Hands on Food – Hands on Food is a food literacy curriculum for elementary school teachers.

Cook it

Cook and prepare food with your students! These delicious snacks can be made by students with a range of food preparation skills, and adapted for your classroom. Recipes have been student and dietitian-tested and approved!

Preserve it

Turning our local harvest into foods that can be eaten all year round through freezing and dehydrating is delicious and a great hands-on life skill! Check out these lesson plans and try them out with your class.

Grow it

Growing food with your classroom doesn’t need a big garden or a lot of space; learn to grow food inside your classroom, activities to do outside, and interact with food all through the year. Our lesson plans will show you how!

Don't waste it

Teach students to be mindful of food waste and how it impacts the environment. Click below to find lessons to learn about the food system, how to do a classroom waste audit, how to reduce food waste, and more!

Getting Started

Read the Teaching Nutrition section to review best practices for teaching and talking about food and nutrition.
Visit the Curricular Connections for an overview of how Hands on Food Lessons can connect to the BC Curriculum.
Brush up on Food Safety standards to keep students safe while handling food.
Use our Budget Calculator to help plan your first lesson.
Get started with an Introduction to Knife Skills to prepare students for lessons in the Cook it and Preserve it sections.

About Hands on Food

Hands On Food is a food literacy curriculum for elementary school teachers with recipes and lessons that focus on local food and a sustainable food system. The lessons can be used to teach students about how to grow and cook food, and how to minimize waste.

Food-based learning is a hands-on way to teach the BC curriculum including science, math, and more. Dig into the lessons and your students will be able to get their hands on food!

These lessons are targeted to Grades 4-7 but can be easily adapted for any grade (Kindergarten through Grade 12).

"I like it because I can see how the plants grows from seed to when we can eat stuff off of it."

- Mia, Grade 6

You won't "be leaf" these schools!

Food literacy is taught in many SD 73 schools in the Kamloops community; teachers and students in these three schools in particular have been instrumental in testing and developing these lessons.

Arthur Hatton Elementary grows microgreens in their classroom for local restaurants, and maintains a school community garden that they utilize in a variety of learning opportunities.

McGowan Elementary has many classes involved in cooking, composting and conducting waste audits, and has several chickens in the school courtyard!

Thompson River University Culinary Arts faculty partnered with SD 73 schools to enhance student learning in nutrition, food skills, and sustainable food systems.