Luca The Lion Who Couldn't Eat Meat written by Tersha Cutmore and illustrated by Victoria Ward-Fowler is a lovely book about allergies, friendships and being different. The Pictures are beautiful, the book rhymes and the words are written in different fonts which my son loves. Luca is allergic to some foods and his friends help him see that he is not alone. This is the perfect book for someone with food allergies.
Activities
Different foods animals (or dinosaurs) eat
Introduce new words (carnivore/herbivore/omnivore)
Food substitute activity
Positives and negatives about Luca's allergies
Make some foods not containing certain ingredients
Healthy/unhealthy foods plate
Paint Luca and his strengths
Memory food game
Picnic
Dancing, climbing and superhero activities
Dancing, climbing and superhero musical statues
Shopping ingredient hunt
Food/Cooking
It makes sense to start with food related activities as the book is about Luca not being able to eat certain foods. The first activity could be to look at the different foods that different animals eat. I would choose a range of meat eaters and vegetarians and animals that eat both and then you can introduce the words herbivore and carnivore and omnivore. If your child is a big dinosaur lover then they can be used instead of animals. Another activity could be to choose a food that can't be eaten for a whole meal and then you as a family need to come up with a substitute or a dish that doesn't contain that ingredient. If you are meat eaters then meat could be a good one to take out of the meal and then you can all eat how Luca must eat. You could talk about the positives and negatives and how Luca feels not being able to have certain foods (this will raise awareness and help your child/children if they ever come across someone with allergies). A final activity could be to make some foods that don't contain regular things that people are allergic to. Some of the main food allergies are nuts, dairy, meat and gluten. You could try things like gluten free bread, dairy/nut free biscuits or a meat free lasagne. This is a good life skill for the future because it will get your child/children to think about being inclusive when they are cooking/baking.
Indoor
The first activity could be to make a healthy and unhealthy foods plate. Divide a paper plate in to triangle sections like a pizza and then draw a food in each one, some healthy and some unhealthy. Then get another paper plate and cut out a triangle hole the same size as the triangles you have drawn in and put it on top. Put a split pin through the middle and then you can talk about healthy and unhealthy foods as they spin the plate around to see the different foods. Older children could do meals instead of individual foods to get them thinking a bit more. Another activity could be to paint a picture of Luca the lion and draw or write around him what he is good at. A final activity could be to play the memory food game. The first person says "I went to the shop and I bought a banana" and then the next person says the same as the first person but they then add on a food they bought and then you all keep going until someone forgets. This is really good at improving memory skills and is good fun.
Outdoor
If the weather is nice then you could go out for a picnic. Your child/children could help you prepare the food and choose what to take. You could try and get a food every colour of the rainbow or a food starting with the letter of each of your names to make it more fun. Another outdoor activity could be to do what Luca is good at so you could do dancing, climbing and superhero activities outside. If you have more then one child then you could get a bit of a competition going. You could play musical statues and then when the music stops you need to do one of the three actions. A final outdoor activity could be to look at the different ingredients when you go shopping. You could choose milk (Luca is allergic to milk) and then when you go shopping you could get your child/children to look and see if milk is included the the ingredients of a particular food. Younger children could point out meat and milk and then you could show them other foods with milk in like cheese, yogurts etc.
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