by brushing them every day); and we need to keep our bodies clean.
11. Introduce the Healthy kids quest. Tell students that, over the next few weeks, they will take part in an educational program that includes fun activities and is designed to encourage them to explore what they can do to take care of themselves and feel good so they can live well.

Optional activity

Mathematics

Talk to students about the concept web.

• Explain that concept webs are used for organizing information
• Explain that there are other types of graphics that they can use to display information or data
• Count the number of items connected to each concept
• Which concept is connected to the most items?
• Use pictograms or a bar graph to illustrate the content of the boxes

Curriculum links

• Science and technology: Life systems
• Social studies
• English: Writing, oral communication

Learning objectives

• Learn that pets have essential needs, just like humans
• Understand that pets need to eat food and be physically active to be healthy and happy.
• Discover the needs of animals in different classes (including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and insects)
• Learn about the responsibilities of caring for pets

Learning methods

• Creating a poster illustrating the needs of pets and how to care for them
• Making an oral presentation explaining how to care for a pet

Materials

• Photos of each student’s family and their pet
• Large sheets of coloured construction paper
• Crayons or markers
• Glue
• Scissors

Activity: Pet care poster

1. Explain to students that the purpose of this activity is to create a poster illustrating the needs of pets and how they should be looked after.
   • Once they have finished their posters, each student will give an in-class presentation on his or her pet, describing its needs and explaining how it’s cared for by different family members
   • For example: “Jello, my goldfish, lives in water that needs to be changed daily. My mom replaces some of the water in the fish bowl every day.”
2. Distribute the sheets of construction paper and other craft supplies.
   • Students can glue the photos of their family members and pets onto the paper
   • They can draw their animal’s food, water bowl, toys, cage, aquarium, litter or wood shavings, leash, brush, or any other equipment and supplies needed to care for the pet
   • They can draw a line connecting each item to the family member responsible for related tasks
   • For example, if the student walks Fido, a line would connect the leash to the photo of the student
3. Ask each student to make a presentation to the class, based on his or her poster. Students can practise at home. The complexity of the presentation will vary, depending on the grade level.
   • Ask students to introduce their pet (e.g., giving its name, age, history, preferences, and favourite activities) and then describe its needs and the care it’s given to keep it healthy
   • Does the pet need feeding, grooming, or tooth-brushing, a change of water or litter, or to be taken to the vet?
   • What are the student’s pet care responsibilities?
   • Grade 1 students can simply introduce the pet and describe some pet care tasks. Students in Grades 2 and 3 can say more about the pet’s needs and how different family members take care of it.

Optional activity

Divide the students’ pets by animal class (e.g., mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, arachnids, insects). Identify the physical characteristics each class share (e.g., mammals have fur and are warm-blooded; the females produce milk to feed the young). Create an encyclopedia of pets from each class of animals.