Meat and Fish

Personal Social and Emotional

In groups discuss the foods the children eat at home, the foods their parents eat. Encourage them to share with the group the foods they enjoy. Discuss alternatives to eating meat and fish, such as plant-based food and where this comes from. Also, ask if parents are vegetarian or vegan.

Communication and Language

Look at different resources (books, internet, videos) to encourage the children to learn new vocabulary. Model the language for the children.  Talk about the different meals we eat at home and whether we eat meat and fish and which types and why we don’t, if so.

Mathematics

Sorting game of what we get from animals and other matching games such as where do animals live. Sort adult and baby animals for example lamb to sheep, chick to chicken, piglet to pig, calf to cow. Use the animal puzzles for problem solving. Sing the rhyme 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive. Use the home corner as a shop and have the till with money for the children to be able to go and pretend to buy their protein products.

Literacy

Use books (fiction/non-fiction) to look at where different animals live, what they eat to keep healthy. Look at the foods eaten by different cultures around the world.

Physical

Role play being animals, moving around as they would; for example swimming like a fish, hoping like a rabbit, flapping like a chicken, jump like a lamb, roll around like a pig in mud. Tasting different meats and fish and alternative products.

Understanding the World

Use resources to show children which animal the meat comes from (matching game). Where the animals/ fish live for example farms, the sea and rivers. Discuss the foods they eat for example what is in chicken nuggets and fish fingers. Discuss sustainability and plant-based foods. Looking for meat that has been well looked after. Talk about the health benefits and nutrients we get from different meats, fish and plant-based products. Life cycle of animals for example egg, chick, bird.

Expressive Art and Design

Make collages of fish using the book The rainbow fish as a reference. Encourage movement as animals to music.

Focused Vocabulary

Meat, fish, plant-based, habitat, nutrients, balanced, chicken, cows, beef, lamb, duck, eggs, bacon, sausages.