Teaching children about health
26 July 2006
Teaching children a healthy lifestyle in a fun way was the philosophy behind the activities, when eight Novo Nordisk employees took action on a local Swiss school recently. The activity involved 250 children and youngsters aged 6-16.
Focusing on how food influences our body and health, the Novo Nordisk employees contributed by setting up an exciting session on a local school that had arranged a ‘health week’ for the students. One of the persons behind the initiative was Birgit Severus from the Sales Department at Novo Nordisk, Switzerland. She says that it was a challenge to come up with activities relevant to children in a wide range of age groups.
1, 2, 3 – health!
“We managed to create two workshops in close cooperation with the school,” Birgit Severus explains. In one of these workshops, groups of 10 children played the game ‘One, two or three’, which is inspired by a German television programme. “We asked the children five educational questions with each three possible answers. One of the questions was: how many sugar cubes does 1.5 litres of coke contain? On the count of three, the children were to run towards their choice of answer. In that way, the children got some exercise while their heads were filled with funny and informative facts about diet and lifestyles.”
Which is healthy – which is not?
The second workshop was an illustrative session on healthy food. The children were presented to three tables loaded with different drinks and food items like water, coke, orange juice, chocolate, cookies, fruit, chips, pasta etc. The task for the kids was to divide these items into healthy stuff and things that you shouldn’t eat too often.
To be continued
According to Birgit Severus, the initiative was a great success. “We are convinced that it was a very special day for the children, they had a lot of fun. And for me personally, it was a good and exciting experience to work with the children and learn more about their eating habits,” she says. Birgit definitely plans to arrange another ‘health day’ at the school next year. “Perhaps we can even make other schools take up the activity!” she says.
School Challenge
In case you feel like teaching children and young people the importance of a healthy lifestyle yourself, you can find inspiration on educational and interactive TakeAction! activities on the School Challenge website, http://schoolchallenge.novonordisk.com.
