Teachers’ Guide
Food and farming: 5-8 years (revised 2012)
Contents
Welcome
Key Facts
Using Food – a fact of life
Key Facts and learning objectives
Downloadable resources
Key Fact ‘Planners’
Curriculum links
Food and farming resources
Videos
Recipes
Interactive activities
Sources of further information
and other useful links
2
2
3
4
5
6
17
18
21
22
23
26
Welcome
This guide will help you plan a series of successful lessons exploring food and farming for
children aged 5-8 years.
Key Facts
The key messages and concepts are delivered through 3 Key Facts:
1. All food comes from plants or animals.
2. Food has to be farmed, caught or grown at home.
3. Food is changed from farm to fork.
Why Key Facts?
The 3 Key Facts have been developed to provide a comprehensive and progressive
approach to teaching about food and farming. They provide a framework to build upon,
ensuring that consistent and up-to-date messages are delivered in school.
Using this framework, children will learn about where their food comes from, how it is farmed
and how it changes from farm to fork.
It is recommended that each Key Fact is taught in order – to ensure that there is a clear
progression in learning and understanding of fundamental concepts. The Key Facts provide
an excellent base for creating your own lessons.
Uses in school
Food – a fact of life provides a comprehensive framework for teaching children about
fundamental food facts. The activities and resources provided are mapped to the different
curricular requirements around the UK. See page 17 for details.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Using Food – a fact of life
Teaching and learning about food and farming for 5-8 year old children is divided into 3 Key
Facts.
For each Key Fact, the following is provided:




Learning objectives;
Classroom activities, e.g. investigations, research, ICT, cooking;
Useful resources, e.g. video clips, interactive activities, worksheets, PowerPoint presentations
and recipes;
Sources of further information.
Pages 7 to 16 show how each Key Fact can be taught in your school. These ‘planners’
highlight the most appropriate resources to use – most of which can be downloaded from
www.foodafactoflife.org.uk
The Key Fact ‘planners’ and downloadable resources are designed to be flexible and allow
you, the professional, to dip-in and use what you feel is best for your school and the children
you teach. Feel free to use the Key Fact ‘planners’ in detail or in part – the choice is yours.
Food – a fact of life fully supports and exploits the appropriate use of ICT in teaching and
learning, using a range of interactive activities to enable children to learn about fundamental
food concepts, as well as PowerPoint presentations and videos that can be used directly in
the classroom. The Key Fact ‘planners’ also promote and encourage hands-on practical work
with food, through cooking and growing.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Key Fact and learning objectives
Key Fact
1. All food comes from
plants or animals.
2. Food has to be farmed,
caught or grown at home.
3. Food is changed from
farm to fork.
Learning objectives
a) To understand that all food comes from plants or animals.
b) To be able to sort a number of foods into plant or animal
groups.
c) To be able to give examples of foods from animals sources.
d) To be able to give examples of foods from plants sources.
a) To know how animals are farmed.
b) To know how plants are farmed.
c) To know that people can grow their own food at home.
a) To know that food is changed from farm to fork to make it safe
to eat.
b) To know the farm to fork stages for some basic foods.
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Downloadable resources
For each Key Fact, a number of downloadable resources have been developed for use in the
classroom.
The resources include:
 Worksheets: photocopiable masters that can be used by children for a variety of
different activities.

Cards: photographs of different foods which can be used for display, card activities
involving matching and sorting.

PowerPoint presentations: if you have an interactive whiteboard, these can be used to
introduce and support the teaching of key concepts. The presentations could also be
printed for an attractive display. All PowerPoint presentations can be customised,
allowing you to tailor them to the needs of your children.

SMART Board files: if you have an interactive whiteboard, these can be used to support
lessons and stimulate discussion or engage children in small group work.

Videos: demonstrations of basic recipes for use in the primary school classroom, as well
as more advanced recipes for inspiration. There are also video clips to support
children’s understanding of where food comes from and different food production
processes.

