Food $ense Kids
Sweet Potato
Written by Nicole Nield and Marie Stosich
Brought to you by the Utah Food $ense program
Part 2 of the Preschool Obesity Prevention: Introduction to New Foods
Objectives
Participant will:
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Participate in a cooking/food sensory experience and sample food.
Participate in a physical activity or game that reinforces the food concept.
Identify food name through reading, writing or other activity.
Participate in a food exposure experience by doing an art, craft or other activity.
Teacher Instructions:
*Background facts and information for the teacher is included on page 6.
This curriculum is to be used in a variety of ways. If time is limited (which it will be for our study)
then pick one food experience and one activity to supplement. Each activity is to be approximately
10-15 minutes. Additional activities are included in this lesson that can be substituted or included in
the lesson depending on time.
Required Materials:
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Supplies and Ingredients for making sweet potato fries, biscuits or mashed sweet potatoes
(see page 5).
Paper and plastic goods needed to serve samples of recipe (plates, forks, spoons, cups etc.).
Supplies for “Hot Sweet Potato” game (see page 3, 7):
o Music on CD, Tape or MP3 player
o Sweet potato bean bag
Supplies for identifying a food name through reading: “The Gigantic Sweet Potato” book by
Marita Gentry (see page 3).
Supplies for body building game (see page 3, 8-9)
o Butcher paper or poster of a child
o Tape
o Sweet potatoes labeled with nutrients and cut out
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Variety of sweet potatoes for introduction (optional).
Optional Supplemental Materials:
Preparation Required:
 Review lesson plan.
 Review teacher background information (see page 6).
 Gather ingredients and materials needed to demonstrate one of the recipes and prepare
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needed ingredients in advance (see page 5).
Make sweet potato bean bag for “Hot Sweet Potato” game.
Gather music and player for “Hot Sweet Potato” game.
Get a fairly large piece of butcher paper and a marker.
Copy and cut out nutrient labeled sweet potatoes and obtain some tape for placing on the
poster/butcher paper.
Make copies of take home handout you wish to distribute (see page 5,10) – enough for all class
participants to take home to families.
Utah Food $ense - Make copies of all required paperwork for lesson.
LESSON PLAN
Introduction
Time: 5 minutes
Ask the class: Have any of you ever seen one of these (hold up a sweet potato)?
 Pass the sweet potato around and ask, “what does it feel like?
 What color is it? (depending on the variety there are white, yellow and orange fleshed sweet
potatoes)
 What does it smell like?
 Have you ever eaten a sweet potato?
 Explain how sweet potatoes grow and why we should eat them.“Sweet potatoes grow in the
ground like a regular potato, they are a root vegetable.” “Sweet potatoes are full of good
things for our body, so eating them will help make us healthy and strong.”
Objective 1: Participate in a cooking/food sensory experience and sample food.
Time: 15 minutes
 Choose a recipe that will work for your lesson: Sweet Potato Biscuits, Best Ever Mashed Sweet
Potatoes, or Sweet Potato Fries (see page 5).
 Prepare a sample of the food and give to children. Let the students participate in any way you
can with the food prep. Because of time constraints you may want to make the recipe
beforehand and just let the students help with a little part of what you had to do to make the
recipe. Make sure all student helpers wash their hands before touching any food.
Objective 2: Participate in a physical activity or game that reinforces the food
concept.
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Time: 5-10 minutes
Explain: Sweet potatoes can be baked in the oven just like a regular potato. When they come out they
are very hot. We are going to play “Hot Sweet Potato” to remind us that we can bake sweet potatoes
in the oven to eat.
Play “Hot Sweet Potato” with the children.
 To play the game have the children split into small groups and make a circle.
 Make a sweet potato bean bag to use for this game beforehand.
 Play some music on a portable device that you can pause easily.
 Have the children toss the sweet potato around and stop the music at random times. Whoever
has the sweet potato when the music stops is out.
 Repeat this process until you have a winner.
Objective 3: Identify food name through reading, writing or other activity.
