Dairy
Dairy is an important food commodity in the UK, and milk is used to produce a variety of other dairy products, including:
- Cheese
- Yogurt
- Butter and ghee
- Cream
- Ice cream
- Fermented dairy products like kefir
- Sauces
Knowledge Organisers for dairy
These Knowledge Organisers provide the 'need to know' for your pupils on the topic of dairy!
Food commodities for 3-5 years
The resources below will help to introduce children to different food commodities (ingredients). There are three sets of resources to support food as a context of learning.
- Food journey cards: photo cards showing the journey of different foods from field/farm to fork. These could be used as a display, a sorting game (putting the stages in the correct order), highlighting how ingredients are prepared for us to eat, and the use of ingredients in different meals.
- Dot-to-dot sheets: a fun activity of joining the dots! However, they can also be used as a discovery session to see if children can name the food, as well as discuss different appearances, odours, tastes and textures.
- Counting: simple worksheet about counting different types of food commodities, useful for maths.
Dairy for 5-7 years
Activities and resources for 5-7 year olds around dairy (milk) - from grass to glass.
Activity 1 - Milk is produced by a dairy cow.
This activity is about milk originating from a cow and listing food made from milk.
Show the children some samples of dairy food, such as milk, yogurt and cheese. You could use the Where does milk come from? presentation. Talk about the different dairy food.
Question the children:
- What can you see?
- What is each one called?
- Who has had these before?
Explain that dairy food is from milk, and that milk is from a dairy cow. While other animals also provide milk, such as sheep and goats, milk from a dairy cow is the most popular in the UK. You could show the children the Dairy cow breeds poster.
Activity ideas
- Display a selection of dairy food, such as milk, yogurt and cheese. Ask the children to name each food. You could set-up a tasting session.
- Create a display of different dairy cow breeds – get children to paint/draw each cow, cut-out and place on a countryside background.
Round up
Recap the learning by questioning the children:
- Which animal does milk come from?
- What food is milk made into?
Activity 2 - The journey of milk: from grass to glass.
This activity is about the main stages in the production of milk.
Quiz the children to see if they can guess where milk comes from. Suggest different animals to see which they believe provides the milk we drink.
Display the From glass to grass poster or the The journey of milk frieze to show the children where milk comes from. Alternatively, use the Dairy farming presentation.
Talk through the main stages:
- Dairy cow are reared by farmers around the UK.
- The farmer looks after the dairy farms.
- The dairy cows are milked two-three times a day.
- The milk is taken from the farm to be processed.
- The milk is treated to make it safe to drink and put into bottles or cartons.
- The fresh milk is for sale in shops.
Show the Milking video. This will show the main stages of the milking process, highlighting key steps.
Activity ideas
- Challenge the children to create their own ‘story of milk’ poster, highlighting where milk comes from.
Round up
Recap the learning by questioning the children:
- Who rears the dairy cows?
- Where do the dairy cows live?
- What is milking?
Extension
- Use the Learn with story: The farm visit to introduce dairy farming to the children. The resource comprises a story, along with a number of worksheets and support materials. Click here.
- Use the A year on the dairy farm poster to show the children what happens on a dairy farm throughout the year. Highlight what happens in the four seasons.
- Arrange a visit to a dairy farm. Allow the children to use the My dairy farm visit booklet to record their experiences.
- Make a recipe containing milk, yogurt or cheese. Click here to go to the recipe section.
Dairy resources for 5-7 years
Dairy for 7-11 years
Activities and resources for 7-11 year olds about dairy (milk) - from grass to glass.
Activity 1 - Milk production
This activity is about the origins of milk and how it is produced in the UK.
Explain to the children that they will be investigating where milk comes from. To set the scene, as children the following:
- Where does our milk come from?
- What animal provides our milk? (Note, other animals also provide milk in smaller quantities, e.g. sheep and goat.)
- Where do the cows live? (They live on a farm and are reared by a farmer.)
- How does the milk get from the cows (the farm) to the shops for us to purchase?
- Can we drink the milk straight from the cow? (No, it needs to be processed.)
If children are struggling with these questions, show children the From glass to grass poster or the The journey of milk frieze to help stimulate discussion.
Use the Milk production presentation to go through the main stages of milk production in the UK. Ask pupils to complete the Milk production worksheet.
Key points include:
- Dairy cow are reared by farmers around the UK.
- The farmer looks after the dairy farms.
- The dairy cows are milked two-three times a day.
- The milk is taken from the farm to be processed.
- The milk is treated to make it safe to drink and put into bottles or cartons.
- The fresh milk is for sale in shops.
Activity ideas
- Display a selection of dairy food, such as milk, yogurt and cheese. Ask the children to name each food. You could set-up a tasting session.
- Using the Milk production presentation as a basis, ask children to create a display in the classroom of the stages of milk production. Small groups can focus on particular stages or important themes, such as looking after the environment or the products made from milk.
- Use the Learn with story: The farm visit to introduce dairy farming to the children. The resource comprises a story, along with a number of worksheets and support materials. Click here.
- Use the A year on the dairy farm poster to show the children what happens on a dairy farm throughout the year. Highlight what happens in the four seasons.
- Arrange a visit to a dairy farm. Allow the children to use the My dairy farm visit booklet to record their experiences.
- Make a recipe containing milk, yogurt or cheese. Click here to go to the recipe section.
Dairy resources for 7-11 years
Dairy for 11-14 years
Resources for teaching children aged 11-14 years about dairy foods - from farm to fork.
Dairy resources for 11-14 years
Dairy for 14-16 years
Resources for 14-16 years olds that explores the production of dairy foods in the UK.
