According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, schools should not only focus on mastery of core subjects, but also promote understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21st century interdisciplinary themes into core subjects. One of these themes is health literacy, which involves obtaining, interpreting and understanding basic health information and services, and using such information and services in ways that are health enhancing.

Here are some ideas to focus your students’ attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits.

Eat Smart!

The Mayo Clinic’s interactive guide to the Nutrition Facts label will help your students understand what they’re eating so they can make healthier choices.As they move their mouse pointer over the sample Nutrition Facts label, students will see what all the different terms and numbers mean.

Bacteria in Your Brioche

Have your students ever wondered about the science behind their favorite foods? The Exploratorium’s lessons will answer their curiosities. The Accidental Scientist: Science of Cooking provides recipes, activities and webcasts that will enhance your students’ understanding of the science behind food and cooking.

The cooking categories are candy, bread, eggs, pickles, meat and seasoning. Each category includes a Kitchen Lab with recipes and activities, a section on the Science behind the food topic, a Share & Discuss feature, a variety of interactive learning experiencesâ??and more!

What’s Cookin’?

Nourish Interactive is a free resource that includes fun nutrition games for children, interactive nutrition tools and tips for parents to use to promote healthy living for the whole family.

Nourish Interactive’s Talking Dictionary/Encyclopedia provides vocabulary words with colorful images and animations to bring nutrition alive. Audio is available to help children pronounce nutrition-related words. A Teacher Lesson Plan accompanies the talking dictionary.

Created by nutrition and health-care professionals, the games are designed to teach children through exploration, decision making and fun. The games and stories promote the importance of nutrition and exercise using positive messaging. Nutrition Lesson Plans are available for each of the nutrition games and tools.

Everything on the site is accessible in English and Spanish