Monday, April 18, 2011

Nutrition Label Creator

Each trimester, I teach my sixth graders how to read food labels as part of our nutrition unit. Students usually are assigned to bring in a label from any food product, and then we engage in a lesson where we examine the food labels to determine the positive and negatives of each food item. This is also a great way to review the positive and negatives of nutrients that are listed on food labels.

I always try to have some extra food labels lying around. I've also noticed that although food labels are cut off of the packaging they come from, students are sometimes able to guess on the food item based on the look or feel of the packaging. In order to combat this, I looked for easy ways to create food labels online in order to promote a standard look among the food labels we use in class.

Many options exist, some of which cost money. A quick Google search provided me with a free, easy to use tool from the website Shop 'N Cook. Their Food Nutrition Facts Label Creator is easy to use and allows the user to print off each label as a PDF. Simply enter the nutrient information and the label creator will create a nutrition label. This may be a little time intensive at first, but once you figure out the interface, it's easy to whip up a few different labels.

While some people aren't as uptight as me about making sure everything looks the same, I find that for continuity purposes it makes sense to have a uniform look among food labels I use in class. Students are then able to examine the nutrition facts without any prior judgement as to what the food item may be, and are called on to use their nutrition knowledge (as opposed to any personal bias) when evaluating the nutrition information about a particular food item.

You can access the nutrition label creator at the Shop 'N Cook website by clicking here.
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