Lesson Plans on Hunger and Food Insecurity

Lesson Plans on Hunger and Food Insecurity

As part of its mission to educate about hunger, WHES has put together an index of publicly available lesson plans on hunger and food insecurity. Whether you are a school teacher, a homeschooling parent, a daycare worker, a parent or guardian, or another type of educator, we hope you will find these resources inspirational in guiding the next generation. High schoolers or undergraduate students seeking to make class presentations may also find some of these resources useful. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at info@worldhunger.org if there are other resources you would like us to update this post with!

1. The Hunger Gap. This is part of a larger lesson series by Johns Hopkins University. Students will consider how to define and measure hunger and food insecurity, examine community food availability maps, and explore interventions designed to improve food security. Level: High school or undergrad.
2. Hunger and Food Insecurity: This lesson, also from Johns Hopkins University, is 90 minutes and covers the definition of food insecurity as well, but focuses more deeply on U.S. food insecurity, its history, and U.S. federal programs related to food insecurity. Level: High school or undergrad.
3. Lesson Plan: Food Insecurity. This lesson from the Pulitzer Center focuses on global food insecurity, its definition, and its connection to journalism. While some of the stats are dated, much of the information is still relevant.  Level: High School.
4. Food Lesson: Food Insecurity. This civics lesson from Creative Commons is just over an hour and appropriate for middle schoolers. Like The Hunger Gap, it also talks about food insecurity, food deserts, and existing solutions but with more depth. Level: 6th, 7th, 8th grades.
5. Hunger and Malnutrition: In this hour-long lesson from National Agriculture in the Classroom, students learn about healthy eating, diets around the world, and the scope of the problems of hunger and malnutrition using resources from the World Food Programme. Level: 6th, 7th, 8th grades.
6. Global Food Insecurity: This lesson, also from National Agriculture in the Classroom, is two hours and explores the causes of hunger in the U.S. and globally. Level: High School.
7. Debate Plate: Introduction to Food Systems and Choices and Cost and Access Debate Plate: Chili and Cornbread: These are two from a series by Edible Schoolyard. In the first, students read and discuss an article about a food cooperative in California as a case study. Students then analyze and discuss the intersections of health, environment, labor, economic inequality, and food access. In the second, students explore food access and the right to food. Level: 6th, 7th, 8th grades.

*Additional resource: While not a lesson plan or specific to food insecurity or hunger, the United States Department of Agriculture has teaching resources on nutrition for all ages on its Nutrition and Food Safety Education page, as well as links to external lesson plans. Younger children may enjoy learning about the food groups on MyPlate, which replaced the classic Food Pyramid of the past. Level: varies.