Teacher pack: 3 ready-to-print lessons

Free lesson plans on farm animals, plants and kindness for ages 4–12. Each has under an hour of teaching time, with follow-up activities where noted, uses simple materials and links to free Veggie Village pages and printables.

⚠️ Before any food or seed activity, check pupils' allergies and your school's rules. Supervise the activities and follow seed-packet instructions. Children should wash their hands and not eat seeds or soil.

Farm animal friends

Ages
4–7
Time
40 min
Goal
Children name what farm animals need to be healthy and happy.

You need

  • Animal fact cards from the printables page
  • Paper and crayons

Steps

  1. Warm-up: make an animal sound and let the class guess (5 min).
  2. Read one Veggie Village animal page together (10 min).
  3. In pairs, draw what that animal needs: food, water, shelter, friends and space (15 min).
  4. Share the drawings and build a class “What animals need” poster (10 min).

Talk about it

  • How do animals show they are happy?
  • What do you and a pig both need?
Open the matching page →

How plants grow

Ages
6–9
Time
45 min + 5 min a day for a week
Goal
Children watch a seed sprout and record what changes.

You need

  • Bean or cress seeds
  • Cups, soil or damp cotton wool, water
  • A drawing sheet for each child

Steps

  1. Ask what a seed needs to grow and list the ideas (5 min).
  2. Plant the same type of seeds in two labelled cups; keep one in daylight and one in a dark cupboard. Use the same growing material and amount of water (15 min).
  3. Draw the cups on day 1 (10 min).
  4. Check daily for a week, then compare the cups and talk about light and water (15 min).

Talk about it

  • What happened to the seeds kept in the dark?
  • Which foods we eat are seeds?
Open the matching page →

Kindness in action

Ages
7–12
Time
50 min + one week
Goal
Pupils plan and carry out kind acts for people, animals and the planet.

You need

  • The 30-day Kindness Calendar
  • Kindness cards from the printables page
  • Pens

Steps

  1. Discuss: what is kindness? Find examples for people, animals and the planet (10 min).
  2. In groups, choose three acts from the Kindness Calendar (10 min).
  3. Fill in a kindness card for each act: who, when and how (15 min).
  4. A week later, share what happened and how it felt (15 min).

Talk about it

  • How did it feel to be kind, and to receive kindness?
  • Who could you be kind to that you usually don't notice?
Open the matching page →