Place/Event: Hy-Vee Grocery Store
Location: Find a store near you.
Cost: Free
Grade/age range: All ages.
Group size: 20 people.
Hands-on: Limited
Stroller friendly: Yes
Bathrooms: Yes
Food: Yes
Your local Hy-Vee grocery store offers educational field trips for students. During a tour, a Hy-Vee dietitian will lead students around the perimeter of the store teaching on the basic food groups and sharing other nutritional information.
The educational material follows the format from Choose My Plate, a resource from the USDA. At the end of our tour, students were given a paper plate with the food categories that they could take home. Students were also given samples of food products like cheese slices to eat during the tour.
Our guide Anne was excellent with the kids. She explained nutritional concepts in an easy to understand manner and was patient in answering their questions. My kids started trying new fruits after our trip and we have been buying some new produce items.
The tour takes place in store isles, so remind students to be attentive to shoppers.
In addition to the educational elements of the tour, a few fun stops included seeing the lobster tank and learning about the artist who creates the weekly signage on the store chalkboards.
Check out these other great Science Field Trips in Des Moines.
I had no idea that Hy-Vee offered filed trips. This is such a great way for kids to learn about food and where it comes from!
The dietitian was very knowledgeable. I think everyone learned something including the teachers! 🙂
Interesting – who knew HYVEE gave tours.
After a field trip like that, I bet both the kids and teacher have a knew way of looking at their regular grocery store. What a unique experience!
Growing up, we always went to Hy-Vee for Chinese food, lol! Now they have a good salad bar and pretty good breakfast, too. Pretty cool that kids can take a field trip there!
I LOVE their pizza! 🙂