Nutrition and Skeletons — Year 3 Lesson Plan

Ask pupils to feel their arm and bend it. What can they feel? Introduce the idea that bones and muscles work together. Then ask: what did you eat for breakfast? How does your body use that food? Establish the link between food and energy.

Part 1 — Nutrition: introduce the seven food groups (carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, fibre, water) and the role of each. Use a healthy eating plate model. Discuss: what happens if you don't get enough of a nutrient? (e.g. lack of vitamin C → scurvy; lack of calcium → weak bones). Part 2 — Skeletons: three functions — support (keeps us upright), protection (skull protects brain; ribs protect heart and lungs), movement (bones act as levers). Name major bones: skull, spine, ribcage, humerus, femur. Part 3 — Muscles: muscles can only pull, not push. Show the bicep/tricep antagonistic pair: when bicep contracts, the arm bends; when tricep contracts, the arm straightens.

Activity 1: pupils sort food cards into food groups and identify one role for each group. Activity 2: label a diagram of the human skeleton with six named bones. Activity 3: trace the movement of an arm bend on a diagram, labelling which muscle is contracted and which is relaxed.

Pupils design a 'training day' meal plan and exercise schedule for an athlete, justifying each meal in terms of nutrients (e.g. 'Pasta for carbohydrates to give energy') and each exercise in terms of which muscles and bones are involved.

Ask: what would happen if you had no skeleton? (no shape or movement). What if you had no muscles? (no movement). What if you ate only one food type? Connect to real-world examples: dietary deficiency diseases; osteoporosis; why astronauts in zero gravity lose bone density.