Recipes: recipe cards which can be laminated and used during cooking.
It would be useful to download the resources in advance, as you might like to laminate some
for the future, e.g. card activities.
At the back of the ‘planners’, the different resources available are listed and examples of how
they may be used are given. A summary of all the resources provided can be found on pages
18-20.
Additional resources
To compliment the resources outlined in this guide, an additional range of resources can be
found in the Healthy Eating and Cooking modules on the Food – a fact of life website. These
include worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, interactive activities, video clips and lots of
different cards for activities and display. Go to www.foodafactoflife.org.uk for further details.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Key Fact ‘Planners’
How to use the ‘planners’
The planners provide guidance for teaching about different food and nutrition concepts in
school.
Each Key Fact ‘planner’ is divided into 3 columns, these being:
Learning objectives
Activity
Resources
Learning objectives
These highlight the main learning objectives for each Key Fact. In essence, these are core
competences for what children should know and understand at this age.
Activity
This is the main part of the ‘planner’. It details how you, the teacher, can introduce concepts,
organise tasks and question children’s understanding.
The text highlights appropriate questions that could be asked, as well as the most appropriate
resources to use. These are only suggestions, and should be used in conjunction with ‘tried
and tested’ methods you currently use.
Resources
Different Food – a fact of life resources are highlighted for use. The name and type of the
resource is provided, along with a number. This is unique for each resource.
For example:



