Food Safety Lesson Plans
From foodborne illness, every year:
- 1 in 6 Americans get sick
- 128,000 are hospitalized
- 3,000 die
To teach middle and high school students the basics, we use fun food safety and kitchen safety activities to keep them engaged while learning.
1- Present slideshow about food safety–
I know many dislike presenting information to students. Still, if the material is engaging, it is one of the best ways to introduce information to students. We like to use guided notes to help keep students engaged as they learn new material. If you are in the routine of setting lessons up like this, students get used to it and prefer the structure.
2- Teach about food allergies
Teach about food allergies with our free food allergies lesson! Students benefit from learning about the thousands of people affected by food allergies.
3- Kitchen Safety Crime Scene-
Keeping them engaged with this activity can also include food safety. Some people set up an actual crime scene in the kitchen. Students find the “crimes” and record them on paper. We have these printable “crime scenes” covering food and kitchen safety. They are fun to use in groups, or if you need sub plans, they are a great review to assign in Google Classroom.
These can be printed for group work or assigned in Google. They can also give you ideas for setting up a crime scene in the classroom.
Kids enjoy this activity because they can be detectives. If you would rather use it digitally, a digital version is included in the resource on TPT. It is one of our most popular activities, and we get lots of positive feedback!
4- ServSafe Food Handler–
ServSafe provides food safety training, exams, and educational materials to food service managers. As a culinary instructor, you should get certified in ServSafe. A test can be ordered for your students to become certified in ServSafe. The workbooks are easy to use and are a great reference for the entire school year. We have fun doodle notes and food safety worksheets that help to make it fun and keep the students engaged.
This food safety crime scene lesson has food safety scenarios in both print and Google.
5- Check out a Glogerm Kit–
These kits are a fun way to show kids how their hands are full of germs! It is a powder that you shake on their hands, tell them to shake hands, and then go to their desks and work during the class. Toward the end of the class, turn the lights off and shine the light that comes with the kit. Show them the items in the room, such as the computer, their desks, and then their hands. The more germs, the brighter and more glowing the area! The kids laugh about the number of germs in the classroom, but it is a great introduction to hand washing!
Other Food Safety Teaching Ideas
Food allergies are important in teaching food safety, especially nowadays, with so many different food allergies and sensitivities. This website includes more food safety activities that can help you in your classroom. Kids can relate to this more than we did as children because many have peanut allergies. We have a free food allergy lesson plan to help you get started and provide great background knowledge about food allergens.
After these activities and many reminders, including classroom posters, students will hopefully be well-trained and ready to cook safely in your classroom!
