ToBe Fit Video – Teacher’s Nutrition Activity Kit
© 2022 FoodPlay Productions


Description:
Are “Grape Fruit Fun Snacks” real fruit or fake? ToBe Fit takes on the case for the FBI, the Fruit Bureau of Investigation. With the help of children, and the clue: “Read It Before You Eat It”, she reads the ingredient label to discover a long list of questionable ingredients including three types of sugar and colorings, flavorings, preservatives, “carnauba wax” in the Fun Fruits Snacks. Is there any real fruit in these snacks? This segment offers a good opportunity to teach children how to read food labels. Ingredients are listed by weight, with the main ingredient listed first. But, read the whole label, so you’re not surprised by what’s inside!

As ToBe Fit Says:
“Read It Before You Eat It! So, you’re not surprised by what’s inside!”

Background Information:
Children like to outsmart somebody – their parents, their teachers…why not help them outsmart the advertisers? Help kids learn how to “read it before they eat it” – read food labels, so that they can become critical consumers and select the healthiest choices. Encourage them to share their new skills with their families! And, label reading is a great way to integrate nutrition lessons into core curricula of language arts and mathematics!


Questions for Discussion:

1. What was ToBe’s clue to determine how to find out if the Fun Fruit Snacks product was real or
fake?

Answer: “The only place where the truth resides, is the ingredient label on the package side.
You’ve got to: Read It Before You Eat It! So you’re not surprised by what’s inside!”

2. Look at a snack food and read the Ingredient Label. Which is the main ingredient?

Answer: The main ingredient is listed first. Then, ingredients are listed in descending order by
weight.

3. What were the first three ingredients of the “Fun Fruit Snack” that ToBe examined?

Answer: Sugar, Corn Syrup, Dextrose….These are names for three different types of sugar.


Lesson Plans and Activity Sheets:

1. See Through TV Commercials
Curriculum Areas: LA, Media Literacy
Grade Levels: All

2. Be a Sugar Detective Part 1
Curriculum Areas: LA, Media Literacy
Grade Levels: All

3. Be a Sugar Detective Part 2
Curriculum Areas: LA, Media Literacy
Grade Levels: Upper

4. Read It Before You Eat It!
Curriculum Areas: LA, Media Literacy
Grade Levels: Upper


Fun Activity Extensions:

1. Read It Before You Eat It! Review with your students how to read Ingredient Labels. The
main ingredient is listed first, and then ingredients are listed by weight, from most to
least. Have children bring up a snack food and have the class try to decipher what the
main ingredient is or count up how many different kinds of sugar are listed.

2. Compare! Compare a processed packaged snack like a fresh apple vs a fast food apple
pie; or a fresh potato to a can of Pringles – to determine what’s been added and what’s
been taken away. You can even compare how much they cost. Usually the fresh food is
less expensive than the processed packaged food product, when you compare by weight.

3. Encourage students to check the ingredient labels on their foods and snacks to see what they’re made of. Have them look for the “main ingredient”.  Identify the names for different sugars. Research the hard-to-pronounce ingredients to see what they are! For highly processed, packaged products, ask children to try to come up with more healthful alternatives.

4. Throughout the year, have kids repeat FOODPLAY’s motto along with the hand motions: “Read It Before You Eat It! – Chomp, Chomp!”

5. Have students See Through TV Commercials and start identifying the different techniques advertisers use to influence their choices.