Many people look to growing their own food for the produce, stress relief, saving or profit, but why not add even more benefits to growing your own food and turn it into family learning project? Teaching children to grow their own food offers several benefits including education, healthy eating for kids, practical knowledge about vegetables and closer families as well as lots more! Having children involved in growing their own vegetables will give them a deeper understanding of what they are eating. Energia have teamed up with GIY (Grow it Yourself) to get Ireland growing again, to encourage everyone to grow with us.
Food Empathy creates a deeper understanding about local, seasonal, home-grown food. We know that people who grow some of their own food are more active, eat more portions of fruit and vegetables and add more spices and herbs into their dishes as well as benefit from lots of other positives around health and wellbeing.
There are lots of fun food activities to get the little ones excited about the prospect of food growing such as:
1. Get them involved in your local community garden
This can be great fun for children of all ages, getting to socialize with other children while learning, laughing and being productive! This will open their eyes to a whole new world of food and how food grows right before their eyes!
2. Make gardening part of their daily routine
Children are used to a routine and see things that are part of this routine as meaningful and important. Just like waking up and brushing their teeth in the morning, gardening might be part of their routine to regularly prune their tomatoes!
3. Once the vegetables are ready to be harvested
Parents should get children involved. This lets them see the vegetables they are growing and what they’ve been working toward.
4. Finally, sit around the table and eat the home-grown vegetables together
Children will love the fact their hard work paid off and they are able to enjoy the benefits.
Gardening is an easy and simple activity to get your child learning practical knowledge, while still having fun. The whole family will benefit from this educational experience.