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Food Standards Scotland cooks up a storm with online resource Cookin Castle
Cookin Castle is a fun and educational game that has already been teaching children about healthy eating and food hygiene practices in nearly 600 classrooms and in homes all over Scotland, but we don’t want anyone to miss out!
Having been online now for nearly two years, this valuable resource is a must for teaching children important facts about eating a healthy diet, and reducing the risks of getting food poisoning.
Children adopt a clan name and some comical clan members who aren’t feeling well, and with the help of a talking wizard, it’s the child’s job to look after the clan by cooking healthy meals, storing food properly, and cleaning up the unsightly Castle kitchen!
The game encourages healthy competition between pupils or classes by giving points and awards depending on how they perform their clan’s tasks.
Repeat visits to the castle are encouraged, which will help raise awareness of the key messages around healthy eating and food safety so that children become confident in assessing risks and making informed decisions.
Tanya Olmeda-Hodge, Education Marketing Manager: “We are really proud of Cookin Castle and it has had fantastic feedback from teachers who have used it in their classroom. We really hope that parents will introduce it to their children at home so they can continue to learn about these important messages and have lots of fun while doing so!”
Using Cookin Castle with children couldn’t be simpler; use it in class on individual computers or collectively on a whiteboard. Teachers can access a Teacher’s Guide online or by contacting resources@fss.scot for a hard copy. If you are at home, play it on desktops, laptops and i-pads. And in the Easter holidays if you can, come and see Cookin Castle in action at the FSS stand at the Edinburgh Science Festival from 10th to 14th April at Summerhall, Edinburgh.
Teresa Milne, Teacher at Charleston School, thinks that Cookin Castle is a novel way to encourage children to be interested in health and wellbeing.
She said, “Our pupils loved taking part in the pilot of Cookin Castle. The game is fun, interactive and educational.”
Watch out for later in the year when we launch our fantastic new online resource to provide teachers with easily navigable support tools on one online site. We hope this will help teachers get across important healthy eating and food safety messages which are part of the Health and Wellbeing area of the Curriculum for Excellence. The content of the site will include classroom activities directly linked to the Curriculum’s Experiences and Outcomes, interactive games including, but not exclusively, Cookin Castle and the interactive Eatwell Guide and food cards to order or download online.
So, get cookin!, and give Cookin Castle a try at www.cookincastle.com
Follow us on Twitter @FSScot for tips, news and updates!