Curious about what it takes to become a Secret Agent?
The Know How
What is Food Detectives?
The Food Detectives workshop is a free, STEM-based, food education program that offers fun, interactive, and easy to facilitate classroom lessons.
Immersive video content, engaging, hands-on activities, and standards-aligned curriculum come together to lead kids through a journey of discovering the truth behind food advertising and nutrition labels.
In their journey to become Food Detectives, students follow Chip & Dip and learn to how to see through food marketing, read ingredient lists, and become empowered to make smart choices about the foods they eat.
What do I need to get started?
Your provide the curious minds and the technology. We provide everything else!
Designed with teachers in mind, our goal is to offer a well-designed and researched food and nutrition curriculum that is easy and fun to incorporate into your classroom. Our curriculum consists two twenty-minute lessons that include animations, group work, and some friendly competition. Once you sign up for a workshop, you will be provided with a complete facilitation guide and all the passwords and links you need to deploy your Food Detectives on their first mission.
What’s your role as the teacher?
Think of yourself as the lead facilitator—aka the classroom’s Secret Agent. The program is designed to be easy to run, with engaging videos, animations, and hands-on activities doing the heavy lifting. You’ll guide your Food Detectives through each mission: distributing materials, playing videos, and helping them crack the case one clue at a time.
Our website does the heavy lifting as it guides you and your students through the program, so you can run the show with minimal prep.
How long should you plan for?
On average, the base curriculum is designed to be taught in one forty-minute session. It can also be easily broken up into two twenty minute lessons to adapt into your time frame. Once your students have graduated as Food Detectives, you can utilize our library of additional lessons throughout the year to help keep your students’ food detectives skills sharp, or to dive into topics that spark their interest.
What does the workshop include exactly?
If you register for a workshop, you will get:
- A facilitation guide to help walk you through everything you need to know
- Access to our program website, where you can set up your classroom and launch the program
- PDFs of printable food products for your students to investigate
- Unlimited ongoing access to our ever-expanding library of follow up lessons and brain breaks
- Ongoing support from our team in Seattle, just in case you run into any issues
What do I need?
Students will be arranged in 5 groups. We recommend having students clear their desks of everything but a pencil.
You’ll need a computer and a projector, as well as access to the internet and some speakers.
Lastly, bring an appetite for adventure as you delve into the top secret world of Food Detectives!
Ready to get your workshop?
Based on our work with over 250,000 fourth and fifth graders, we are confident your students will enjoy the experience—and we hope you do, too! Need more convincing? Check out the testimonials below!