Plant or animal? Worksheet 302
Animal PowerPoint 302
Plant Cards 303
All the resources can be found in the Food and farming module on the Food – a fact of life
website. In each Key Fact area, you will find a copy of the ‘planner’ as well as the
downloadable resources.
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Key Fact 1: All food comes from plants or animals.
Learning objectives
a) To understand
that all food comes
from plants or
animals.
*Explain as
appropriate that:
- yogurt, cheese and
butter are not directly
from an animal, but
products made with
milk that comes from a
cow.
- bread, pasta and
noodles are made
from flour, which is
from a plant (wheat)
and breakfast cereals
are made from plants
such as rice or corn.
Activity
Explain to the children that all food comes
from plants or animals.
Use the Where does food come from?
PowerPoint to introduce this concept to the
children.
 Can they name the foods?
 Do they know whether they are from
plants or animals?
Resources
Where does
food come
from?
PowerPoint 301
Draw two columns on the board (or on a large
sheet of paper) and head them, Plants and
Animals.
Board or large
sheet of paper
Place the Food Cards into a small bag. Take a
card from the bag. Ask the children whether it
comes from a plant or an animal*. Start with
some simple examples such as fruit and fish.
Food Cards 301
Small bag
Briefly discuss the chosen foods, e.g.
 Who has eaten this before?
 What does it taste like?
Repeat 2 or 3 times.
Choose children to come and take a card,
name the food and attach it to the right
column. Discuss their decisions. Continue until
all the cards have been used. Ask the children
if they can add further foods to either of the
columns.
Alternatively, you could use the Plant or
animal? SMART Board activity.
Show children the Plant or animal? Video clip.
It would be ideal to show this on an interactive
whiteboard, but it could also be shown on a
class computer. This video shows children
trying to guess whether food is from a plant or
animal source. You could arrange something
similar with your children.
To help consolidate, use the Breakfast
Worksheet. Ask children to recall their
breakfast, stating which foods are from plants
and animals.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Plant or animal?
SMART Board
301
Plant or animal?
Video clip
Breakfast
Worksheet 306
b) To be able to sort
a number of foods
into plant or animal
groups.
Recap that all foods come from plants or
animals. Ask children for a couple of
examples of foods from plants and foods from
animals.
Individual
computers
Demonstrate the Plant or animal? Interactive
activity to the children. On individual
computers, set children to work alone or in
pairs on the Plant or animal? Interactive
activity.
Plant or animal?
Interactive
activity
Give the children a copy of the Plant and
animal pictures Worksheet and the Plant or
Animal? Worksheet.
Plant and
animal pictures
Worksheet 301
Explain to the children that they will be cutting
out the pictures of foods and gluing them onto
the right columns on the Plant or animal?
Worksheet. Check that the children know
what the foods are before they begin and
explain that all these foods come from the UK,
e.g. plums can be grown in Worcestershire,
and Salmon can be caught in Scotland.
Plant or animal?
Worksheet 302
Scissors
Glue
Do an example of the cutting and sticking with
the class. Allow the children to complete the
rest of the work by themselves or in pairs.
When they finish, older children can add their
own words or pictures of foods to the columns.
c) To be able to give
examples of foods
from animal sources.
Alternatively, use the Plant or animal? 2
Worksheet. This is a single photocopiable
sheet.
Take the Food Cards from the previous lesson
and display those which show foods from
animals. Question the children about each
one:
 What is it?
 Does it come from a plant or animal?
 Which animal does it come from?
 Have you eaten this food?
 Do you like it?
Plant or animal?
2 Worksheet 308
Use the Animals PowerPoint to look in more
detail at the foods from animals. Introduce
the children to the Red Tractor logo and food
assurance. Explain that it is important that
animals are happy and healthy – use the
Happy and healthy worksheet.
Animals
PowerPoint 302
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Food Cards 301
Happy and
healthy
Worksheet 309
Use laminated and cut up sets of the Matching
Cards. The children can then match different
foods to their animal sources. Alternatively,
these can be left unlaminated and the
children can cut out, match and glue a
selection of these pictures into their work
books.
d) To be able to
give examples of
foods from plant
sources.
Matching Cards
302
Ask some of the children to tell you about a meal
they ate recently. Draw and label the meal on
the board. Ask the children to identify which
parts of the meal come from plants. Repeat this
a couple of times to help children understand
that all the food they eat can be traced back to
a source.
Show the Plants Video clip. Question the children
afterwards to see if they can remember which
foods they saw and how they were growing.
Show the Plants PowerPoint and talk about what
the foods look like when they are growing.
Plants Video clip
Plants
PowerPoint 303
Look at a plant and ask the children to name the
main parts, e.g. leaf, flower, stem and root.
A flowering
plant
Explain that we eat different parts of plants.
Make it clear to the children that we do not eat
all plants. Some plants are poisonous.
A selection of
foods from
plants, e.g.
celery, broccoli,
carrots.
Hold up several foods which come from plants or
use the Plant Cards and ask children to name
them and say which part of the plant it is, e.g.
broccoli,(flower), apple (fruit), lettuce (leaves),
celery(stem), carrots (root). Explain that potatoes
are tubers. Tubers grow off the roots of potato
plants. For cereals, explain that the part of the
plant that gives us the grain is called the