Time: 10-15 minutes
Read the book “The Gigantic Sweet Potato” by Marita Gentry. Discuss concepts from the book like
growing a plant from a sweet potato. Talk about different recipes sweet potatoes can be put in such
as soups, stews, roasted with other vegetables, used as a sandwich wrap spread, baked in breads, etc.
“The Gigantic Sweet Potato” book can be checked out from a local library or purchased online.
Objective 4: Participate in a food exposure experience by doing an art, craft, or other
activity.
Time: 5 -10 minutes
Teach how sweet potatoes can help us build strong bodies by playing the sweet potato body building
game.
Tell the class: Today we are going to learn about how we can build strong bodies by eating sweet
potatoes. Sweet potatoes contain many nutrients that help us to build strong bodies.
To play the game:
 Get a piece of butcher paper and ask for a volunteer. Have the student lay on the paper and
trace their outline with a marker (another option would be to use a picture to make your own
poster of a child’s body).
 After you have traced the child, hang up the poster in the front of the room.
 Talk about each nutrient that sweet potatoes contain and what parts of the body they help
build strong (listed below). Have a child come and place a sweet potato symbol on the area of
the body poster it pertains to after you talk about it.
o Sweet potatoes have vitamin A. Vitamin A is important for our body growth and
healthy eyes. Can someone come up and put this vitamin A potato on the area of the
poster that the eyes would be?
o Sweet potatoes have calcium in them. Calcium is important for healthy teeth. Can
someone come up and put the calcium sweet potato where the teeth would be?
o Sweet potatoes have iron. Iron is important because it helps make blood in our bodies.
Our heart pumps our blood around our body to supply oxygen to our muscles so we
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can run and play. Can someone come up and put the iron potato on the area where a
heart would be?
Sweet potatoes have lots of fiber in them. Fiber is important because it helps our
digestive system (the part of our body that helps us use the food we eat for energy). Can
someone put the fiber potato on the stomach of the poster person?
Sweet potatoes have amino acids. Amino acids are used to make protein in our muscles.
Sweet potatoes help us build strong muscles. Can someone come up and put the amino
acid sweet potato on the legs of our person? Our legs have lots of muscles.
Sweet potatoes have vitamin C in them. Vitamin C is important for cuts and scrapes to
heal fast. Can someone come up and put the vitamin C sweet potato on the knee of our
person? This represents that we often get cuts and scrapes on our knees that need to
heal.
Activity adapted from: www.ncsweetpotatoes.com
After all of the sweet potato symbols are on the body talk to the children about how strong
they can build their bodies by eating sweet potatoes using the poster as a visual. “See how
strong our bodies can be built from eating sweet potatoes.”
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Conclusion:
Time: 5 minutes
Ask the Class:
 Why is it important to eat sweet potatoes and other vegetables?
 Did you like the sweet potato fries/mashed/biscuits?
 What will you go home and tell your family you learned about sweet potatoes today?
Resources :
1. Sweet Potato Biscuits Recipe From : www.foodnetwork.com/recipes
2. Vegetable Background Sheet: Sweet Potato:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/vegetables/sweetpotato.html
and
www.ncsweetpotatoes.com
This material was funded by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP. The
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides nutrition assistance to people with low
income. It can help you buy nutritious foods for a better diet. To find out more, contact 1-800-221-5689 or visit online at
4
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/. In accordance with Federal Law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from
discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, political beliefs or disability. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA,
Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800)795-3572.
RECIPES
Topic: Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Potato Biscuits
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 heaping tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mashed cooked sweet potatoes
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened butter
2 to 4 tablespoons milk (depending on the moisture of the potatoes)
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In separate large bowl, mix
the sweet potatoes and butter. Add the flour mixture to the potato mixture and mix to make a soft dough. Then
add milk a tablespoon at a time to mixture and continue to cut in. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and
toss lightly until the outside of the dough looks smooth. Roll the dough out to 1/2-inch thick and cut with a
biscuit cutter. Place biscuits on a greased pan and coat tops with melted butter. Bake for about 15 minutes. (If
the biscuits are browning too fast, lower the oven temperature.)
