Year 2 science lesson plans: What do I need to be healthy?
Lesson plans to support learning about the needs of all animals and the importance of nutrition, exercise and hygiene for humans
The six lesson plans in this teaching sequence deliver National Curriculum requirements for Year 2 relating to Animals, including humans. They build on children’s prior learning about the ecologically diverse world around them in the EYFS and their science learning in Year 1 linked to the learning enquiries Where do we live and what makes it special?, What would it be like to live on an island elsewhere in the world? and What will we find at the seaside?.
Throughout the learning supported by these lesson plans, children learn about the basic needs of all animals and about the importance of a balanced diet, exercise and hygiene for their own health and wellbeing. There are ideas in each lesson plan to help adapt the learning to the needs of all learners and supporting resources are provided. Opportunities to link the learning to the school’s Climate Action Plan and to learn in Nature are also highlighted.
These lesson plans form part of the learning enquiry What do I need to be healthy?, which is linked to the principle of Health.
Which areas of the National Curriculum are covered?
The lessons in this pack deliver the following National Curriculum statutory requirements for Year 2:
Animals, including humans
- Find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air)
- Describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene
Lesson 1: What do humans and other animals need to stay alive?
In the first lesson in this teaching sequence, children revisit the terms vertebrate and invertebrate that they learned about in Year 1, and the names of the main vertebrate groups.
They sort animals they are familiar with into groups and learn what all of them need to survive. They begin to relate this to their own health and wellbeing.
Lesson 2: Why is exercise so important to our health?
The next lesson plan offers children the opportunity to learn about the importance of exercise and to take part in a ‘personal best’ challenge outside. They discuss and reflect on how exercise makes them feel and the role that exercise plays in maintaining or improving both our physical and mental wellbeing.
Lesson 3: What different types of food make up a healthy diet?
Children learn why different food groups are important as part of a balanced diet.
Outside, they create a whole-class model showing which familiar foods belong to which food group to support their understanding. They begin to think about simple choices they can make to eat healthily.
Lesson 4: What do our bodies need from the food we eat and why?
Building on their learning from the previous lesson, children find out about why our bodies need different foods. Outside, the compete in the ‘food group olympics’ to help them remember the role different foods play in a healthy diet. They start to think more about the role a healthy diet plays in self care.
Lesson 5: What is hygiene and why is it important?
In this lesson, children learn about the importance of different aspects of hygiene in relation to good health. They consider how we can keep ourselves clean and why this is important, and how we can care for our teeth effectively. They also learn about the different ways in which animals keep themselves clean.
Lesson 6: What changes can I make to be healthier?
In the final lesson, children draw on their learning across the teaching sequence to identify simple changes they could make to keep themselves healthy. The write pledges before considering some of the things we can all do to keep Nature healthy, too.