'seedhead'. For this aged children, it might be
easier to say that this is the fruit of the plant - the
grain that we eat, e.g. wheat or maize
(sweetcorn).
Hand out the Eating plants Worksheet and talk
through how to complete it with the children.
You may like to list some possibilities before the
children begin. They can use ideas from the
PowerPoint and Video clip to help.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Plant Cards 303
Eating plants
Worksheet 303
Key Fact 1 plenary
Recap with the children.
Some of our foods come from plants and some
come from animals. Complete the Plant or
animal Interactive activity with the whole class to
test children’s understanding.
Plant or animal
Interactive
activity.
Different plants and animals provide us with
different foods. Select different Food Cards at
random and question the children:
 What is it?
 Is this from a plant or an animal?
 Which part of plant/which animal is this
from?
Food Cards 301
Demonstrate and then allow the children to use
the Where do my meals come from? (5-8)
Interactive activity. This should help reinforce
where different foods the children eat come
from.
Where do my
meals come
from?
(5-8) Interactive
activity
Challenge children to link foods to The eatwell
plate food groups. Use The eatwell plate food
groups Worksheet to support.
The eatwell
plate food
groups
Worksheet 307
Show the Juices Video and Recipe card and
question children about the ingredients used.
Can they tell you what part of the plant carrots,
apples, pears and cucumbers come from?
Juices Video
Further activities
Set up a cooking session so the children can
make the juices. Can children come up with their
own juices ideas?
Module link: Cooking 5-8, Key Fact 3. Guidance
on setting up a cooking session.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Apple and
carrot juice
Recipe card
Pear, cucumber
and ginger juice
Recipe card
Cooking 5-8,
Key Fact 3
www.foodafact
oflife.org.uk
Key Fact 2: Food has to be farmed, caught or grown at home.
Learning
objectives
a) To know how
animals are
farmed.
Activity
Resources
Question the children:
 Have you ever visited a farm where animals
live?
 What did you see?
 What animals live on farms?
 What do you think an animal needs to grow
and stay healthy?
Show children the Animals Video Clip. Show it a
second time and ask the children to listen out for
what the farmer does to care for the pigs (provides
food, water and bedding and cleans out the
pens). Explain that all animals need food and
water to stay alive and a clean place to sleep
makes the animals comfortable.
Animals Video
clip
Look at the Farming food PowerPoint to help the
children learn more about how farmers rear
animals to supply food. Some animals, like fish, are
caught for food. Fishing takes place in the sea or
rivers. Use the Farming Food Interactive
Whiteboard Activity to help consolidate the main
points.
Farming food
PowerPoint 304
Farming Food
Interactive
Whiteboard
Activity 302
Arrange a visit to an animal farm so children can
find out more about the animals there and how
they are cared for. Alternatively, the children
could use books or the internet to learn about how
other animals are farmed, e.g. lambs
Using information from the Animals Video clip, their
farm visit or research from books or the internet, get
children to complete the Farming food Worksheet.
Animals Video
clip
Farming food
Worksheet 304
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
b) To know
how plants are
farmed.
This session will look at how wheat is farmed and
how strawberries are farmed. You can cover both
of these in the session or do them on separate
occasions.
Question the children:
 What foods do think can be grown on a
farm?
 How do you think they are grown?
Show children the Growing food 1 PowerPoint and
the From wheat to bread Video clip and discuss
how wheat is grown and turned into different foods.
Show children Growing food 2 PowerPoint and
question them about how strawberries are grown.
Show the Fruit and vegetable harvesting Video clip.
Question the children:
 What fruit and vegetables can you see in the
video clip?
 How are they harvested?
 Why are they harvested in different ways?
Children can complete the What’s growing on the
farm? Worksheet.
Use the Which season? Interactive Whiteboard
Activity to look at when fruit and vegetables are in
season throughout the year.
c) To know that
people can
grow their own
food at home.
You could arrange a visit to a fruit or arable farm so
children can explore farming further.
Talk to the children about what can be grown at
home:
 Do you grow any food at home?
 Does anyone you know?
 What sorts of things can be grown at home?
 Where about are things at home grown?
(Allotment, greenhouse, garden, window sill.)
Look at the Growing at home PowerPoint to aid the
discussion about what can be grown at home.
Note: The PowerPoint shows salsa, potato salad and
salad Nicoise, and lists ingredients in these dishes
which can be grown at home. It should be noted
that these dishes contain additional ingredients
which are not listed, e.g. anchovies, mayonnaise.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Growing food 1
PowerPoint 305
From wheat to
bread Video
clip
Growing food 2
PowerPoint 306
Fruit and
vegetable
harvesting
Video clip
What’s growing
on the farm?
Worksheet 305
Which season?
Interactive
Whiteboard
Activity 303
Growing at
home
PowerPoint 307
Show the Growing potatoes Video clip. Question
the children on what the potatoes need to grow
well.
If you already have a food garden at school, take
the children out to work on the garden. Discuss with
the children what plants need to survive, e.g. water
and light. If you do not already grow food at school,
start preparing and planning what can be done.
Organise some planting, e.g. potatoes in a bucket,
strawberries in a grow bag, herbs on the classroom
window ledge.
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Growing
potatoes
Video clip
Key Fact 2 plenary
Recap with the children.



