Food packaging

Learning objectives

Pupils should be able to:

relate the way things work to their intended purpose
investigate commercial packaging and recognise all are made from nets
evaluate packaging against original design criteria and with reference to appropriate Standards
suggest modifications, whilst maintaining Standards
produce a labelled drawing showing alternative packaging ideas and indicating which Standards are most appropriate for their packaging.

Vocabulary

Bags, boxes, capacity, cartons, consumer, containers, design, durable, environmentally friendly, font, graphics, health warnings, materials, net, non-toxic, recyclable, shape, Standards, 3D, user-friendly, wrappers.

Cross-curricular links

Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Design and Technology, ICT, Art.

View the Scottish Curricular Map

Resources

Standards for packaging

The following are all areas in which Standards can be applied to the design and construction of packaging. They may be used to provide appropriate ideas for pupils when thinking about designing their own packaging:

Design of cartons
Protection of contents against shock
Waxed board packaging for ice cream and frozen confectionery
Assessment of odour from packaging containing foodstuffs
Flat-top cans for liquid products

Starter

Discuss the pupil information sheet with pupils. For a longer activity on the Kitemark, use the additional Kitemark teachers’ notes.

Teaching sequence

Activity 1 – Give pupils an empty, unbranded product (leaving on any content descriptions or health warnings), for example a cylindrical tube/bottle with a childproof lid, and encourage them to brainstorm, in pairs, the possible contents, by studying the size, shape and material of the package. Pupils should note down the brainstormed information on Activity sheet 1, deciding what the mystery package might be and giving reasons for their choices. The information on Activity sheet 1 may give them some more ideas. Then encourage pupils to rate the suitability of the packaging for their chosen content, and discuss their reasoning with another group.

Activity 2 – Ask pupils to design their own package for rice, chocolate raisins, liquid bubblegum etc. Discuss, as a class, the Standards this type of package would have to maintain. For example food packaging should ensure that any odour from the food is maintained within the package. Remind pupils of the information provided on Activity sheet 1 to give them some ideas, and refer to the list of BSI Standards applied to packaging at the beginning.

After discussing their design ideas with a partner, pupils should then complete the design checklist on Activity sheet 2 for their own package, thinking about how their design would relate to real-life Standards, for example liquid must not leak. When deciding on the Standards they will apply, encourage pupils to work in pairs to reach a final decision.

Activity 3 – Using Activity sheet 3, ask pupils to draw a net and a labelled design of their own package, which indicates the choices they have made and the Standards they thought were most important.

Plenary

Pupils should use Activity sheet 4 to evaluate the work they have produced.