Diet and Life Stages

Teachers’ guide

Knowyourself

Diet and health

Diet and life stages

Phase 2

(age 8-11 years)

Contents

This Teachers’guide provides teaching notes and suggests resources to help children

learn about:

Diet and health

Diet and life stages

Frameworks and lesson notes

There are two frameworks in this document, one for Diet and health and one for Diet and life stages.

Each framework outlines what children will learn and the teaching resources available. Lesson notes are also provided.

Diet and health

Question / Learning / Resources
Do food and drinks provide energy? / Know that food and drinks provide energy / Energy PowerPoint
Energy cards
Blank energy cards
Know that different food and drinks provide different amounts of energy
What do food and drinks provide? / Know that food and drinks
provide different substances that are important for health (nutrients, water and fibre) / Nutrients, water and fibre PowerPoint
Nutrient grid worksheet
Nutrient recipes
How do food and drinks affect health? / Know that food and drink can affect their health and understand the advantages of healthy eating and drinking / Food, drink and health PowerPoint
Food, drink and health worksheet
Know that they need different amounts of food and drink from each food group
Know that all food and drink can be part of a healthy varied diet and active lifestyle
Why do we need to drink regularly? / Know that it is important to drink regularly throughout the day to stay hydrated / Hydration stimulus sheet

Do food and drinks provide energy?

Learning / Teaching notes
Know that food and drinks provide energy
Know that different food and drinks provide different amounts of energy / Use the Energy PPT to introduce the concept that food and drinks provide energy. Use the Energy cards to demonstrate that different food and drinks provide different amounts of energy. Ask the children to rank the cards in order of energy provided per 100g.

Which foods provide the most energy?
Which foods provide the least energy?

Bring in some food and drink packaging, dividing it between the tables of children. Ask the children to identify the energy content (kJ) per 100g on each of the items of food and drink packaging on their table. Between the group, they should choose four foods for which they will create Blank energy cards. Provide children with the Blank energy cardsto complete. Task the class with ordering their newly made kilojoule cards from highest to lowest amount of energy provided per 100g. See if the children can see any similarities in food and drink high in energy (e.g. foods high in energy may be high fat foods) and low in energy (e.g. foods low in energy may be fruits and vegetables).
As an extension activity, use the portions slide of the Energy PowerPointto emphasise that we eat food in different portions and this will affect the energy it provides. Ask the children to identify the energy content (kJ) per portion on each of the items of food packaging. Ask the children to rank the packaging in order of energy provided per portion from high to low. Is this is a different order to the energy provided per 100g?

What do food and drinks provide?

Learning / Teaching notes
Know that food and drinks
provide different substances that are important for health (nutrients, water and fibre) / Use theNutrients, water and fibre PowerPoint introduce that food and drinks provide different substances that are important for health (nutrients, water and fibre). Explain that water and fibre are not nutrients but are important for health. Use the PowerPoint to introduce the functions of different nutrients. Task the children to design a poster showing the function and food sources of the nutrients. You could then use these for a class display.
Bring in some food and drink packaging, dividing it between the tables of children. Task the children to complete the Nutrient grid worksheet by looking at the nutrition label on the packaging. Discuss as a class which food or drink is highest and lowest in carbohydrate, protein and fat. Show the class a poster of the national dietary model in your country.
Question the children on:

What food group each of the food or drinks from the packaging belongs to?
What food groups are the main sources of carbohydrate, protein and fat?

Organise a cooking session, creating recipes which highlight particular nutrients. Use one of the Nutrient recipes provided or find your own:

Danish style open sandwich – use the bread to highlight carbohydrate;
Greek yogurt fruit trifle – use the yogurt to highlight calcium;
Hummus – use the chickpeas to highlightfibre.

How do food and drinks affect health?

Learning / Teaching notes
Know that food and drinks can affect their health and understand the advantages of healthy eating and drinking
Know that they need different amounts from each food group
Know that all food and drink can be part of a healthy varied diet and active lifestyle / Use the Food, drink and health PowerPoint to introduce that different food and drinks provide different nutrients and other substances which can affect our health. Provide children with the Food, drink and healthworksheet.Children should draw food and drinks they believe are important for their health and suggest why they are important.
Task the children with producing a balanced meal. They should use the dietary guidelines for their country to help them decide what foods and the amount they should choose. Check that the children include foods from the following groups:

Bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and breakfast cereals;
Fruit and vegetables;
Meat, fish, eggs, beans, nuts and tofu;
Milk and dairy foods;
A drink.

(Any foods or drinks high in fat and/or sugar should only be present in small amounts.) Children could draw their meals as a poster, labelling what food and drinks are from which groups. You could use these posters as a class display.
Use the variety of different meals produced to emphasise that all food and drink can be part of a healthy, varied diet. Highlight that all foods and drinks can be included, but the quantity in which we consume them is important. You may also wish to mention that physical activity, at least 60 minutes a day, is important for good health.

Why do we need to drink regularly?

Learning / Teaching notes
Why do we need to drink regularly? / Explain to the children that it is very important that they drink regularly throughout the day. We are encouraged to drink 6-8 glasses a day of lots of different types of fluid.
Ask the children:

How much do they drink in a day?
What is their favourite type of drink?
Do they have a drink at lunchtime?

Explain to the children that when the weather is hot, or they have been active, they will need to drink more. Good drink choices include water, milk and fruit juice.
Use the Hydration stimulus sheet to recap children’s knowledge and understanding.Ask children why the people in the images might have different fluid needs to them (e.g. gender, age, physical activity, hot weather). Look at the different examples of fluid sources with the class. Which fluid sources should they have regularly? Which fluid sources should they have occasionally? What are the advantages and disadvantages to each fluid source (e.g. orange juice – counts as a portion of fruit but could damage teeth).
Task the children to create a short role play to teach others about the importance of keeping hydrated and what and how much to drink.

Diet and life stages

Question / Learning / Resources
Do nutritional needs change through life? / Name the key stages in life / Life stages worksheet
Know that nutritional needs change through life

Do nutritional needs change through life?

Learning / Teaching notes
Name the key stages in life
Know that nutritional needs change through life / Ask children to think of different life stages and examples of people they know at different life stages (e.g. older adults - grandparents). Question the children whether people eat and drink different foods at different life stages (e.g. what does a baby eat?).Provide children with the Life stages worksheet. Challenge the children to suggest different food and drinks the different people might have.
Explain to the children that the type of food we eat depends on our age and that throughout life, we all need different amounts of energy and nutrients.
Ask children to research the nutritional needs of one particular life stage, e.g. pregnancy, infancy, toddlers, children, adolescents, adults or older adults. The children should use reliable sources of information for their research such as textbooks or government health department websites. They could make a fact sheet of their findings, which they could then present to the rest of the class.