Alberta HealthServices - Healthy Eating and Active Living For Your 5 to 11 Year Old - Food Guide Serving Sizes

Sep 27, 2026

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Food Guide Serving Sizes for children aged 5 to 11 explains how healthy eating quantity should increase as children grow and become more active. It encourages offering varied foods across all food groups and eating until comfortably full, with parents and caregivers modeling the habits. The guide provides daily serving targets for vegetables and fruit, grain products, milk and alternatives, and meats and alternatives, plus practical “one serving” portion examples using everyday objects. It also addresses oils and fats, water intake, limits on juice and high-calorie foods, feeding frequency, and the importance of family meals.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

Food guide serving sizes for ages 5 to 11

Daily servings by food group

What one serving looks like

Oils and fats and water guidance

Practical feeding recommendations

Alberta HealthServices—Healthy Eating and Active Living For Your 5 to 11 Year Old Food Guide Serving Sizes for 5 to 11 Years As children grow and become more active, the quantity of food they eat will increase. Offer a variety of nutritious foods from all food groups and encourage your child to eat until comfortably full. Parents and caregivers should be role models of healthy eating. Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide recommends serving sizes and amounts for ages 2 to 51+ . | Number of Servings Each Day | | Food Group
Vegetables and Fruit
• Eat at least one dark green & one orange vegetable per day.
• Fresh, frozen or canned are all good choices.
• Choose vegetables & fruit prepared with little or no added fat, sugar or salt.
• Choose vegetables & fruit more often than juice.
• Limit juice to one food guide serving a day 125 mL / ½ cup. | What One Food Guide Serving Looks Like Each | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Girls & Boys
5 – 8 years
5
servings | Girls & Boys
9 – 11 years
6
servings | | | | | | | | | Cooked vegetables 125 mL (½ cup)= 1 hockey puck
| Fresh or soft cooked vegetable slices 125 mL (½ cup) = 1 hockey puck
| Leafy salad vegetables 250 mL

(1 cup) = 1 baseball | | | | | 1 medium fresh fruit = 1 tennis ball
| Diced fresh, frozen or canned fruit

125 mL (½ cup) = 1 hockey puck | 100% unsweetened juice

125 mL (½ cup) = 1 hockey puck
| | 4
servings | 6
servings | Grain Products
• Choose whole grains at least half of the time.
• Choose grains that are lower in fat, sugar or salt. | Roll, dinner, whole wheat (28 g) =
| Rice or pasta 125 mL (½ cup)

= 1 hockey puck | Bannock (2.5” x 2.5” x 0.75”)(6 cm x 6 cm x 2 cm) = 1 hockey puck
| | | | | Roll, hamburger, mixed grain =
| Hot cereal 175 mL (¾ cup) =
| Cereal (corn bran) 250 mL

(1 cup) = 1 baseball | | 2
servings | 3 to 4
servings | Milk and Alternatives
• Depending on age, 2 to 4 servings of milk or fortified soy beverage help meet vitamin D requirements.
• Select lower-fat milk alternatives. | Milk or fortified soy beverage 250 mL (1 cup) = 1 baseball
|
Cheese 50 g (1 ½ oz) =
2 erasers | Yogurt 175 g (¾ cup) = 1 tennis ball
| ©Alberta Health Services March 2016 Alberta HealthServices—Healthy Eating and Active Living For Your 5 to 11 Year Old Food Group What One Food Guide Serving Looks Like Each | Cooked fish, poultry, lean meat, wild meat 75 g (2 .5 oz) = 1 hockey puck
| 2 eggs | Cooked legumes such as beans or lentils 175 mL (¾ cup) = 1 tennis ball | | --- | --- | --- | | Tofu 175 mL (¾ cup) = 1 tennis ball
| Peanut butter 30 mL (2 Tbsp) = 1 golf ball | Nuts and seeds 60 mL (¼ cup) = 2 golf balls | 1 serving 1 to 2 servings Meats and Alternatives • Have meat alternatives such as beans, lentils and tofu more often. • Eat at least 2 servings of fish per week. • Choose lean meat and alternatives prepared with little or no added fat or salt. | What About Oils & Fats?
Offer 30 – 45 mL (2 to 3 Tbsp) unsaturated fat each day. This includes oil used for cooking, salad dressings, margarine & mayonnaise. | Oils and Fats
• Limit butter, hard margarine, lard and shortening. | 1 serving is:
Oil (such as canola, olive & soybean) 5 mL (1 tsp) = ⅓ eraser | 1 serving is:
Non-hydrogenated margarine/oil 5 mL (1 tsp) = ⅓ eraser | 1 serving is:
Salad dressing 15 mL (1 Tbsp) = 1 eraser | Nutrition Facts:
4 g fat = 1 tsp fat
= ⅓ eraser | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Quench Thirst with Water! | | Drink water regularly. Drink more water when you are more active or in hot weather. | | | | What about other foods & beverages high in calories, fat, sugar or salt (sodium)? Limit foods and beverages such as cakes and pastries, chocolate and candies, cookies and granola bars, doughnuts and muffins, ice cream and frozen desserts, french fries, potato chips, nach

FAQs

How many servings of vegetables and fruit should a 5–8 or 9–11 year old have each day?

Ages 5–8 should have 5 servings, and ages 9–11 should have 6 servings of vegetables and fruit each day. The guide also recommends choosing dark green and orange vegetables daily and limiting juice to one serving (125 mL / ½ cup).

What counts as one grain product serving, and what guidance is given for choosing grains?

Grain servings include examples like rice or pasta 125 mL (½ cup) and cereal or specific items with listed portion sizes. The guide recommends choosing whole grains at least half of the time and selecting grains lower in fat, sugar, or salt.

Should parents restrict how much fat their child gets, and how should oils and fats be handled?

No, the guide advises offering a variety of nutritious foods naturally high in fat (such as nuts, avocados, and fatty fish). It also suggests offering 30–45 mL (2 to 3 Tbsp) unsaturated fat daily while limiting butter, hard margarine, lard, and shortening.

Sep 27, 2026

Upload by jayni