Design an astronauts’ menu
Selecting and comparing foods for a spaceflight to the moon
In this activity learners will make use of the theme of travelling to the moon to design a menu that is suitable for astronauts. They will experiment with different types of food and test their suitability for space travel. They will then decide what food astronauts eat in space and create a menu that includes breakfast, lunch and dinner for space travellers, and don't forget the salt and pepper!
This is one of a series of resources that are designed to allow learners to use the theme of football on the moon to develop their knowledge and skills in Design & Technology and Engineering. This resource focusses on learners designing an astronauts food menu considering ready to eat food packages.
Activity: Design an astronauts’ menu
The teacher will introduce the activity and the theme of lunar travel and exploration and finding out about food in space, before playing a video for students to watch. Teachers will then introduce the design brief and set students the task of designing an astronauts’ menu.
This activity can be simplified (particularly for less able students) by providing partially completed menu ideas to guide learners; providing premeasured ingredients to reduce the chance of errors when designing the menu; and/or providing foods that are suitable rather than asking learners to bring examples in from home.
As an extension students could design packaging for each of the food items in their menu and/or discuss ways of storing the packaged food on a spacecraft, so it is kept safe on the way to the moon.
This activity is designed to take between 55-80 minutes.
Tools/resources required
- Pens and pencils
- Zipper seal bags of all sizes
- Aluminium foil
- Plastic wrap
- Recyclable storage containers
- Plastic shopping bags
- Masking tape
- Markers
- Portion sizes of food for tasting
The engineering context
Travelling and potentially living on the moon presents all sorts of challenges for engineers to overcome. For example, how will we breathe, how will we cope with much lower gravity, how will we eat and prepare food, how will we develop the facilities to live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives?
Suggested learning outcomes
By the end of this free resource students will be able to understand the main considerations when designing a menu for astronauts; know the types of food that are suitable for space travel and be able to test and develop ideas for a menu for astronauts going to the moon.
Download the free Design an astronauts’ menu activity sheet below!
All activity sheets and supporting resources are free to download, and all the documents are fully editable, so you can tailor them to your students’ and your schools’ needs.
The activity sheet includes teacher notes, guidance, useful web links, and links (where appropriate) to the national curriculum in each of the four devolved UK nations; England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Please share your classroom learning highlights with us @IETeducation.