What animals can be found on farms?
What do farmers do to look after their
animals?
What foods can be grown on farms? What
does the farmer do to grow foods?
What foods do people grow at home?
Further activities
Harvest festival
Arrange an assembly or classroom activities
focusing on harvest festival. The following
resources could be used:
Cooking
www.foodafactof
life.org.uk
Use the Harvest time PowerPoint to set the
scene. Explore the themes of harvest, as well as
when different food is harvested throughout the
year. Use the following worksheets to
consolidate different aspects: Down on the farm
Worksheet, Growing food Worksheet and
Harvest time Worksheet. Use other resources
from Key Fact 1 and 2 to help bring Harvest to
life, e.g. videos, photographs and interactive
games.
Harvest time
PowerPoint 309
Down on the farm
Worksheet 310
Growing food
Worksheet 311
Harvest time
Worksheet 312
Explore the theme of Harvest festival with the
children. What does it mean to them? Ask
children to create a display or artwork
highlighting their thoughts and understanding.
Use the What does Harvest mean to me?
Worksheet.
What does
Harvest mean to
me? Worksheet
313
Plan to cook some dishes with ingredients which
can be grown at home, e.g. potato salad,
salsa, garden salad.
For lots of support and recipes look at the
Cooking module of the Food – a fact of life
website.
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Key Fact 3: Food is changed from farm to fork.
Learning
objectives
a) To know that
food is changed
from farm to fork
to make it safe
to eat.
b) To know the
farm to fork
stages for some
basic foods.
Activity
Resources
Show children the Can I eat it? PowerPoint
Can I eat it?
PowerPoint 308
Use the PowerPoint to help children
understand that we can not eat food straight
from the farm or garden, it has to be changed
in some way. Sometimes it is just changed in a
small way like being washed or peeled.
Sometimes it has to be cooked or treated.
Establish that these changes are made to
make food safe to eat.
Give children the What’s changed? Cards. The
children can cut out, match and stick the
foods in their books. They can then write, or
cut out and stick the Changing words Cards,
to show how the foods have changed
between each picture. You may wish to cut
out and laminated the cards so they can be
reused.
Answers:
 Broccoli: pick, cut, wash cook;
 Potatoes: wash, cook;
 Cucumber: pick, wash, cut;
 Chicken: cook;
 Beef: shape, cook;
 Strawberries: pick, wash, cut.
What’s changed?
Cards 304
Module link: Cooking 5-8 Key Fact 1d. Looking
at how ingredients have to be prepared to
make various dishes.
Cooking 5-8, Key
Fact 1d
www.foodafactof
life.org.uk
From wheat to
bread, Cheese
making and
Milking Video
clips
Show the From wheat to bread, Cheese
making and Milking Video clips and, in simple
terms, talk about the different stages the food
goes through before it can be eaten.
Show children the Farm to fork (5-8) Interactive
activity. Explain to them that the activity asks
them work out the different steps, from farm to
fork, for different types of foods. There are 3
stages for each food. You will need to
demonstrate the activity with the children,
showing them how to use the controls and
quizzing them on the different steps for each
food. You may wish to ask for volunteers to
help.
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Changing words
Cards 305
Computer room
Farm to fork
(5-8) Interactive
activity
Children will be given the following examples:
* bread: wheat > flour > bread
* yogurt: cow > milk > yogurt
* mashed potato: potato plant > potato >
mashed potato
* ham: pig > pork > ham
* apple juice: apple tree > apple > apple juice
* fish fingers: fish > fillet of fish > fish finger
Allow the children to work through this activity
individually.
Farm to fork
Cards 306
To reinforce children’s understanding, provide
laminated sets of the Farm to fork Cards for the
children to order.
Plenary Key Fact 3
Recap with the children.
Can we eat food straight from the
farm?
 Why not?
Before we eat food it has to be changed.
Sometimes this might simply mean washing it
but it can also mean cutting, cooking and
treating food as well.

