Sorting

Learning

The aim of this session is for children to:

• recall that all food comes from a plant or animal;
• sort a selection of food according to its plant or animal source.

You will need

• A selection of food and/or food packaging (enough for one per child), e.g. apples, onions, carrots, cabbage, herbs, pears, strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, a clean empty egg box, a clean empty milk carton, a clean empty yogurt pot, a can of tuna (unopened), a can of meat (unopened). 

Note: Make sure the packaging is safe for the children to handle. You should not allow children to handle packaging from raw meat or fish, or opened cans.  If you are not able to use food and/or food packaging, use the Where food comes from cards.

• Where food comes from cards – cut the cards so the food image and question are separated from the food source.

Listen and respond
Show the children a selection of food, food packaging or the food images from the Where food comes from cards. Ask the children to name each food and say where it comes from. The children might say ‘the shops,’ but encourage them to think about where it comes from before it arrives at the shops. Question the children about each food:

• What is this?
• Where does it come from? (Plant or animal.)
• Have you tried this food before?
• What else did you/could you have with this food? 

Instruct the children to collect a food, food package or food image card and then find a space.

Based on the food they are holding, task the children to sort themselves into ‘food from plants’ and ‘food from animals’. Give them a minute to group themselves. Check if the children have sorted themselves correctly and question them to see if they can explain more about the food they have, e.g. Is it a fruit or a vegetable? Is it a meat or fish? What does it taste like? Finally, summarise that all our food comes from a plant or an animal.

Have a go

You will need both the food image and food source parts of the Where food comes from cards. Work with the children in groups of four. Shuffle the cards and then turn them face up. Let the children take turns to match a food with its source. When children are comfortable with which food comes from which source, e.g. strawberries from a strawberry plant, you can play pairs.  You might reduce the number of cards for this activity. Turn the cards face down and allow the children, in turn, to choose two cards to try and find a pair. If they are successful, they can keep the pair, if they are not, they must return the cards. 

Consolidate

Give a few examples of food not discussed during the session and ask the children to say if it comes from a plant or animal.

You could organise a visit to an allotment or farm to give the children first-hand experience of where some of their food comes from.

Reviewed 24.10.23