Week 23 of Nutrition Expedition: Brain Food!

February 29- March 4, 2016

Brain Food!

We are on to a new topic in Nutrition Expedition for the month of March:  The Amazing Brain! After taking a look at a few pictures of what our brain looks like, we learned that our brain is the boss of our whole body! Without it, we wouldn't be able to see, hear, talk, eat, breath, play, etc.! We'll be digging in a little further as the month progresses, but I didn't want to overload their brains with too much information ;). I again showed them the awesome TinyBop app, "The Human Body" (we explored this iPad app when we studied bones a few months back), and it gave us an inside look at the brain and how it functions. So cool! 

After our fascinating discussion, we sampled some awesome "brain foods" from the nibble trays! I offered them boiled eggs (maintain memory and communication between brain cells), blueberries (improve short term memory), broccoli (enhances cognitive function and improves brainpower), Quaker oat squares (whole grains help to keep you mentally alert throughout the day), pumpkin seeds/pepitas (enhance memory and thinking skills), and tomatoes (help protect against free radical damage to cells caused by dementia). The older infants and toddlers enjoyed all of these things, but I swapped out the oat cereal for cheerios, and eliminated the pumpkin seeds. Delicious and nutritious!

Super Sleuth Questions

1. What color is our brain? (answer:  it's sometimes portrayed as being pink, but it's actually gray). 

2. What kinds of things does your brain control, or help you to do? (answers:  breathe, talk, think, see, hear, run, dance, swim, etc.)

3. What kinds of brain food did Ms. Kelli B. bring to your class? (answers:  broccoli, eggs, blueberries, oat cereal, pumpkin seeds/pepitas, and tomatoes)