What happens to some of our foods before we
eat them?
 Carrots in the ground
 Wheat in the field
 Milk in a cow
Further Activities
Do some cooking work with children to
reinforce the changes food goes through
before it is eaten. You could make some Soda
bread to show how flour can be used after it
has been produced from wheat. Use the Soda
bread Video and recipe card to show children
how it is done.
You could also show other videos and their
accompanying recipes as examples of dishes
using foods the children have been learning
about:
 Welsh rarebit Video – cheese
 Winter salad Video – carrot and apple
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Soda Bread
Video and
Recipe card
Welsh rarebit
Video and
Recipe card
Winter salad
Video and
Recipe card
Curriculum links
This chart shows the main curriculum links to different subjects throughout the UK. There are also lots of
other opportunities in school for cross-curricular links, including geography, history, art and design,
health education, numeracy and literacy. Food – a fact of life also supports the appropriate use of ICT.
England
Key
Fact 1
Key
Fact 2
Key
Fact 3
Wales
Scotland
Science
Life processes and living
things 3b
Science
Life processes and living
things 3.2
Social studies
People, place and
environment
PSHE and citizenship 2a
PSE: Skills – Listen well with
growing concentration
and respond
appropriately.
Science
Plant Earth
Science
Life processes and living
things 1b, 2b, 2e, 2f, 3a,
5a
Science
Life processes and living
things 1.3, 2.6, 3.1, 4.1
Technologies: Food and
textile contexts
Science
Materials and their
properties 2a, 2b
PSHE and citizenship 3g
Northern Ireland
The World Around Us
Personal Development
and Mutual
Understanding
The World Around Us
Social studies
People, place and
environment
Science
Materials and their
properties 2.1, 2.2
PSE: Physical aspect –
know about…threats in
the home and
environment.
Science
Plant Earth
Technologies: Food and
textile contexts
Social studies
People, place and
environment
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
The World Around Us
Personal Development
and Mutual
Understanding
Food and farming resources
The chart below summarises all the downloadable resources
to support the teaching of the Key Facts for children aged 5-8 years.
Suggestions for use are also provided.
Key
Fact
1
Resource Key
C – Cards
G – Guide
IA – Interactive
activity
PP – PowerPoint
R – Recipe
SB – SMART Board
V – Video
WS –Worksheet
Type
No.
Title
Description
PP
301
Where does food come
from?
PP
302
Animals
PP
303
Plants
C
301
Food cards
C
302
Matching
C
303
Plant cards
SB
301
Plant or animal?
A PowerPoint which helps children name
different foods and identify where they
can be bought.
A PowerPoint looking at the foods we get
from different animals.
A PowerPoint looking at plants and the
foods we get from them.
A variety of pictures of foods which can
be cut out and sorted into those from
plant, and those from animal, sources.
Pictures of animals and foods which come
from them. The cards should be cut out
and can be matched by the children.
Laminating the cards is advised.
A selection of A4 food cards which can
be used to help children identify which
part of a plant different foods come from,
e.g. leaf, stem.
A SMART Board activity showing different
foods which have to be dragged into a
plant or animal column according to their
source.
This video clip shows children sorting
different foods from a shopping bag into
their plant or animal sources.
This video clip shows different fruit and
vegetables growing.
V
Plant or animal?
V
Plants
V
Juices
A video showing two different juices being
made.
IA
Plant or animal?
IA
Where do my meals
come from?
In this activity, children have to drag items
of food into a plant or animal grid
depending on the foods source.
In this activity, children are presented with
dishes and have drag the picture of the
original food to each ingredient.
8 foods which can be cut out and glued
in the correct plant or animal column on
the Plant or animal? Worksheet (below) to
show their source.
WS
301
