The Magic Lunchbox tells a story about when Grandma comes to visit and gives Mango and Sprint a "magic lunchbox". This story is available to download for FREE for Educators to read during group time which supports young children to understand everyday healthy food choices.
Central Coast author Angela Barrett and illustrator David Walsh have created a delightful storybook to inspire and delight children in the 4 to 6-year age group. It has been prepared as an instructional tool to be used to provide continuity of learning about good food choices.
Group Time and Intentional Teaching
1. Discuss the cover, title page, the back and front of the book.
- What do you think the book is about?
- Why are there lots of stars around the lunchbox?
- How do you think the cat feels in the picture?
- Do you like the cover design?
2. Read the story to the children.
- Continue discussing pages in the book after it has been read from beginning to end.
3. Systematically work through the story asking questions about each page.
- What would you like to do now that you know about The Magic Lunchbox?
- Just suppose -
- Imagine -
- How, what, when, why questions.
4. Discuss ideas for extension activities with children and other staff:
- Have a healthy lunchbox theme for a week
- Read the story every day for the week
- Refer to the Munch and Move resource manual ‘Munch Learning’ section for further ideas.
Extension Of Learning Experiences
- Children can group foods in categories – foods ‘The Magic Lunchbox’ likes and dislikes.
- Group foods into foods starting with the same sound, e.g. ‘a’, ‘ch’, ‘b’.
- Sort foods into fruits and vegetables.
- Sort foods into different colours.
- Use plastic money and cash registers to add to the sense of reality.
- Children can shop for food they would like in their lunchbox.
- Have clothes to dress up as Sprint, Mango and Grandma.
- Some props to include could be a soft toy cat, a green lunchbox and plastic food samples.
- Children can re-enact the story on their own in free time or in a group as a structured activity
- Children can draw or paint their favourite food, their healthy lunch box, or a picture of grandma.
- Magazines for children to cut out pictures of healthy food they would like in their lunchbox.
- Create a vegetable garden or grow a fruit tree.
- Plant some of the vegetables in the ‘Magic Storybook’.
To download the FREE storybook: The Magic Lunchbox
For Magic Lunchbox Educational Resources and more: Magic Lunchbox Resources
For further Lunchbox information: Healthy Kids NSW
Reference:
The Magic Lunchbox - Central Coast Health Promotion
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