Caffeine and Kids

Audience: 7 Years and Older​

General program objective: Participants will demonstrate an understanding of the effects of caffeine.

Specific program objective: Participants will identify how caffeine affects growth and development.

Behavior change strategy: Self-Efficacy

Educational activities:

  • Elicit—ask the students if they belief caffeine is okay for children and why.
  • Explain—play the provided video for the students.
  • Expand—have the students reflect on the information provided in the video
  • Exit—have the students answer questions about caffeine.

Length of time to complete: 10-15 minutes, depending on length and depth of conversation.

Materials Required:

  • Note paper and writing utensils
  • Multi-media display (e.g. computer monitor, projector, or SmartScreen)
  • Access to the internet and YouTube
  • Optional: easy growing plants in containers, caffeine pills, and water

Procedure:

  • Ask the students if they believe caffeine is okay for children, and explain their thoughts (they can write their thoughts, answer in small groups, or discuss as a class):
    • What do you know about caffeine and kids?
    • Who believes it’s okay/not okay for children to have caffeine? Explain why you think that.
    • Who knows how caffeine affects children differently than adults? 
  • Introduce the short-form video and play for the students.
  • Ask the students to reflect on the video (they can write their thoughts, answer in small groups, or discuss as a class):
    • What is the number one concern over children consuming caffeine?
    • How does sleep play a role in childhood growth and development?
    • What does caffeine do to the body that can affect sleep?
    • Why does your body size matter when it comes to caffeine?
  • Have the students answer questions about caffeine by dividing the room for “yes” or “no” and they will respond by positioning their bodies on the appropriate side. Here are some sample questions: 
    • Does caffeine make you feel more awake?
    • Does caffeine give you energy?
    • Does caffeine help you grow?
    • Does caffeine help you learn?
    • Is sleep important for growth and learning?
    • Can too much caffeine be bad for your health?
    • Should kids drink a lot of caffeine?

Further enrichment:

Plant Growth Experiment! Take two identical plants (e.g., bean sprouts, tomato plants, etc.) and plant them in the same type of containers and place in the same position for adequate sunlight. Water one with regular water (control group) and the other with water diluted with a caffeine pill (variable). See how the plants grow differently over the 2-6 weeks.

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