Cheese:
Introductory
activity ideas
LESSON ACTIVITY PLANS
Age group: 5 - 7 years
1
Ages 5-7 Introductory activities for cheese in the run-up to the Online Field Trip
Activities
Here is a set of activities provided as an introduction to learning about cheese. They are intended to inspire the children
to want to learn more about how their cheese gets from the farm to the fork and to ensure some prior knowledge in
order to get the most out of the Online Field Trip.
The activities can be done independently of each other and are intended as a selection for you to pick and choose the
most appropriate/ interesting for your setting.
Cheese is made from milk
• Show the children a piece of cheese or a picture of cheese and ask them what it is made from.
• Establish that it is made from milk and ask them where milk comes from.
• Talk to the children about where they get their milk. Do they go to a shop or a supermarket? Some may have it
delivered. Do they know where it comes from before this?
• If possible, look on the internet at how milk is produced. Resources are available from some milk producers.
• Get the children to read, order and match captions to pictures (download 1/5-7/cheese).
• Talk about the pictures as they are ordered. You might discuss how cows were milked by hand before machines
were invented and explain that the machines do not hurt the cows. You might say that the milk has to be made very
safe to drink at the dairy/factory before it can go to the shops, and that this process is called pasteurising.
Milk comes from different animals
•
•
•
•
Look at the pictures of different animals that produce milk (download 2/5-7/cheese).
Check that the children can recognise and name all these animals (cows, camels, buffalo, sheep, goats, horses, deer).
Talk about whether they have tasted milk or cheese from any animal other than a cow.
If appropriate, some children could play a game using cards with pictures of animals, including the ones above and
several others, as follows. The aim of the game is to be the first to fill a yoghurt pot with milk.
• Playing in pairs, one child shuffles the cards.
• The other player chooses a card. If the animal on the card produces milk that we use, the player puts a teaspoon of
milk or other liquid into an empty yogurt pot. If not, play passes to the other person. The ‘milk’ could be water or
anything that can be measured with a spoon. You may consider setting this up on plastic sheeting or on a tray to
reduce problems with spillage. As long as the players use the same type of spoon, spillage does not matter.
• The first player to fill their yogurt pot is the winner.
All kinds of cheese
Introduce Anatole the mouse and French cheese
• Read ‘Anatole’ by Eve Titus (Random House Children’s Books). There is a free version
available as a pdf at www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/anatole.pdf
The story is about a mouse who wants to be of use. He secretly tastes the cheeses in
a failing cheese factory and rates them. The owners take note of his comments and
his suggestions save the factory.
• Point out where France is on a map of Europe and ask if any of the children
have heard of it or been there. Tell the children that France
is very well known for its cheeses and talk about
the French cheeses that are mentioned in the
story: Camembert, Port Salut, Roquefort, Brie,
Bleu and St Marcelin. Explain that bleu is a
word used to describe blue cheese and that
the word is almost the same as ‘blue’.
• Look at pictures of each cheese and, if
appropriate, read some facts about them
(download 3/5-7/cheese).
• Get the children to put the names or
pictures of the French cheeses on the map
of the country.
2
Help Anatole by becoming British cheese experts!
A Small Mo
use Village,
Near Paris.
Dear Childre
n,
My name is
An
anyone wha atole. You may have re
ad about m
t I do; it is st
e, but do no
ill a secret!
t tell
Along with
my friend G
aston, I am
for many dif
very busy h
ferent manu
elping to tast
facturers in
e the cheese
France.
I have been
s
asked to he
lp
have the tim
o
e. My wife (D ut in your country, but
unfortunate
oucette) and
George and
ly I d
Ge
ch
travel abroa orgette, Claude and Cla ildren (Paul and Paulett o not
d as I am a
e,
u
d
ette) also do
way from h
not want m
ome quite e
This is why
e to
nough as it
I am writing
is!
to ask for y
our help.
Would you
be
cheeses on m willing to find out abou
ta
y
them just as behalf? You would nee nd taste some of the B
ri
d to give yo
I do!
ur comments tish
about
Thank you
so much (or
merci beauco
up, as we sa
Please let m
y in France).
e know how
you get on.
Au revoir
Ana tole
P.S. I wonde
r if British ch
ee
I know that
they are very ses are as good as Fren
ch ones.
different! W
hat do you
think?
P.P.S. Don’t
tell the peop
le
but I secretl
y visited the at the Wensleydale che
m last year.
ese-makers,
I thought aft
I will
er you have
taken part in tell you what
the Online F
ield Trip.
• Prepare a large map of the UK.
• Read Anatole’s letter to the children. (You might put it in an envelope addressed to the class and let one of the
children open it.) Download 4/5-7/cheese.
• Tell the children that to help Anatole they will need to find out about some of the most well-known British cheeses.
