In Outdoor Learning, pupils in Primary 4 and 5 have been learning about food miles. They were given a piece of paper with a familiar dish on it, and then had to travel around the allotment to find the countries the ingredients came from. At each country, they wrote down the distance back to Scotland. We pretended the polytunnel was Scotland. Once all ingredients were completed, they calculated the total food miles for the dish. Countries close to Scotland were nearer to the polytunnel. Countries further away, were at a distance from the polytunnel.
By the end of the activity, we all understood that growing and eating food produced locally was good for the planet, as transporting food distances, contributes to carbon emissions and global warming. Primary 4 and 5 have been very involved in work on the school allotment, and are all pleased that they have grown a variety fruit and vegetables, and then used them to cook and eat food at school.