My daughter is in 3rd grade and has recenlty been having some issues with a few kids at school. Apparently at lunch some of the girls will take their meat out of their sandwiches and wave it around in front of my daughters face, they will make mean comments about her not eating meat, etc.

I made her teacher aware of this and he suggested that I do a presentation to the class on our families choice of being vegetarian. My daughter is very excited about this and wants to start with putting pictures on the board of famous vegetrians/vegans.  I found a list of names but was wondering if anyone else knew of famous vegetarians/vegans that 3rd graders would know.  Also if anyone has ideas for the presentation I would love to hear them. Thanks so much!

This is a wonderful idea, Tami.

(I also have school aged children).  Oldest in 4th grade.

Here's a quick list that I found, that may be known by this age group, of those that eat a vegan or vegetarian diet.. and it may be better to word it like that, as this list seems to have a variety of folks to that do eat either way for a variety of reasons (ethical, dietary, etc.) which may be a help to you, when listing the reasons why people may choose to adapt a vegan lifestyle or eat vegetarian.

Leonard Da Vinci

Avril Lavigne

Mayim Bialik (the girl character from 'Blossom' who is also incredibly intelligent! A nueroscientist - and has done voice work for The Adventures of Johnny Quest, Johnny Bravo, Recess, Kim Possible.. -  same for Alyssa Milano from 'Who's the Boss' .. believe both of those shows may still be in syndication, so a possibility kids in that age group have heard of the shows (at the least) and may remember the 'girl' characters (now women, of course!)

Ellen Degeneres (my daughter thinks she's hilarious - ask your daughter, if she knows who she is.. )  

Casey Kasem (the voice of Shaggy from Scooby Doo)

Tobey Maguire (didn't he play Spiderman or another superhero??)

Jason Mraz (singer/songwriter - the guy who sings 'I'm Yours' on the radio..)

Pat Neshek (a MLB player)

Natalie Portman, Padme from the Star Wars trilogy, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and read that she traveled to Rwanda with Jack Hanna in 2007 to film the documentary 'Gorillas on the Brink'

Ruben Studdard (from American Idol)

Former President Clinton (who does say he still eats a little fish, on occasion)

Jaci Velasquez (a popular Christian pop singer)

Albert Einstein

Anne Hathaway (which is a no brainer for your list, as she's been in Alice in Wonderland, The Princess Diaries, Devil Wears Prada, Ella Enchanted.. the list goes on and on).  It reads that she also works with charities like the St. Judes Children's Hospital and The Lollipop Theatre Network that screens films for critically ill children.

Hope this is some help! Would love hear how the presentation goes.

To be honest, her classmates behavior at lunch, reminds me of a few interactions with ADULT relatives.  Hmmmm..   ;)

I think this is great! I am a grade three teacher and was a vegetarian as a child. Famous vegetarians that would impress 8 year olds might include Orlando Bloom(Pirates of the Caribbean), Lea Michelle (Glee), Leona Lewis, Natalie Portman (Star Wars is cool, right?). All of these are adults, it would be cool to include some children to the list.

Porshia De Rossi (Ellens girfriend)

Sandra Oh (christina yang from greys anatomy)

Andre 3000 (from outkast)

Alec Baldwin (he was the boyfriend in cat in the hat)

Brad Pitt

Joaquinn Pheonix

Mike Tyson

Abraham Lincoln

Casey Affleck (Dancing with the stars)

Chelsea Clinton

Christina Applegate

Fionna Apple

Hayden Pannetierre (heros)

Jack Johnson (Musician)

Kate Winslet (Titanic, Never Land)

Kelly Clarkson

Liv Tyler (Lord Of the Rings)

Lisa Simpson (the simpsons, i know silly but a lot of kids watch it)

Wow what a great idea!  Since the kids are only in third grade I think it would be great to show a video or have pictures showing what amazing animals cows and chickens are.  I recently took my 6 year old neice (who eats meat) to a farm to show her cows and chickens and how they can respond to humans just like dogs and cats.  She has definately cut back on her meat consumption because she liked how sweet the cows were.  I have tried to mention the health benefits about being vegan to her and how bad eating meat is for the environment, but those points are usually lost on kids.

I would also suggest bringing a vegan snack for the class.  Maybe cookies or something that kids would like so they could see how tasty food without animal products is.

Another celebrity is Olivia Wilde.  She just was in the movie Tron that lots of kids liked.  I think Lea Michelle is a great one for kids too.

Thank you all so much. A lot of the celebrities you mentioned I didn;t even know followed a vegetarian/vegan diet. I also like the idea of bringing a vegan snack so they can see that it isn't just lettuce and carrots. 

Ashley, funny you should mention a video, my 6th grade daughter just won an awrd for a video she made about stopping animal cruelty. She visited an animal sanctuary and one of the volunteers told the stories of some of the animals. My daughter offered to remake the video with the messag eof this is why we choose not to eat meat. Hopefully the class likes it.

I appreciate all the repsonses and will let you know how the presentation goes in the next few weeks. Oh, I also ordered a book from Amazon called This Is Why We Don't Eat Animals. I will read it first to see if it is something I want to read for the class. Has anyone read this book?

Have a great day everyone!

Just a quick update-my daughter decided we should make vegan smore's in class. Sounds good to me. Since we can't bring homemade treats to school this will be an easy, cheap vegan snack to make.

I'm getting really excited and will be meeting with her teacher today.

I've heard amazing things about "Thats Why We Dont Eat Animals".  Apparently the message is kid-friendly, and the artwork is lovely.  I looked for it in my local Chapters just yesterday, but they didn't have a copy.  Good luck with your presentation.  I hope your daughter finds it helpful.

Don't know if your daughter is into this stuff yet in 3rd grade, but Mark Zuckerberg that invented Facebook and Biz Stone that invented Twitter are both vegans too!

I'm excited to hear how it goes!   Please be sure to update us.  We also have "That's Why We Don't Eat Animals" and my kids (ages 5 and 9) love it.  Yesterday we got "Ninety-Five" and they love that too.  My little one has the flu and he had me read it to him twice when it arrived.

rockmommaG, that is so adorable!  I love, love, love that your kids are so into it already! 

Very cool ideas!!!

How did the presentation go?