Year: Reception
Lesson Coverage: Mystery Tent
Curriculum Covered: KS1
English
En1 Speaking and listening
1a-f, 2a,c, 3a,b, 8d
En2 Reading
1b
En3 Writing
2a, 4a,e,g, 5a-e
Science
Sc1 Scientific enquiry
2a,b,f
Sc2 Life processes and living things
1b, 2b,c,g
Design and
Technology
Developing ideas
1b, c
Working with equipment
2a,d,f
Breadth of study
5c
ICT
Knowledge, skills and understanding
1a, 5b
Geography
Geographical enquiry
1a, 2q,c
Knowledge and understanding
3e
Art and
Design
Exploring
1a, 2c, 4a
About the Game
‘Mystery Tent’ has a Geography and Science theme, it involves matching food to the
appropriate country of origin. The game has 3 levels with Level 1 being most appropriate for
children in Reception.
The main learning points within this game are:
 There are different countries in the world
 We can travel to different countries
 We can use a map to locate other countries
 A map shows us where the sea and land is
 Food comes from different countries
 Sometimes we eat differently on holiday
 We all like a variety of foods
Within the game children select food and drag and drop it to the country they think it comes
from. The foods are moved using the mouse, which is indicated by a hand on screen. All
foods and countries are labelled.
There are 6 foods to match in each section with a total of 5 sections in Level 1. The food to
match becomes progressively harder as the children move through Level 1. Other levels could
be accessed if playing with an adult/older child. Please note – Levels 2 and 3 contain a
broader range of countries and foods.
Lesson Plan
Before online activity
1. Talk to the children about where they have been on holiday.
Additional Resources
World map
Food illustrations/books
Possible activity questions:
o Have you travelled to another country?
o Did you eat different food there?
2. Show the children pictures of food from different countries
Possible activity questions:
o Can you tell me the name of this item of food?
o Have you tasted this food before?
o Did you like it?
3. Introduce the children to a world map.
4. Show the children where we live and point out other familiar
holiday destinations. Particularly identify England, Scotland,
France and Italy and talk about foods from those countries.
During online activity
1. Introduce children to computer and keyboard.
2. Help children with the computer start up procedures and
entering of the My School Lunch website.
3. Ensure that all children have selected ‘Mystery Tent’ and then
chosen Level 1(4-7 year olds).
4. Read aloud the ‘How to play’ instructions, encourage children
to try and follow.
5. Ensure all children have selected ‘START’, using their mouse
control.
6. Talk to the children about what they can see – food, map
containing England, Scotland, France, Italy.
Possible online activity questions:
o What is a map?
o What does it show us?
o Where do we live?
o What is our country called?
o Where is the sea?
o Where is the land?
o Is there sea around England/Scotland/France/Italy?
o What is the other land below France?
o How do we travel to these countries?
o Can we use the sea?
o Can we travel above the land?
o Would it take a long time to travel to Scotland/France
from England?
7. Show the children how to use the mouse to select the food
illustrations, making sure they can locate the white hand on
screen.
8. Show the children how to use the mouse to drag the foods.
9. Demonstrate what will happen if a food is dragged to the
wrong country.
10. The game can be restarted by selecting another game, then
re-entering ‘Mystery Tent’.
11. Encourage children to alternate players and help each other
with the game.
12. Talk to the children about the foods and countries whilst they
are playing.
Possible online activity questions:
o What are those foods?
o Are they healthy?
o Do we eat that food at school for lunch?
o Do you like that food?
o What is that country?
o Have you been there on holiday?
13. At the end of the session help the children with closing the
website and shutting down procedures.
Following online
activities
Additional Resources
Floor map or large paper maps
A variety of plastic foods
Paper
Pencils
Coloured pencils
Rubber
Word bank/dictionary
Food illustrations
Reference books/sheets
Recipe and ingredients for
popular holiday food
Activity 1: Food Map
 Talk to the children about the foods and countries they
encountered during ‘Mystery Tent’.
 Look at and identify the plastic foods available.
 Look at the world map together.
Possible questions:
o Is it like the map on ‘Mystery Tent’.
o Where is the sea/land?
o Can you find England?
o Can you find Scotland/France and Italy?
 Ask the children to pick up a plastic food and think about
where it comes from.
 Encourage the children to place the food onto the country on
the map.
 Repeat this activity with different groups of children and other
foods.
Activity 2: Holiday Food
 Have a discussion with the children about holiday destinations.
 Talk to the children about foods they have tried on holiday.
Possible questions:
o Do we eat that food at school for lunch?
o Do you like that food?
 Ask the children to choose a country that they have travelled
to.
 Encourage the children to draw foods from that country and
label where appropriate.
 Provide a word bank/dictionary to help the children write the
labels.
 Some children may need the teacher to provide illustrations
and to act as a scribe for the labels.
Activity 3: Cooking Holiday Food
 Talk to parents about food allergies before beginning.
 As a whole class choose a favourite food from the holiday food
work.
 Children to cook chosen food with an adult (teacher, nonteaching assistant) in the food technology area.
 Choose only a small group of children each time to work with
adult.
 Ensure hands are washed and appropriate clothing is worn.
 Ensure that all children are never left un-supervised.
 Inform other staff and children of food technology dangers.
 Follow school procedure for use of food technology area.
 Follow safe procedures for food safety and hygiene.
 Follow safe procedures when using hot tools and equipment.
 Help the children to measure and mix ingredients.
 Follow recipe.
 Wash and tidy away all equipment.
 Children to wash their hands.
 Check the Food Technology procedures for your school.
 If possible allow children to taste the food, always check with
parents first for food allergies.
Support/Extension Ideas
The ideas below are given to support the less able and extend the more able children in
Reception.
Support Ideas
 Seat less able child with a more able partner (child/adult).
 Teacher to provide illustrations of relevant foods for children to
copy during following online activity.
 Teacher to act as scribe when labelling food illustrations,
children to copy write if appropriate. (This may be needed for
most Reception children in Term 1- Autumn)
Extension Ideas
 Encourage more able children to help less able children play
‘Mystery Tent’.
 Allow more able children to work independently during
following online activity.
 Children to use a word bank/dictionary to find labels for food
illustrations.
 More able children to attempt spelling their own words. (This
may be appropriate during Term 3 – Summer)
 More able children may be encouraged to produce a menu
using foods from different countries.