Making a packed lunch

Occupational therapy

﻿Hi, I'm really looking forward to our lesson today. I hope you are too. Before we get started, this is just a little reminder. We're here to support any approaches you might already be using and any work you might have already been set. We know that this lesson is going to be going out to so many different children and families. So if you're not sure about anything or have any questions, then please do contact your usual therapy team. One of the things we can do to become more independent is to learn how to make our own packed lunch, and that is what we are going to be doing today. Please note, this lesson potentially involves the use of a butter knife and or hot soup or a hot drink. So please, make sure an adult is with you when making a sandwich, make sure you take very good care of your fingers. Never walk around carrying the knife. Sit at a table or stand at a counter top for more stability and ask an adult to heat the soup or the hot drink and put it into a flask for you. Being able to make a packed lunch is a really good skill. Okay? And, but it's also quite complex because there's lots of skills involved in that. So you need to be able to plan what you're going to have, and you need to look at the weather to see whether you want something hot or something cold. You need to have good bilateral coordination skills. So using both hands together, you need to have good fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, visual perception, touch skills, good attention and concentration, and have safety awareness. So you can see it's quite a complex task. Okay, planning a packed lunch. There are quite a few things we need to think about when we are planning what we're going to take for our lunch. You need to think about whether it's for school, for an afterschool activity or for a trip. You might pack different items for school than you would if you were going on a trip or if you have to fuel up before a football match. You have to think about what the weather's like. You might prefer to have soup on a cold day and salad on a hot day. Is your lunchbox insulated, or do you need an extra ice pack? Do you need a flask to keep your food hot? And then also think about the size of your lunchbox or your container, how big is it? Some ideas for a healthy packed lunch, is you could try different types of breads, such as bagels, pita or wraps. You could also pack your filling separately so the bread doesn't get soggy. You could use less spread and maybe avoid mayonnaise and try and choose some protein fillings. For example, chicken or turkey or hummus, tuna and salmon. Okay, so some ideas for a healthy packed lunch, you could add lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, carrots, celery or peppers to your lunch. You could pack some hummus or a dip for some variety. You could add a bag of popcorn or a rice cake instead of crisps. Remember your piece of fruit and try and swap your fruit bars for dried fruit. You could also choose a fruit pouch or fruit smoothies instead. When you're packing your lunchbox or your container, start off by setting everything up on a table or the table counter top, put all the items that you've prepared and want to pack for your lunch next to the container. So that sandwich you've made, anything like that, just put it next to the container. If it's a hot day or you're packing items that need to stay cold, you can start off by packing an ice pack. If you want to take something hot, then you could put it in a flask and ask an adult to help you with this. When you're packing your lunch box or your container, you need to make sure that any items that can be squashed can go into a really sturdy container, like a little snack pot before it goes into your lunch box. Okay? You want to arrange the items so they fit neatly without anything getting squashed. If you think you might need cutlery like a spoon for your soup or a fork, then remember to pack it as well as a napkin. And don't forget your water bottle. Remember take your time, plan, plan, plan. You can make your packed lunches easy or as complicated as you choose, and you can also try different things, so have fun experimenting. So to make things a bit easier for you, you can sit down at a table if you get too tired standing up. You can start off with three very basic items and then make it more complex. If you're not able to open some containers by yourself, then you could swap it for something that is easier to open. For example, you could have a yoghourt pot with a pull-off lid rather than a yoghourt pouch, which might need to be torn, okay? You can also freeze your water bottles or your juice boxes and use those as ice blocks. And if you do this the night before, then it will be ready to drink by lunchtime. If you'd like to, please ask your parents or carer to share pictures of your amazing packed lunches on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak. Enjoy your packed lunch.

Making a packed lunch

Making a packed lunch

Lesson slides

Lesson details

Key learning points

Licence

Lesson video