YEAR 3 / 4 : TOPIC : DRUGS, MEDICINES AND RISKS
LEARNING OUTCOME
Session 1:
To begin to think about drugs, their
forms and their uses
To be able to define what a drug is.
KEY QUESTIONS
 What is a drug?
 Who might use drugs?
 What might they do with them?
 What should I do if I find some drugs?
THEMES AND CONTENT AREAS
Jugs and herrings activity (see resources):
Introductory activity to establish level of children’s
knowledge, understanding and identify any
existing misconceptions. It is important that
children complete the activity individually.
Write the word drug on a flip-chart. Make a class
list of all the drug names they know: also use
names from Jugs and Herrings activity.
Brainstorm ideas of what this word means and
draw up a class definition from these ideas.
Compare it with the World Health Organisation
definition ‘A drug is a substance that effects the
way we think, feel and behave’ and compare to
own definitions.
Research different dictionary definitions of the
word drug – how and why are they different?
Session 2:
To explore different ways drugs can
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be categorised.
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To learn about some of the
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associated risks of these substances.
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What legal and illegal drugs are there?
What does legal / illegal mean?
What are the different ways they are
taken?
Which ones are prescription drugs and
which are ‘over the counter drugs’? What
is the difference?
What does ‘age-restricted’ mean?
Why are there different rules and laws for
different drugs?
What effects do these drugs have?
What are solvents? (if this is raised)
Gloucestershire Guidance Scheme of Work
In small groups, children write the name of each
drug onto a post-it note and then sort these
according to legal/ illegal/ unsure; medicines/
non-medicines; need adult permission and
supervision/ OK to take without adult permission.
After each activity, groups share and discuss any
they found difficult to categorise. Clear up any
misunderstandings and highlight the fact that
some (e.g. tobacco) will be difficult to categorise.
This will not be a straightforward activity and will
therefore lead to discussion about the law as per
key questions. It is the discussion that is
Year 3/4 programme
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Session 3:
To understand that medicines can be
harmful if they are not used properly
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What risks are there? What would
someone need to know before they tried a
legal / illegal drug (the risks)
important rather than arriving at the ‘correct
answer’!
(This could tie in with a visit from the police)
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What medicinal drugs are there?
What information does someone need to
take a medicine safely? Where do they
find out that information?
Why could medicines be harmful if they
are not taken safely?
Whose responsibility is it to use a
medicine safely?
Ask children to imagine they can only eat their
favourite food. In pairs, get them to talk about
how they would feel when they only had a small
amount and then as they had more and more.
Then ask them to talk about how they would feel
if they had too much medicine. Discuss what
might happen to their body.
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In groups of 4, look at examples of medicine
labels (real or pitcures) to find out how medicines
should be used safely.
Draw a poster for a doctor’s surgery explaining
how medicines need to be taken safely – try and
include all the points discussed above.
Session 4:
To know the main effects of drinking
alcohol
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Which drinks contain alcohol?
How does drinking alcohol make people
feel / behave?
Does it always have these effects? Why
not?
Gloucestershire Guidance Scheme of Work
Make a list of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
(Why do people sometimes add non-alcoholic
drinks to alcoholic ones?)
Choose a name not connected with any of the
children in the class. Individually draw a picture
of this person, who has been drinking alcohol –
show what they have been drinking: where they
Year 3/4 programme
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are, who they are with and how they are feeling.
Compare their picture with a partner’s – how is it
different? Why? Now make a group of 4 – what
differences are there?
Discuss as a class why there are so many
different effects.
Session 5:
To know the main effects of drinking
alcohol (contd)
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Would a child’s body be more affected by
alcohol or less? Why?
Why are there recommended limits on
alcohol consumption?
What does the liver do with alcohol? How
might drinking lots of alcohol affect the
liver?
(NB Sensitive issue – processes)
In groups of 4, children to think of some reasons
why only over-18s are allowed to buy alcohol.
Discuss as a class: checking understanding of
greater effect of alcohol on smaller bodies.
Demonstrate this by showing two clear containers
(one large and one small), add 2 drops of food
colouring and discuss how the concentration
levels are different and why.
In groups, look at the label on a bottle of alcohol
(real or on a picture)– what information does it
give you. Look at government guidance on
alcohol consumption – why is it different for men
and women? Is it going to be the same for all
men and all women? Why not?
Try writing a new label for a bottle of alcohol
using the medicines format. Why is it difficult?
Gloucestershire Guidance Scheme of Work
Year 3/4 programme
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Session 6:
To know the main effects of smoking
cigarettes
Session 7:
To develop attitudes towards
smoking; explore the reasons people
might start and to understand the
reasons why people sometimes find
it hard to stop smoking
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What is a cigarette made from?
What is tar?
What effect does tar have on the lungs?
What is nicotine?
