Help KS2 pupils learn about where their food comes from and different agricultural careers with Sam Wyman’s ideas…

What better way to motivate a class than to discuss food? Everyone has a favourite meal or snack, after all.

But many children will have only the vaguest idea of how many people produce their favourite lunchtime treat.

This KS2 geography and DT lesson encourages pupils to ask questions about their food and its production – how it gets from field to fork – and will introduce them to some of the important people involved in the process, perfect for if you’re covering careers in KS2.

Farming, agriculture and the work that goes into producing our food is a wonderfully rich topic. You can develop a whole sequence of lessons, touching on almost any curriculum area. Indeed, you can expand some of the activities here into individual lessons.

Use our free downloadable timeline worksheet (included in the download) to help you complete the lesson.

Where does our food come from? – KS2 learning objectives

• The origin of familiar foods
• The processes that deliver food from the field to the fork
• The careers that food production requires

Download contents

• Full PDF lesson plan
• Wheat timeline worksheet

Starter activity

To begin this session, ask the class where they think their food comes from and who they think is involved in producing their food. Work in pairs to record thoughts and ideas before sharing them with the class.

Sam Wyman is a primary teacher who works for LEAF Education (@leaf_education), a charity that works to inspire and educate future generations about farming, food and the countryside. Follow him on Twitter at @samleaf_ed.

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