Everyday or Sometimes? — The Grocery Flyer Sort

Cut food pictures out of a supermarket flyer and sort them into everyday foods that help the body grow and sometimes foods that are fun treats but do not do much work for the body.

  1. Together, cut or tear out 15–20 food and drink pictures from a grocery flyer or magazine (or use real items and packets from the kitchen).
  2. Lay out two plates or sheets of paper. Label one with a green tick for everyday foods and one with a star for sometimes foods.
  3. Hold up one picture at a time. The child decides where it goes and says why: “Carrots are everyday — they help me grow.” “Lollipops are sometimes — they’re mostly sugar.”
  4. When something is tricky (juice, sweetened yoghurt, pizza, crisps), think aloud together. It is fine to make a third “in the middle” pile.
  5. Give the reason behind the piles: everyday foods give the body what it needs to grow, move, and think — fruit, vegetables, bread and grains, beans, eggs, fish, meat, milk, water. Sometimes foods taste good but have lots of sugar, salt, or fat and not much else.
  6. Finish by building a pretend lunchbox from the pictures: mostly everyday foods, and room for one sometimes food if the child wants it.

Variation: play it with drinks only — water and milk are everyday; fizzy drinks and sweetened juice drinks are sometimes.

Requirements

  • Space: Table or floor space
  • Surface: Any flat surface
  • Materials: Grocery flyers or food magazines, child-safe scissors, two plates or sheets of paper, a marker; optional glue to make a poster
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; fun for 2–3 children sorting together
  • Supervision: Light — adult talks through the tricky foods

Rationale & Objective

This subdomain’s measurement asks that a child can identify healthy versus unhealthy food choices from pictures, and the Head Start ELOF expects preschoolers to identify a variety of healthy and less healthy foods and to understand that eating a variety of foods helps the body grow and be healthy. Sorting with reasons turns a vague idea (“healthy”) into a usable category with a why attached. The everyday/sometimes framing follows the approach of established preschool nutrition curricula — CATCH Early Childhood and the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s We Can! programme teach GO, SLOW, and WHOA foods — and deliberately avoids “good” and “bad” food labels, which dietitians caution can attach guilt and shame to eating. Including drinks matters: the 2019 Healthy Eating Research consensus statement (endorsed by the AAP and other bodies) recommends water and plain milk as young children’s main drinks. The EYFS Early Learning Goal for Managing Self includes understanding the importance of healthy food choices.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: sorts mostly by what they like (“cake is everyday because it’s yummy”); recognises obvious extremes such as apple versus sweets with prompting; gives no reasons
  • Developing: correctly sorts clear examples — fruit, vegetables, water versus sweets, fizzy drinks, crisps; gives simple reasons (“it has lots of sugar”); unsure about mixed foods
  • Proficient: sorts most pictures correctly and explains why; knows everyday foods help the body grow, move, and think; builds a pretend lunchbox that is mostly everyday foods
  • Advanced: reasons about tricky items (“yoghurt is everyday but the one with sweets on top is sometimes”); applies the idea in real life at the shop or table without being asked; stays relaxed about sometimes foods rather than calling them bad

Safety Notes

  • Use child-safe scissors and supervise cutting
  • Avoid the words “good”, “bad”, “junk”, and “naughty” for foods, and never link food to body size or weight — the message is what foods do for the body, and that all foods can fit
  • Do not use the sort to criticise what the child or anyone else eats; if a child starts policing other people’s plates, remind them that every family chooses its own foods
  • If a child becomes anxious about eating sometimes foods, refuses whole food groups, or seems worried about their body, ease off and talk with your pediatrician

Hints

  • Playfulness: play shopkeeper — the child “buys” pictures with pretend coins and bags them into the everyday or sometimes basket; or race to feed a hungry cardboard-box monster its everyday foods
  • Sustain interest: use each new weekly flyer for fresh pictures; make themed rounds (breakfast foods, drinks, party foods, foods from another country); build a growing fridge poster
  • Common mistake: treating it as right-or-wrong and correcting quickly. Ask “what makes you think so?” first — the reasoning is the skill, and many foods genuinely sit in the middle
  • Limited space: no flyer or scissors needed — play it aloud in the car or supermarket queue (“Banana — everyday or sometimes?”) or sort real items while unpacking the shopping
  • Cross-domain: count each pile and compare which has more (maths); cutting along lines (fine motor); name the food groups and where foods come from (science and vocabulary); write a shopping list of everyday foods together (early writing)
  • Progression: two clear piles with obvious foods → add reasons → add a middle pile for tricky foods → sort drinks → plan a balanced pretend meal → help choose an everyday snack at the shop

Sources

  • Head Start ELOF — Goal P-PMP 5 (knowledge and skills that help promote nutritious food choices and eating habits)
  • CATCH Early Childhood — GO, SLOW, and WHOA foods nutrition curriculum for ages 3–5
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute — We Can! GO, SLOW, and WHOA Foods
  • Healthy Eating Research (2019) — Healthy Beverage Consumption in Early Childhood: Recommendations from Key National Health and Nutrition Organizations (consensus statement)
  • USDA MyPlate and Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025
  • UK EYFS — Early Learning Goal: Managing Self (“understanding the importance of healthy food choices”)