What’s the big idea?
- Most of the food we eat comes from shops, whether these are
market stalls, greengrocers, supermarkets or corner shops.
- Shops are local and easily accessible places to bring nutrition
and food skills education to life.
- Knowledge about different types of foods and understanding advertising
and labelling, as well as budgeting and shopping skills are essential
to establishing healthy eating patterns.
- Local retailers can play an important part in supporting a whole
school approach to nutrition.
Finding a shop to visit
Look in the phone book or draw on your local knowledge of the area.
You could also draw on parents, colleagues and governors for contacts,
or your local Education Business Partnership. Several of the larger
supermarkets may already be experienced in hosting visits from schools.
Some will have staff at hand to take groups round and have prepared
worksheets.
Making contact
Make a direct approach by telephone, letter or in person. Before
you get in touch find out who to talk to and think through what
you want from them in terms of the timing and nature of the visit,
their involvement and the benefits to the business.
Practicalities
If you are planning a visit to a large supermarket you could take
the whole class and maybe split up into two groups when you get
there. If you are planning a trip to the local market or greengrocers
it would probably be better to take smaller groups of children.
Getting prepared
Visit the shop or market beforehand and discuss with the manager
what you plan to do during the visit and what they can offer. Make
sure that the shop understands the focus of your activities, i.e.
that you are mainly interested in fruit and vegetables. Plan and
prepare for the trip with the class, so that they have enough background
knowledge to understand what they see and know what they need to
find out on the visit.
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Shopping skills
- Know-your-fruit-and-vegetables
- Understanding labels
- Weighing vegetables
- Following a recipe
- Budgeting
- Choosing fresh, frozen, dried and canned fruit and veggies
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Taking it to the Classroom
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A visit to the local market or supermarket could be part of a wider
topic on food or cooking. Alternatively a topic on shopping incorporating
classroom work before and after a trip to the shops could cover
issues of history, geography, science, literacy, numeracy, design
and technology and art. For example:
Before the trip
- Food and nutrition and the balance of good health.
- Fruit and veg; mapping seasons and countries and environmental
discussions, e.g. food miles.
- Changes of state and temperature applied to food - fresh, frozen,
canned, dried and cooked.
- Menu planning and budgeting.
- History of different kinds of shopping and shops.
At the shop
- Tour of the shop, front and back of house.
- Detective trail looking for answers to prepared worksheet questions
and collecting information to be analysed later at school (see
examples below).
- Choosing and buying food for tasting or cooking at school.
After the trip
- Tasting fruit and vegetables and cooking recipes using fruit
and vegetables bought.
- Writing a report of the visit and interpreting data.
- Sending thank you letters.
- Investigating how food gets to the shops.
- Decoding labels and advertisements.
- Design a poster to promote fruit and vegetables.
If you cannot make a shopping trip, you could always look at packaging
and advertising in the classroom.
1. Look at the packages of different products that have fruit
on the label (e.g.: orange squash, fruit pies, tomato ketchup).
The ingredients list should tell you the percentage of fruit or
veg in the product. Compare the percentages in different brands.
Work out the actual volume of juice in a bottle of squash or the
weight of apple in a pie. Work out the cost per gram or millilitre
of the pure fruit or veg and compare it with the cost of fresh
produce.
2. Work out how much one fruit costs in a pack. Is it cheaper
to buy apples/peaches/kiwis in a pack or as individual pieces
of fruit?
3. Look at health claims on packages. Divide them into facts
(e.g. 35% nuts), claims (e.g. 'low fat') and opinions e.g. ('the
great stuff kids go for'). Which messages are the largest on the
packages? Which messages are most useful? Do you believe the messages?
How can we find out if it is true?
Section 2 of the Grab 5! Curriculum Pack explores these issues
in more detail.
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Shopping detectives
Here are some ideas for activities to do in-store or when
you get back to the classroom.
- Find five vegetables you can eat raw
- Find five fruits that have been grown in the UK.
- Find one fruit and one vegetable you have never tasted.
- Which fruit and vegetables are kept in the fridge and
which are kept at room temperature? Take the temperature
in different parts of the shop.
- Map out the shop according to the 'Balance of Good Health'
categories (refer to information bank 3, ‘Healthy eating
guidelines’ for an illustration of the ‘Balance
of Good Health’ plate).
- Compare the proportion of food space given over to each
of the categories with the proportions in the recommended
balance of good health.
- Does the shop have sweets near the checkout? Why do you
think they do? Do you think they should? Can you think of
any healthier snacks which could be put near the checkout.
You may want to talk to or write to the shop about it.
- Is the shop running a five-a-day promotion? Plan how you
would run a five-a-day promotion if you were the shop manager.
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Farsley Farfield Primary School thoroughly enjoyed a trip to their
local Asda. They were doing a topic on healthy eating and the 'Big
Eat' store tour complimented the work nicely. 60 children went the
first day (a few too many!) and 47 the second. Two helpers from
Asda were there and the children were given a questionnaire to follow.
Tasks included looking for certain food types, naming some fruits
and vegetables and looking at the storage and freezer departments.
All the children were given drinks as well as a miniature box of
cereal on departure.
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Many supermarkets offer tours of
their stores to groups of school children. Contact the
store manager of your local store to see if they do. 