Ask the children if they know any already.
• Prepare some different cheeses and/or pictures of cheese, such as Cheddar, Wensleydale, Lancashire, Caerphilly,
Irish Cheddar and Arran Cheddar. There may be a cheese manufacturer close by that it would be appropriate to
include.
• Show the children one cheese at a time (either a real piece of cheese or a picture). Say what it is called, spell it out
together and then find the place it comes from on the large map. Ask a child to stick the picture in the correct
place. You might choose to read a little information together about each cheese. (Pictures and facts are available
to download.) Download 5/5-7/cheese.
• Continue with the other cheeses. Look into which cheese is made the closest to your school.
3
Official cheese tasters
Once the children have discovered and located some British cheeses they will be ready to start tasting them. (Ensure
that there are no children who cannot eat cheese for health or other reasons.)
Remind them that Anatole was a French cheese expert but they will be trying British cheeses. (Don’t use Wensleydale
cheese on this occasion if you are taking part in the online field trip event, as children will be given the opportunity to
taste it then.)
• Decide on the labels that you will use to rate the cheeses. Anatole’s labels said:
Extra-specially good
Specially good
Good
Not so good
No good.
Children could use these or you may make up some grades of your own. Download 6/5-7/cheese.
• Cut the cheeses into very small pieces and apply the encouragement of ’You don’t have to like it, but you should
just try it.’
• The cheese tasting could be done as a whole-class activity or in small groups, depending on the resources
available.
• Children could look official, with clipboards and rating sheets.
• They could stick an appropriate rating label next to the name or picture of each cheese (e.g. ‘Specially good’)
or they could write their rating and/or comment next to each cheese.
• You may decide that for some children, responses will simply be given orally.
• When all the cheeses have been tasted, share and
compare comments. Talk about which ones were liked
the most and why. You might decide on a Champion
Cheese for your class.
• Give out the Official British Cheese Taster certificates
(available to download) Download 7/5-7/cheese.
• After the tasting, ask the children to write letters back to
Anatole to tell him how it went and what they thought of
the cheeses.
• There could be a ‘secret’ message from Anatole left
in the classroom to be opened just after the online
field trip saying that Wensleydale is his favourite
British cheese and that he has rated it ‘Extraspecially good’. Download 8/5-7/cheese.
Invent a story
• Make up a story, perhaps as a shared story, about a British mouse who saves a British cheese factory.
• Use the same structure for the story as in ‘Anatole’.
• Change the setting, the characters and the cheese varieties.
• You may also wish to change the ending. Maybe the British mouse reveals who he or she is at the end!
Role-play area
• Set up a deli or a cheese counter role-play area.
• Talk about what ‘deli’ is short for (delicatessen) and what sorts of foods are sold there.
• Get the children to make models and pictures of different cheeses and label them; consider all the different
colours (they are not just yellow). Include the cheese names, a short description and the price.
• Think of a suitable name for the deli – e.g. Anatole’s Cheese Heaven or Grommit’s Grotto.
4
Spoken
language
Reading
Writing
Design and
technology
Geography
ENGLAND
SCOTLAND
WALES
Use relevant strategies to
build their vocabulary.
Articulate and justify
answers, arguments and
opinions.
Ask questions and link
what they are learning
with what they already
know; listen and take part
in conversations and
discussions to discover
new words and phrases
which they use to help
them express their ideas,
thoughts and feelings.
Use appropriate language
in spontaneous and
structured play activities
and when conveying
meaning; listen and
respond appropriately
and effectively, with
growing attention and
concentration.
Present ideas and
information with some
structure and sequence;
think about what they say
and how they say it;
express thoughts, feelings
and opinions in response
to personal experiences
and imaginary situations.
Develop pleasure in
reading, motivation to
read, vocabulary and
understanding by
listening to, discussing
and expressing views
about a wide range of
poems, stories and nonfiction at a level beyond
that at which they can
read independently.
Take turns and develop
their awareness of when
to talk and when to listen;
link what they are
learning with what they
already know.
Listen and respond
appropriately and
effectively, with growing
attention and
concentration.
Take turns at talking and
listening in group
activities; express
thoughts in response to
personal experiences.
Develop positive
attitudes towards and
stamina for writing by
writing for different
purposes.
Explore interesting
materials for writing and
different ways of
recording information.
Organise and present
imaginative and factual
writing in different ways.
Organise, structure and
present ideas and
information.
Understand where food
comes from.
Explore and discover
where foods come from
as I choose, prepare and
taste different foods.
Use world maps, atlases
and globes to identify the
United Kingdom and its
countries, as well as the
countries, continents and
oceans studied at this key
stage.
Learn about how and
why people and places
are linked.
Use atlases and globes.
tesco.com/eathappyproject
5
NORTHERN IRELAND