Green Salad		  

Primary Resources
Dear Teacher,

Welcome to The Vegetarian Society's Project for Primary Schools. Nowadays we live in a society where the many different lifestyle choices people make are often expressed through food. This resource aims to provide a range of activities linked to an understanding of vegetarianism as a diet that is normal, fun to eat and healthy.

  • It does not aim to convert children to vegetarianism and is mapped to the curriculum in the areas of science, health and nutrition, art, design and technology, English and maths.
  • It includes a glossary of terms for those unfamiliar with vegetarian eating and background information explaining the why's and wherefore's of the diet.
  • It is particularly useful for teachers who perhaps have veggie kids in their classes and would so like to include vegetarianism in their teaching of food and nutrition and design and technology.
  • It contains eight lesson plans and activity sheets that work together to provide an understanding of how a wide variety of different foods supply us with essential energy and nutrients and keep us healthy and happy human beings.
  • If you would like a speaker to visit your school see the: register of speakers & cookery demonstrators

Scheme of Work

1. Unscrambling Food Chains
This activity explains the concept of energy and of photosynthesis and traces the energy of the Sun through the food chain of an ecosystem. The children create a mobile of their favourite food chain beginning with the Sun and ending with themselves, a lion, a killer whale and so on. The activity also explains that humans can choose where to eat on the food chain.
- Teachers' Notes
 2. What a Funny Salad Plant!
This activity introduces the basics of plant anatomy and offers the opportunity to invent a new plant. It also offers the children the opportunity to design and make a new salad, and to experiment with the colours, textures and flavours that fruits and vegetables allow.
- Teachers' Notes
3. Sensational Sprouting!
This activity offers the children the chance to grow their own food (extremely quickly), thus seeing the process of plant growth discussed in activities 1 and 3 and of plant reproduction, and to make mathematical assessments based on the results.
- Teachers' Notes
 4. Nutritional Labels
This activity, through the investigation of food labels, introduces the basic nutrients and the main sources of food energy. It also explains how labels help us to make the food choices that are right for us and introduces the concept of a healthy varied diet.
- Teachers' Notes
5. Energy Balance
The concept of energy balance is described and children learn how much food they require during the course of a day, to fulfil all their energy needs.
- Teachers' Notes
 6. Fabulous Fibre
This activity introduces the idea that some foods are very low in certain nutrients and others are extremely high and that it is easier to eat smaller quantities of nutrient dense foods that huge mountains of nutrient poor foods. This also centres on the idea of balancing different foods to eat a healthy diet.
- Teachers' Notes
7. Different Sources of Protein
This activity introduces vegetarianism and vegetarian sources of protein. It asks the children to design a protein rich meal for a vegetarian child from the wide variety of sources available.
- Teachers' Notes
 8. Food for Thought
The children, having learnt all about the nutritional values of food, are now ready to discuss the social and cultural values of food. Why do people go vegetarian? Should people eat meat or not? It's time for a heated debate...!
- Teachers' Notes