Passing on the skills of growing and preparing food to our children is such a privilege and joy – not to mention an important step in the path to their future self-sufficiency. In these summer months the kids love being a part of caring for the garden, from preparing the garden and planting the seeds, to harvesting the fresh, intensely flavoured fruits and vegetables.
How can we keep our little ones interested in learning about food? The answer is pretty simple. Make it fun.
We’re all familiar with lemonade stands and this idea adds a twist – invite your children to harvest some garden produce and create their own mini farmer’s market (just don’t call it “mini” in front of them – this is their very own business venture!). If you’re rurally based, just head over to a friend or relative’s place – or work with your children to organize a market at your local community centre or town hall with their friends.
MATERIALS:
The rest is really self explanatory, yet remember: your job is to facilitate and try to bite your tongue when they want to sell a single shell pea for a dollar. This is a learning experience for them, not only to nourish those roots of a love for growing food, but in marketing, sorting and counting money, assigning value to items, teamwork if you have more than one child, and so much more. At the same time, we all know that sitting around and not making sales is no fun – if business isn’t going well after a while, offer up a gentle suggestion that lowered prices or even a “buy one, get a dozen free” special on shell peas might help.
Have fun with your market – please do share a link to your photos in the comments!
*This post is also available as a printable download over at Tiny Peasant.
This post has been shared at Thank Goodness It’s Monday at Nourishing Joy.
Filed under:Blog, Nourished Mind, Tiny Peasant || Tagged under: farmer's market, food education, kids, summer activity, tiny peasant
Author: Kris Antonius
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