Photo © Unicef/Clark

Nutrition is eating enough of the right foods to help your body grow. Photo © Unicef/Asselin

It can lead to wasting and stunting. Malnutrition is about not having the food you need to be healthy and strong. It can lead to wasting and stunting. Photo © Unicef/Dean

Wasting is when a child is too thin for their height Wasting is when a child is too thin for their height. This happens when a child is not getting enough energy from food. If they don’t get help, they could die. Stunting is when a child is too small for their age. Without enough of the nutrients they need, their bodies and brains don’t grow the way they should. Photos © Unicef/Maule-ffinch

If we don’t get enough nutrients, our bodies and brains won’t develop properly. We will get poorly more easily and become very weak. Explain that malnutrition can lead to physical disabilities and learning difficulties. If a child becomes severely malnourished, this can even lead to death. Malnutrition is responsible for nearly half of all deaths of children under five. Photo © Unicef/Maule-ffinch

Measuring and checking for signs of malnutrition. Fifteen-month-old Alice has the circumference of her arm measured with a MUAC measuring band as part of the malnutrition screening process at a hospital in Liberia, West Africa. Photo © Unicef/Maule-ffinch 

Giving life-saving food. A health worker treats eight-month-old Ali in a Unicef-supported heath centre. Ali is suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Photo © Unicef/Al-Issa 

Teaching mums, dads and carers about the best foods to make for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Parents wait with their children at a hospital in Bhutan. Photo © Unicef/Lopez

We can help babies grow up healthy and strong by making sure that they have the right nutrients during the first 1,000 days of their lives. This is when our bodies and our brains develop fastest. Photo © Unicef/Matas

What is our school’s hope for every child in the world? Photo © Unicef/Commins

In words, pictures, music or drama create a ‘story of hope’ about how children suffering from malnutrition can be helped. OR Using the information cards, write a newspaper article or short TV news script about malnutrition and how you can support Day for Change at school.

Day for Change is a special day organised by Unicef where schools can raise money to help malnourished children grow up healthy and strong. non-uniform day sports competition bake sale class quiz picnic By taking part in Day for Change we can learn about nutrition and help malnourished children grow up healthy and strong. The challenge is to get our school to collect as much loose change as possible by hosting any kind of fundraising activity, such as a ‘wear it blue’ day, a bake sale or a bring-a-pound day. The spare change we raise will change children’s lives. Ask the class for ideas of how they could raise money at home and at school. Suggestions can include: Asking friends and family to sponsor you for a personal challenge, such as a sponsored silence, giving up sweets and chocolate for a week or going without TV or the Internet for a week. Asking friends and family to sponsor a sporting feat, such as a danceathon, sponsored walk or football penalty shoot-out competition. Organise a school or class event, such as a bake sale, school disco or fun ‘wear it blue’ day. Photos © Unicef/Fields