Free Go Grow Glow Foods Printable for Kids

This printable is an educational resource designed for classroom use, making it easy for teachers to introduce nutrition concepts to students.

This free printable game will help your kids learn about Go Grow Glow Foods to set them up as healthy eaters for life! The worksheet can also be used as posters or sorting mats for classroom activities, providing a versatile resource for teaching food groups.

I remember my kids learning the food groups at infants (kindergarten). It is something that they still talk about even now. They loved the Go Grow Glow idea to help them understand what foods they needed in to eat to give them a balanced diet.

For the activity, students can use paper or boxes to sort the food items, making the lesson interactive and hands-on with different materials.

Balance is very important when learning about food. For a period, my daughter was a little obsessed with making sure she was eating healthily. It was a difficult time. She was so young that she didn’t understand that it was OK to have some unhealthy foods as long as we balanced that with the foods we needed to help our bodies grow and repair themselves.

We needed a little of everything for different reasons to stay healthy…go grow glow. It can even help with kids that are fussy eaters, as they start to understand why we need to be eating our greens and fruit. It isn’t just parents being a pain. These materials are suitable for students and can be used as part of classroom lessons to reinforce healthy eating habits.

Kids learning food groups can be fun with this go grow glow foods printable which allows you kids to cut out the food and place them in the right place on the plate. Are they go grow or glow?

What Are Go Grow Glow Foods?

I love how this concept teaches kids about how foods help them achieve their goals! The Go Grow Glow concept is widely used in preschool and early grade classrooms, such as grade 1, 2, 3, and even grade 7, to promote healthy eating and healthy eating habits. It isn’t about saying what you can’t have or that foods are bad; instead Go Grow Glow foods helps kids understand how different foods will make them feel and look.

What is a Go Food?

These are typically your carbs and starchy vegetables because they give you the energy to go.

What is a Grow Food?

This category is about protein-rich foods, such as chicken and nuts, that help kids’ muscles and bones grow big and strong.

What is a Glow Food?

This category helps you have healthy skin & hair, good eyesight, and strong nails.

Go Grow Glow Foods Examples

Go Foods	Grow Foods	Glow Foods
Sweet potato Rice Oatmeal Brown rice Whole grains	Eggs Meat Peanut butter Fish Dairy products	Fresh fruits Vegetables Berries Green leafy vegetables

How to Teach Kids About Go Grow Glow Foods

The Go Grow Glow Foods model is a great way to teach young children how to have a healthy diet.

Because the foods are categorized into three groups, they’re easier to understand than learning about carbohydrates, protein, and fat grams.

At each meal, kids should choose:

1 Go Food
1 Grow Food
As many Glow Foods as possible!

To make this lesson interactive, kids can use sorting pictures and practice sticking them onto paper or plastic plates. You can also use plastic plates for sorting activities to help children visually organize food groups and reinforce healthy eating habits.

Free Go Grow Glow Foods Sorting Activity

The best way to teach kids how to learn about these basic food groups is by having them sort the Go Grow Glow foods themselves. This printable was created as a grow glow sorting game for kids, making it a fun and interactive way to learn about nutrition.

Here’s how it works:

Click the image below to access the free PDF.
Print out the different pages.
Cut out the different foods.
Place each food item on the correct mat to sort them into the right food group
Sort them into the right places on the plate we have provided for you
Enjoy your meal!

How to Teach Kids About Go Grow Glow Foods

Sorting is a great way for children to practice categorizing different foods. This is a great game to play with your toddler or teach your class!

Start by offering an overview of the three different foods and their purpose. Then, move into the sorting activity.

For younger kids, start by keeping the different food categories separate. They can then choose one per meal and add them to the placemat (first page).

Once this becomes easier, increase the challenge by mixing all food items together! See if your kids can sort the different types of foods back into the Go Grow Glow Foods categories. Have them practice building plates following the Go Grow Glow approach if they can.

Tips for Using This Go Grow Glow Foods Activity

Laminate the pages: If you want to return to this activity again in the future, laminate the pages so they aren’t damaged during play.

Add props: Feel free to add some props to this type of play. Kids will enjoy playing with these pictures using their real plates. Make baskets of food using plastic toys for each of the main groups for kids to use, too.

Play a matching game: Show your child a picture of a different food and ask them to find it in your home. This will help them learn about the kitchen and where foods are kept.

Ask Questions to Prompt Thinking

As kids play with this free Go Grow Glow Foods printable, you can extend their thinking by asking important questions.

Where do you normally find Go foods?
Where do you usually find Grow foods?
Where do you normally find Glow foods?
Which type of food is your favorite?
Why do you think you can have more than one Glow food at every meal?
How does your body feel when you eat _____?
Why aren’t sweets and crisps on this list?

There are so many ways to teach children about nutrition without demonizing foods or telling them they can never have cake again. Go Grow Glow Foods is an easy way to teach even little kids about the power food has to give us energy, make us strong, and make us healthy.

Don’t forget to grab your free download!

Would you like something to help teach the kids the food groups? Well here you go - a Go Grow Glow foods worksheet, including some cut out shapes to get them using scissors and sorting their foods!

Do check out the other printables on the KiddyCharts site, as well as our wonderful personalised charts too. We also got some fabulous and free food colouring sheets that complement this activity really well, including cupboard food for toddlers ideas. If you are looking for even more inspiration, check out our websites that offer free printables for kids. If you have any ideas for printables we would love to hear from you too. We made a video to help you as well – we always do for our printables.

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Take care,

Helen

Helen Neale

Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, website editor and a qualified counsellor with experience of working with both children and adults.She is a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapists, with her own private practise. She also freelances with her local Mind organisation.Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, use those grey cells at the same time, and supplement her counselling income.KiddyCharts has reach of over 680k across socials and the site. The site works with big family brands to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. She is a specialist counsellor for neurodivergent individuals and brings this expertise to her resources and the site. She is also an ADHDer herself.KiddyCharts gives 51%+ profits to charities, focused on supporting mental health and a community in TanzaniaHelen has also worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!