Plant and animal pictures
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
2
WS
302
Plant or animal? 1
WS
303
Eating plants
WS
306
Breakfast
WS
307
The eatwell plate food
groups
A worksheet challenging children to link
different foods to food groups.
WS
308
Plant or animal? 2
A worksheet asking children to sort foods
into animal or plant origin.
WS
309
Happy and healthy
A sheet highlighting the importance of
taking care of animals that are farmed.
R
Apple and carrot juice
A recipe for apple and carrot juice.
R
A recipe for pear, cucumber and ginger
juice.
A PowerPoint looking at how different
animals are farmed.
A PowerPoint which looks at how wheat is
grown.
A PowerPoint which looks at how
strawberries are grown.
A PowerPoint which shows a selection of
foods which can be grown at home.
A PowerPoint focusing on harvest time,
exploring when food is harvested.
This video clip shows animals on a farm.
PP
304
Pear, cucumber and
ginger juice
Farming food
PP
305
Growing food 1
PP
306
Growing food 2
PP
307
Growing at home
PP
309
Harvest time
A worksheet showing a plant and an
animal column. The pictures from the
Plant and animal pictures Worksheet can
be glued into the columns or children can
draw appropriate images on to the sheet.
A worksheet for children to record foods
which come from different parts of a
plant.
A worksheet exploring the types of foods
eaten for breakfast.
V
Animals
V
From wheat to bread
This video clip shows bread being made
from wheat.
V
Fruit and vegetable
harvesting
This video clip shows different fruit and
vegetables being harvested.
V
Growing potatoes
This video clip shows how to grow
potatoes.
A worksheet for children to record 3
animals which are farmed and how
farmers care for their animals.
A worksheet which allows children to
record 4 plants which are farmed for food.
WS
304
Farming food
WS
305
What’s growing on the
farm?
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
3
WS
310
Down on the farm
A worksheet to explore plants and animals
which are found on farms.
WS
311
Growing food
A worksheet for children to focus on plant
growing and being harvested.
WS
312
Harvest time
WS
313
What does harvest mean
to me?
A worksheet which focuses on the Red
Tractor message.
A worksheet for children to record what
Harvest time means to them.
SB
302
Farming food
SB
303
Which season
PP
308
Can I eat it?
C
304
What’s Changed?
C
305
Changing words
C
306
Farm to fork
A SmartBoard interactive whiteboard
activity focusing on food and farming.
A SmartBoard interactive whiteboard
activity focusing on when foods are in
season.
A PowerPoint looking at how foods have
to be prepared before they can be
eaten.
Pictures of foods before and after they
have been prepared which have to be
matched and the changes identified.
Words which can be cut out, laminated
and used with the activity above.
These cards show different farm to fork
stages. The cards should be cut out and
can then be ordered by the children.
Laminating the cards is advised.
This video clip shows wheat being made
into bread.
V
From wheat to bread
V
Cheese making
V
Milking
V
Soda bread
A video showing how to make soda
bread.
V
Welsh Rarebit
A video showing how to make Welsh
rarebit.
V
Winter salad
A video showing how to make winter
salad.
IA
Farm to fork
R
Soda bread
In this activity, children are presented with
farm to fork stages for different foods. The
children need to select the right stages, in
the right order for each given food. Each
food has 3 stages.
A recipe for soda bread.
R
R
Welsh rarebit
Winter salad
A recipe for Welsh rarebit.
A recipe for winter salad.
This video clip shows milk being made into
cheese.
This video clip shows cows being milked.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Videos
The Food and farming module features 9 exciting video clips which show farming
processes and 10 videos which show recipes being made. These can be downloaded
and used in the classroom with your pupils. The videos are also suitable for children with
special needs or lower ability pupils in secondary schools.
Cool creations




