Design Technology - Rainbow Salads (Key Stage 1)

This unit of work forms part of the PrimaryDT scheme of work that features over 60 units of work designed to deliver outstanding outcomes for primary school children in design technology.
This unit of work has been revised and updated for 2026 and is based on delivering six sessions of design technology that are guided by high quality presentation slides accompanied by all the resources that are needed to deliver the lessons, including a knowledge organiser.

Comprehensive medium-term planning that includes
• Unit overview and sequence of learning
• Prior learning needed and links to other curriculum areas
• Learning statements (from our curriculum pathway document)
• List of resources and background information to support teaching and learning
• Key vocabulary for the unit of work
• Teaching activities (investigative and focus tasks)
• Teaching activities (designing and making)
• Advice for challenge and support strategies
• Assessment indicators that children are keeping up with the curriculum

Accompanying this revised unit is further information about the scheme of work and the progression chart and vocabulary list used when creating the scheme of work.

Design Brief: Design and make a Rainbow Salad to help children eat healthily.

Sequence of Learning for Teachers
In this unit of work children extend their knowledge of food preparation by designing and making a healthy rainbow salad of five fruits and vegetables. This unit provides an opportunity for children to consolidate their food cutting skills and to extend these skills to include grating and juicing fruit and vegetables. Children begin by taste testing some salads that can be bought in the local supermarket before going on to create their own healthy salad product. They learn the key healthy eating message of eating five portions of fruit and vegetables daily and choosing these from a rainbow of colours. They learn how adding additional ingredients and a dressing can improve the taste of their salads. Having decided upon their salad ingredients they write the recipe which they then use to make their salad. Having evaluated the rainbow salad they made, they complete this project by designing simple packaging and labelling for the product they have created.

This knowledge, skills and understanding is delivered through the following six sessions:

1. Investigate 1: Supermarket Salads
2. Focus Task 1: Carrot Salad
3. Focus Task 2: Designing Salads for Your Friends
4. Design & Make: Designing Salads
5. Design & Make: Making Salads
6. Evaluation: Evaluating salads and designing food labels.

Some activities / sessions can be re-arranged or delivered in different ways in the learning sequence to allow for whole-class teaching and/or small adult-led sessions to take place at the same time.