(Also see: Exercise, Health, Word of Wisdom)
 

Click here for copy of lesson from Manual
 

Just thought I'd take a moment to tell you all about our activity this week. We (the beehive class) decided to do "The Word of Wisdom and Smoothies" - we always hear about what "not to do" - so this time we decided to talk about the "do's".  We had 4 different types of smoothies (recipes came from the internet), veggie tray and wraps. While the girls munched on the "healthy" stuff we talked about how the word of wisdom came about, how it was "ahead of its time" - how people are just now catching up to what's good for them, etc... We talked about our health and why it is important to stay healthy, etc.. We did touch on the "do not's" - but our focus of the night was more of what should we do. It was so much fun trying the different smoothies and just talking about all the fun things you can do to take care of our bodies while we have them! (Aislinn Barnes)
Paper Plate Meals - Using old magazines, cut out ads for healthy and unhealthy foods.  Glue the ads onto one of two paper plates (healthy and unhealthy) to make it look like a dish of food.  Talk about why it really does matter what you eat.  Having energy to accomplish our daily tasks is a huge blessing where junk food makes us feel tired and weak.  We'd rather sit around and "relax".  Use your paper plates as part of your centerpiece.
You could have them sample healthy snacks like: carrot rounds, zucchini spears, apple wedges, cubes of cheese, popcorn, or celery stuffed with peanut butter.



It's in the bag - Before church, collect six or seven healthy food items to put into a gift bag.  As class begins, ask each girl to come forward and to "feel" what is in your gift bag...no peeking!  Instruct the girls that they are not to say anything, rather, they can write their answers down and see who can guess what is inside.  You can make this game as easy or as hard as you want depending upon the items you choose to put in your bag.  (I.e. box of raisins, string cheese, peanut in shell, popcorn, apple, granola bar, etc.)  Once everyone has had a turn, pull out the items in the bag and explain that the lesson today is on nutrition and throughout the lesson you hope they will come to understand how good eating habits are truly a gift to yourself (hence the gift bag).  You could give the gift bag of healthy snacks to the one who came closest on all their answers.



A small toy car (you could probably find these at your local dollar store) - to make the analogy between fueling the car and how the right food fuels our body.
Blank recipe cards (to encourage the girls to start collection wholesome recipes)
Bottle of Water - Have the girls create their own vending machine in their lockers at school instead of buying junk food. Encourage them to keep healthful, shelf-stable items such as bottled water, raisins and other dried fruits, dry wholegrain cereal boxes, healthful trail mix, whole-grain crackers and canned fruits on hand.
Handout from Christy's Clipart



I had something on the table to represent each of the scriptures that talked about what we do to keep our bodies healthy- an apple, running shoe, picture of meat, etc., and after the girls read each scripture, they  had to look at the table and say which item went with that scripture.  (Cindy Whatcott)
Lesson Helps from Debanae
Lesson Helps from Jenny Smith
Lesson Helps from Young Women Connection
Read the children's story "The Hungry Caterpillar". I explained that a caterpillar does not choose its food, it just eats whatever it finds. We should not be like a caterpillar and just eat whatever food we find. Our brains are much larger and smarter than a caterpillars. Because of this we should make better food choices.
We just had this lesson and there is a part where they are to take a few minutes and list all the fruits and vegetables they can think of ... well, there were a few mentioned that some of the YW had never even heard of - which gave me the idea (that we used at Wednesday activity) to bring in some of unusual fruits for a "taste testing" (along with another activity). It went over soooooo well - one of the Beehives said it was one of the best activities she'd been to! One fruit that we tried was a "Horned or Kiwano Melon" - it's bright orangey-yellow with spikes all over ... it was really cool to look at (especially when we opened it and found lots of seeds in a bright green slime) ... as to taste - there really was none, but maybe we missed any flavoring 'cause the slimey sensation in our mouths 'caused most everyone to spit it out right away!!!! 8^) ... it just happened to be the most expensive piece too! We also had "Carambola / Star Fruit" (which is really cool 'cause when you slice it it creates a star shape), "Uniq Fruit", "Root Jicama", "Mangoes", and "Kiwi" (Credit Unknown)



Word of Wisdom Promises


 

“Selections from Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, Feb. 2002, 49. Conclude the lesson with the “Word of Wisdom” section.
 

Boyd K. Packer, “The Word of Wisdom: The Principle and the Promises,” Ensign, May 1996, 17. Include President Packer’s counsel in the second section of the lesson.



Printable Nutrition Quizzes