Crunchy winter salad
Juices
Mackerel dip
Plum-berry layered dessert
See how to make some
recipes that do not
need any cooking.


Welsh rarebit
Rhubarb and orange crumble
See how to cook
delicious hot meals.




Cornish pasties
Shepherd’s pie
Shortbread
Soda bread
See how to bake a
range of recipes.
Hot and happening
Brilliant baking
Farming video clips








Plants
Plant or animal?
Where does it come from?
Fruit and vegetable harvesting
From wheat to bread
Milking
Cheese making
Growing potatoes
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
See where different
foods come from and
how they are
processed.
Recipes
The Food and farming video recipes are supported by written recipes. The recipes
available are listed below. There are also additional recipes which can be downloaded
from the Cooking module at www.foodafactoflife.org.uk
Cool creations




Crunchy winter salad
Juices
Mackerel dip
Plum-berry layered dessert
Non-cook


Welsh rarebit
Shepherd’s pie
Recipes involving heat.




Cornish pasties
Rhubarb and orange crumble
Shortbread
Soda bread
Recipes involving
baking in an oven.
Hot and happening
Brilliant baking
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Interactive activities
Plant or animal?
This activity challenges children to sort foods into
two groups – from plants or from animals. For
example, eggs are from a chicken, so they would
need to go into the animal grid.
A random selection of food appears from the
shopping bag each time. In total, 18 foods need
to be sorted.
To sort the foods, simply drag each food to either
the plant or animal grid. If children want to move
foods from one grid to another, simply drag the
food.
To find out the name of a food, simply hover of it
with the cursor. Its name will then be displayed.
When all the foods have been sorted, the ‘Check
my answers’ box highlights. Click on this to find out
the score, i.e. how well you did.
The feedback screen can be printed out, useful
for recording purposes or making an attractive
display.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Where do my meals come from? (5-8)
This activity sets the children the task of
identifying the food origins (or source) for
breakfast, playtime snack, lunch and dinner.
For example:
Boiled egg = chicken
Toast = wheat
Butter = cow
The four different meal occasions appear along
the bottom of the screen. The activity always
starts with breakfast, but you can click on any
mealtime.
Use the left and right green arrows to scroll
through the different food sources. Then, simply
drag the food source image to the correct part
of the meal, e.g. drag the chicken to the egg.
You can move the food source images around
the mealtime, or remove the image by dragging
it to its place in the scroll bar.
When a mealtime has been completed, click on
another occasion. When all four mealtimes have
been completed, the ‘Check my food sources’
box will be highlighted. Click on this box to find
out how well you did. A feedback screen will tell
you how many food sources were correct.
At this stage you can start the activity again, go
back to the activity (if you need to make some
changes) or print out the food sources page.
The food sources page shows all the meal
occasions, along with the correct food sources.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Farm to fork challenge (5-8)
This activity sets the children the challenge of
linking together the correct stages for the
production of different food from farm to fork. In
this version, 5-8 years, there are 3 stages to be
identified for each food.
During each activity, children are challenged to
find the stages for three foods (selected randonly
from a bank of six). A grid appears on the screen,
showing 9 different stages. Under the grid the food
they need to find the stages for is displayed, e.g.
apple juice.
Children must then click on where the food comes
from (i.e. origin), the each stage through to the
final food. As they click on the different stages, a
line appears linking them together. For example, if
children where asked to find the correct stages for
apple juice, the answer would be:
 apple tree;
 apple;
 apple juice.
Clicking on ‘Clear stages’ clears any selection on
the grid, so that chidlren can start again. When
the challenge for a food has been completed,
the ‘Try another food’ button is hightlighted.
Simply click on this button to go to the next food.
When all three foods have been completed, the
feedback screen shows how many stages were
correct. At this stage you can start the activity
again or print out the food sources page. The food
sources page shows all the stages for each food.
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
Sources of further information
British Nutrition Foundation
www.nutrition.org.uk
HGCA
www.hgca.com
Horticultural Development Council
www.hdc.org.uk
DairyCo
www.dairyco.org.uk
Potato Council
www.potatoesforschools.org.uk
Meat and Education
www.meatandeducation.com
Other useful links
Active Kids Get Cooking
www.activekidsgetcooking.org.uk
Association for Science Education
www.ase.org.uk
Dairy Council
www.milk.co.uk
Design and Technology Association
www.data.org.uk
Farming and Countryside Education
www.face-online.org.uk
Farms for Schools
www.farmsforschools.org.uk
Flour and Grain Education Programme
www.flourandgrain.com
Focus on Food
www.designdimension.org
Food in Schools
www.foodinschools.org
Foodforum
www.foodforum.org.uk
Growing Schools
www.teachernet.gov.uk/growingschools
Red Tractor Assured Food Standards
www.redtractor.org.uk
School Milk
www.schoolmilk.co.uk
Seafish
www.seafish.org.uk
The Growing Schools Garden
www.schoolsgarden.org.uk
The Foundation is grateful for financial support from the
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. © 2012
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© Food – a fact of life 2012
British Nutrition Foundation
High Holborn House
52-54 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6RQ
Tel: 020 7404 6504
Email: postbox@nutrition.org.uk
Web: www.nutrition.org.uk