Lunch boxes are all over the place in schools. But not every bread box is filled with a decent lunch. A lot of bread boxes contain snacks and fast food. A healthy sandwich with vegetables is often far from it. Research shows that 15-20% of primary school children struggle with obesity. In addition, poverty is frequently lurking around the corner. In Belgium, on average 25% of children and young people grow up in an underprivileged family. These families sometimes simply do not have the financial means to give their children a decent lunch to take to school. Hallucinatory, isn't it?
Did you know that…
only 7% of Flemish children between the ages of 6 and 14 eat sufficient fruit and vegetables on a daily basis? And only 27% drink the recommended daily amount of water.
The pupils examine (according to their level) the contents of their lunch boxes. The following questions (non-limitative!) can stimulate the pupils in this process.
- What do you usually bring for lunch? Why?
- Are you allowed to choose your own lunch? Why (not)?
- Who prepares your lunch? If you don't do it yourself, would you be able to do it yourself?
- Where do the ingredients for your lunch come from (the supermarket, the garden, ...)?
- What countries do the ingredients come from?
- When was bread, couscous... invented? By whom?
- What are certain ingredients (e.g. bread, couscous, humus, cheese, charcuterie, ...) made of?
- What do the E-numbers on some packaging labels mean?
- Can we find out how much fat, sugar(s), or salt was used in your lunch, hamburger, or sandwich?
- What is the average cost of your lunch? Do you think this is a lot/little/average?
- What is the (average) cost of e.g. a hamburger? A sandwich from the sandwich bar?
- What kinds of lunch boxes can we find? Here they can also compare their lunch boxes with each other.
- Are lunch boxes as we know them the same across the entire world? How so? Can we find out?
- What does 'lunch box' mean in another language? Address or let foreign-language pupils write this down.
- What is a 'healthy' lunch? What ingredients does it consist of? How can we find out?
- ...
The school takes action to make lunch boxes more fun and give them more visibility. The following actions can serve as an inspiration:
- Let the pupils personalise their lunch boxes by giving them funny faces, a name they can choose themselves, etc. Regularly give the children's lunch boxes a forum in class (e.g. during a circle conversation/discussion round). Stimulate the kids’ imagination and let them come up with stories about their lunch box’s adventures and the food it carries every day. Make sure the children use the name they have given to their lunch box themselves. This way, they will build up a relationship with their lunch box.
- Sharing is the new having. Open up those lunch boxes and organise a lunch box potluck! Be sure to inform parents and colleagues beforehand. Clearly discuss with parents and pupils what is allowed or not allowed in the lunch boxes (e.g. sweets, biscuits, etc.). Let the inverse food pyramid guide you. The lunch box potluck is a fun way to discover each other's food culture and different flavours. Repeat this action regularly (e.g. every season).
- Participate in the lunch box battle and challenge the pupils to bring the most healthy, sustainable, colourful, delicious, ... lunch box to school.
- Feel like making soup with the pupils? Try something different and work with the MOS action sheet 'Soup with balls'.
- Turn the (annual) school breakfast into a healthy feast. Leave out cold cuts and sweet spreads and go all out for fruit and vegetables. Ambitious? Then go for a sustainable breakfast with few food miles and choose local and seasonal products.
- Do not underestimate your exemplary role as a teacher/educator! Pupils not only (in most cases) look up to you literally, but also figuratively. If the school has a health policy, then you as a teacher should also stick to it. Snacking on a carrot positively inspires your pupils to follow your example.
- Parents and grandparents are an important part of making a success of the proposed actions. Involve them from the beginning, give them a say and let them help determine the goals.
- Possible MOS links: a doctor, a nutritionist, organic food and/or diet shops, local (organic) vegetable farms, the local Velt department (when setting up a school garden), etc.
- Organise a tasting moment with your class/school during which pupils (and teachers) blindly taste different kinds of vegetables, fruit, nuts, bread, ... and try to guess what they taste. Fun guaranteed! Definitely invite parents and the press.
- Create a recipe booklet with the pupils, including fun examples and photos of healthy (and sustainable) lunch boxes. Sell or hand them out at parent-teacher conferences, school parties, open houses, etc.
- Regularly give the theme a place of honour on the school website, the school paper, social media, ....
- Share your experiences within the school community and/or other schools you are in contact with (e.g. through a local consultation platform).
Golden tip!
The kaMOShibai story ‘Red, the lunch box' is about the adventures of Red and her friends Carrot Orange, Bell Pepper Yellow, Tomato Red, Pear Green and Rolly Brown. The story is fit for the youngest preschoolers and creates an ideal moment to work around the lunch box and healthy food. ‘Red the Lunch box' is free to download on www.mosvlaanderen.be .
Watch out!
Every school is familiar with the phenomenon of an empty lunch box. Child poverty remains stubbornly present in Flanders, causing some parents to be unable to give their children a decent school lunch. Poverty, however, is a theme that must be approached or discussed with the necessary caution. Children cannot and should not become (even bigger) victims of it. Everyone deserves respect, especially children forced to grow up in poverty.
Preschool
- Humanity and Society: 2.5
- Nature: 1.1
- Health: 1.10, 1.11, 1.12
- Environment: 1.13
Primary Education
- Society: 2.4, 2.5, 2.7, 2.8
- Space: 4.11
- Health: 1.17
- Environment: 1.24, 1.26
- klasse.be: 12 perspectives on child poverty
- gezondleven.be: Information about health policies at school
- gezondleven.be: Explanation about the food pyramid
- gezondleven.be: What do Flemish children eat?
- voedselverlies.be: What can you do against food waste?
- Boy with empty lunch box
Read our kaMOShibai story 'Red, the lunchbox'