Helping Everyone Love Performance

Taste Buds is a project dreamed up by 'the Taste Buds foundation' a not for profit organisation set up to tackle the issues of healthy living in Wales. As you may already know, with the rising levels of obesity being a concern for all in today’s society it is vital that we tackle this problem in a head on and pro-active way.

            “Levels of obesity in children aged two to 10 years rose from 9.9% to 13.4% between 1995 and 2004, according to the Health Survey for England and Wales.

A joint target was set in 2004 between the Departments of Health, Education and Skills and Culture, Media and Sport to halt the year-on-year increases by 2010”

BBC Press release 25thJanuary 2007: MPs voice childhood obesity fear.

Despite the target of stopping these rising levels of obesity current methods appear to be having only a small effect. These problems need to be tackled from an early age so the children grow up understanding the values of living a healthy lifestyle. Hence, what better age to tackle these issues than at primary school?

So using key documents such as the Department of Health white paper, Choosing Health, chapter 3 and the ACCAC Personal and social education framework and the PSE in the school curriculum in Wales. As well as consultation with experts we are devising a full day of shows, workshops and teaching to promote healthy living through performing arts and active learning

The show we have created begins the learning process in an interactive way talking about the key aspects of healthy living including food groups and benefits of those groups, the benefits of maintaining a healthy and balanced diet. The benefit and need to exercise and remain hygienic. It uses theatrical and comedic effects to enforce and reinforce these messages. This fits with the learning outcomes, knowledge and understanding that Key Stage 1 and 2 students should have according to the PSE curriculum framework.

After the show we will divide into groups and do workshops. These workshops will be age and content specific; they will focus on a key issue raised during the performance and build students knowledge and understanding around that issue. Depending upon school size there will be an average of four separate workshops which each group will attend. These workshops use active learning and interactive techniques to aid the students in their understanding of the subject matter. They will be age specific and more complex issues are investigated with the older age groups, these workshops are great fun but also very active and informative. Children will often come away feeling energized and will have learnt and understood so much more because they can touch, smell, feel and hear the subject.  The workshops include:

1. Food Groups Vitamins and Minerals
2. Exercise and hygiene
3. Making informed choices

1. Food Groups Vitamins and Minerals

This workshop focuses on the basic concepts of food groups number of each you should eat and why. Using visual aids such as food pyramids, we can get into detail

 About the benefits of these foods such as milk is good for bones, fish the brain etc as well as discussing the problems with sugars fats etc. These concepts are developed and understood using different methods dependent upon age. For example Using giant bodies and skeletons and placing food groups on appropriate body parts, having mixed up plates of food and sorting these into healthy and unhealthy meals. Using Game show style techniques with questions relating to healthy living and the winner get healthy prize.

2. EXERCISE AND HYGIENE

This workshop focuses upon the benefits of exercise and being hygienic. Using simple games such as stuck in the mud and Sid the snake and adapting these into a healthy living setting you get the students energized. Then discussing exercise, amounts, types and ways in which you can achieve that amount. As well as the benefits exercise brings such as maintaining a healthy heart, prevention of certain conditions and helps with maintaining a healthy lifestyle

3.      MAKING INFORMED CHOICES

This workshop focuses upon helping young people make their own choices about the foods they eat and the lifestyle which they live. Helping them see the choices and understand the consequences. This will help the students develop their own opinions on healthy living and aid the discussion and activities that will follow. This workshop will use games, activities and game shows to make young people make decisions, using games like park bench and improvisation it brings out young peoples talents and imaginations.

Throughout these workshops we can develop small pieces of work which the children can show to the parents in a small 20 minute production at the end of school or in the evening this then enforces the healthy living message and forms the link between parents and children because at the end of the day the parents have a say as toward how the child lives and promoting healthy living as a family is an added bonus of the day.

For our other Services please click the appropriate link schools, youth clubs, local communities, tastebuds, young actors

Send mail to nathan.dippie@help-cm.co.uk with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2007 Helping Everyone Love Performance
Last modified: 10/12/07