Recipe from: www.foodnetwork.com/recipes
Sweet Potato Fries
3 sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Scrub sweet potatoes. Cut into thin fry sized strips. Place in a plastic bag with oil salt and pepper, shake,
remove from bag. Place on a baking sheet with space between each strip and roast for 15-20 minutes or until
crispy.
Best Ever Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are packed with nutrition and
taste great mashed, roasted, baked, boiled,
steamed or microwaved!
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons low-fat milk
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon salt
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into small chunks
Combine the butter, milk syrup, salt and sweet potatoes in a saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat (cooking
at a high heat will cause milk to curdle), stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are quite tender and fall apart as
you stir, about 35-60 minutes (more potatoes take longer). Remove the pan from the heat and mash the potatoes
with a potato masher or fork. Whip with a whisk or a spoon. Season with pepper, taste, and adjust the
seasoning. Transfer to a serving dish and serve hot.
Tip: If potatoes are dry add a little more milk and syrup while mashing.
__________________________________________________________________
This material was funded by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP. The
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides nutrition assistance to people with low
income. It can help you buy nutritious foods for a better diet. To find out more, contact 1-800-221-5689 or
visit online at http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/. In accordance with Federal Law and U.S. Department of
Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, political beliefs or
5
disability. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 202509410 or call (800)795-3572.
Preschool Curriculum
Sweet Potato
Background Teaching Information
Nutrition: Sweet potatoes are a nutrient-rich food. They contain high levels of beta-carotene and vitamin E, as
well as, potassium, iron and vitamin B6. Sweet potatoes are nearly fat free, cholesterol free and low in
sodium. Sweet potatoes are also high in dietary fiber, which is important for a healthy digestive system. The
way to get the best possible nutrition from a sweet potato is to eat the skin along with the flesh.
Colors of a sweet potato: Sweet potatoes grow in a variety of colors. Skins come in red, purple, copper, pink
and flesh comes in orange, copper, cream, white and purple. The most common is the Covington sweet potato
it is pink with orange flesh. The more orange the flesh the higher the nutritional content.
Using sweet potatoes: Sweet potatoes can be baked, boiled, steamed or microwaved. They are great mashed
and roasted. Sweet potatoes can be used in baking (to make breads, pies, etc.) and in soups, stews and
casseroles. The possibilities are endless!
Storing: Sweet potatoes can last for around 10 months if stored properly. They should be stored in a dry place
at between 55-60ºF. Do not store in the refrigerator, refrigeration causes a hard flesh and undesirable taste.
Growing: Sweet potatoes grow best in hot places. Most of our sweet potatoes are grown in the south. They
require a long period of time without frost (150 days). They are a fairly easy to plant and grow if you live in a
place with the right conditions. Sweet potatoes should be harvested soon after the first frost.
Sweet Potato vs. Yam: In America we use the term “yam” and the term “sweet potato” interchangeably but
in the U.S. we really mean “sweet potato”. Yams and sweet potatoes are actually a lot different. Yams are an
African/Caribbean grown tuber and sweet potatoes are a storage root closely related to morning glories.
Yams grow larger in size and are rougher in texture. They are starchy with dry flesh. Sweet potatoes, on the
other hand (what we are familiar with), are smooth, sweet, and much smaller in size with a moist flesh. You
will most likely never see a true yam in the grocery store here although they may be labeled as one. They are
actually sweet potatoes!
Sources:
1. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/vegetables/sweetpotato.html
2. www.ncsweetpotatoes.com
This material was funded by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
provides nutrition assistance to people with low income. It can help you buy nutritious foods for a better diet. To find out more, contact 1-800-221-5689
or visit online at http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/. In accordance with Federal Law and U.S. Department of
Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national
origin, sex, age, religion, political beliefs or disability. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA,
Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call
6
(800)795-3572.
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Sweet Potato Bean Bag Pattern
Make out of light brown or reddish
brown material and fill with beans
or rice. Draw a face on the
potato with marker if
desired.
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Sweet Potatoes for Body Building game. Copy and cut out.
Vitamin A
Calcium
Iron
Fiber
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Vitamin C
Amino Acids
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