What happens to the heart when
someone smokes a cigarette?
Why might someone start smoking?
Why might they choose to continue?
Do people find it easy or hard to give up
smoking?
What does addicted mean?
Is it impossible for people to give up
smoking once they’ve started?
Why do some people find it easier than
others to give up smoking?
Is it normal for teenagers to smoke? (NB
no - only 9% 11- 15 year olds smoke
regularly)
Dissect a cigarette.
Cigarette and cotton wool experiment (teacher
led).
In groups, children find out as much information
as they can from a cigarette packet about the
harm from smoking. (Why are there health
warnings? Who puts them there?). The children
could continue this research on the internet.
This work will be continued in session 7.
Circle time activity – ‘I would find it hard to live
without…’
‘If I had to live without it I would feel…’
Children to work in groups. Tell them that Sam is
12 years old and has just started smoking. Get
them to discuss: what was happening just before
she had her first puff? Who was she with and
how was she feeling? What influenced her
choice? Why did she decide to carry on
smoking? Set these ideas out as a storyboard.
Children to compare their stories. Ensure the
children have a realistic view of a first cigarette
offer and have discussed the fact that usually it is
friends, family members and people they may like
who offer the first cigarette. Ask the children to
suggest ways that Sam could have changed the
situation to avoid taking her first puff? You could
then take the role of Sam and the children could
ask questions or make suggestions.
Small group discussion as per key questions.
Gloucestershire Guidance Scheme of Work
Year 3/4 programme
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Which things are going to help people give up?
Design a poster to encourage people to give up
smoking. Consider what sort of things would
make people want to stop.
Optional: Session 8:
To begin to develop critical attitudes
towards media messages about
alcohol, tobacco and other legal
drugs
Session 8/9:
To begin to recognise influences
from friends and consider how they
might deal with these
 When do I see people using these drugs
in the media?
 Why do they use them?
 What effects are the drugs having on the
people/ person who uses them?
 What’s the message behind what I’m
seeing?
Remind the children of the legal drugs they know
(including alcohol, tobacco and caffeine). In
pairs, children discuss the programmes they
watch which may have a portrayal of these drugs.
 What’s the difference between persuasion
and influence?
 How might I feel when someone is trying
to persuade me to do something I don’t really
want to do?
 What might I be able to do to keep myself
safe/ enable me to make my own choices
Ask the children for ideas about how they would
recognise a ‘robot persuader’. What would they
say or do? In pairs, children to draw a ‘robot’
persuader and list its abilities and characteristics.
Then ask the children to explain how they would
feel the robot persuader was at work. How would
they know they were being persuaded? Explore
the differences between being ‘persuaded’ and
being ‘influenced’. We often feel uncomfortable
when we are being persuaded and that a
decision is needed; however when we are being
influenced, we feel more comfortable and already
may really want to do the thing being suggested.
Working with a partner, children decide on three
Gloucestershire Guidance Scheme of Work
Gather adverts for caffeine, alcohol and tobacco.
Children to look at a selection of these in small
groups and note the age and mood of the people
portrayed and comment on ‘What sort of people
are they?’ Children to look for health warnings
considering how big these are and whether you
notice them easily. Children to decide how the
advertisers are trying to persuade us to buy their
product.
Year 3/4 programme
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signals that a ‘human’ persuader is at work.
Share these. Then each pair to think of 2
reasons why they might refuse the offer being
made, and 2 actions they could do to get
themselves out of the situation. You could begin
to explore the differences between passive,
aggressive and assertive responses with them.
Session 9/10:
To think about the risks surrounding
unknown substances and consider
what to do if they come across them
To learn about the dangers of
handling discarded syringes and
needles
 Why might it be dangerous to pick up
litter?
 Why might it be dangerous to pick up a
syringe?
 What might the dangers be of unknown
substances and what might I do to keep
myself, and others, safe?
 Who might you tell if you found a syringe
or unknown substance?
Gloucestershire Guidance Scheme of Work
Ask the children to think of reasons why it might
be dangerous to pick up litter. Show a picture of
a syringe and ask why it might be dangerous to
pick it up. Ensure they understand that it is
sharp, may have been in someone else’s body
and may contain an unknown substance.
Using pre-prepared set of cards (see resources)
with different types of drug written on (e.g. pills,
bottle of medicine, packet of cigarettes, syringe)
and another set with places (e.g. school
playground, in the park, in the kitchen). As a
class, children to take it in turns to pick one ‘drug
card’ and one ‘situation card’ and consider what
they should do and who might help them if they
found that drug in the place described. Explore
what the risks are, what help they might need,
who might they tell and how they might tell. In
small groups, each choosing one scenario,
children briefly act out the situation. Make a short
set of rules as a class: ‘You should always tell an
adult if ..’; ‘You shouldn’t touch it if …’
Year 3/4 programme
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