Children & Youth

Below is a list of resources to help kids and youth learn how to plant, pick, prepare and preserve their own local food! Some resources are directed towards children and youth, some to parents and others to educators. To share your feedback on these or to let us know about other good resources, leave a comment in the children & youth section of the forum or email info@rootcellarsrock.ca.

 

Multiple Topics

Acorn Naturalists : a publishing company retailing an array of materials for discovering the natural world, including plant exploration and learning through gardening resources

Edible Playgrounds : resources for school gardens, cooking activities, lesson plans and more (Dorset Cereals)

Food Miles: Growing Local Food Connections : Educational tools for teaching K-8 students about food miles (Falls Brook Centre)

From Garden to Classroom : Activity and resource guide. Hands-on, easy, inexpensive activities to inspire children to value and conserve the natural environment. Includes topics like gardening, composting, edible wild plants, grocery store botany, trees and nature walks (MUN Botanical Garden)

Good Food Heroes Comic Contest : winning submissions (Food Secure Canada)

Good Food Ideas Kids : good food ideas that are transforming the places kids play, learn and live across Ontario; videos, images, stories, actions (Sustain Ontario)

Grow Your Own Food! : Celebrate local food with the Missoula Coyote Choir!

Herbs and Children: Introducing Herbs to Your Kids (The Herb Companion)

Teens’ Guide to Going Green : Includes tips for in the kitchen, backyard and for personal hygiene to make a greener impact on the world.

What’s on Your Plate?: a documentary that follows two eleven year old girls on their journey to figure out their place in the food system (Catherine Gund)

 

Preparing food

Age Appropriate Kids Cooking Lessons: tips and activities for cooking with your kids or teaching children to cook; from toddlers to teens

Cooking with Kids : tips for how to explore food with kids of different ages, reasons to share cooking with kids, and recipes (Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport)

Cooking with Kids : helping kids learn basic cooking skills that will last a lifetime (Thunder Bay District Health Unit)

Go Healthy NL- Healthy Eating : food guides, links for kids, nutrition information and programs across NL (NL Department of Health & Community Services)

Kids in the Kitchen: how to set up your kids’ cooking club (Winnipeg Regional Health Authority)

Kids Who Love to Cook : Videos made by kids for kids. “We’re always thinking of new ways to make food exciting and delicious for the beginner cook, or future chefs and foodies.”

Taste a memory : A piece about passing on food skills as a legacy to our children and there are lots of links at the bottom to resources and blogs about cooking alongside kids (Dreaming Aloud)

Tips for canning with children (Canning Across America)

 

Wild Foods

Mushrooms- K- 12 resources (Foray Newfoundland and Labrador)

 

Gardening

A Handful of Seeds: Seed Saving and Seed Study for Educators : Practical information on seed saving for school gardens (Occidental Arts & Ecology Center)

American Community Gardening Association : hosts the projects Rebel Tomato and Garden Mosaics (see below) and also posts regular spotlights on youth gardening

And This is My Garden : a documentary that “follows the teachers and their students for a season of planting, harvesting, preserving, and ultimately celebrating the fruits of their labour at the Mel Johnson School” in Manitoba (Stieffenhofer)

Breaking Ground: Biodiversity in the Schoolyard : Over 100 pages of useful information on how to build a wildlife friendly schoolyard. (MUN Botanical Garden)

California School Garden Network : Resources and videos helpful for starting and maintaining school gardens.

Canadian Gardening- Gardening with Kids : a collection of articles on how to have gardening fun with kids

Flowers, Plants and Gardening: For Kids! : a collection of links to help you explore botany, gardening and hydroponics with children.

Garden Mosaics : connecting youth and elders to investigate the mosaic of plants, people, and cultures in gardens (American Community Gardening Association)

Gardening with Children: articles and resources for gardening with children (Colorado Master Gardener Extension)

How Does Our Garden Grow : An animation created with Melissa Post at Elm Hill School in Springfield, Vermont about gardening and parts of vegetables. Special guests are include insects and animals that love vegetables too.

Kiddie Gardens : all about growing gardens for children and gardening with kids

Kids Gardening : activities, stories, guides, lesson plans and more

MUN Botanical Garden : programs for children, youth, and families and lots of resources

My First Garden : a guide to the world of fun and clever gardening (University of Illinois Extension)

Rebel Tomato : youth gardening project; start a gardening revolution in your community (American Community Gardening Association)

School Garden Start-up Guide : “Whether you are a parent, teacher or administrator interested in getting a food garden project started at your school, this guide should provide you with the basic information you need to get the ball rolling.” (Society Promoting Environmental Conservation)

School Year Gardens: A Toolkit for High Schools to Grow Food From September to June (Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project)

Starting a School Garden video (University of Maryland Extension) and Part 2: Components of a Successful School Garden (University of Maryland Extension)

 

Composting

MMSB : composting education and the Get to Half waste reduction programs for schools and preschools

School Composting Guide : a guide to help schools to start composting (Recycle NB)

School Wide Composting Guide : a guide for starting a school-wide composting program with examples from Calgary (Green Calgary)

Vermicomposting: A 5th Grade School Enrichment Curriculum

Worm World: all about worms and vermicomposting (The Yuckiest Site on the Internet)

 

Agriculture in the Classroom

Agriculture in the Classroom Canada : clicking on NL takes you to the NLFA website (see below) and there are also lots of resources on other provinces’ pages

Agriculture in the Classroom USDA : activities for kids and teens and resources for teachers

Farm Issues : Resources for learning about Canadian agriculture, including a virtual farm tour, games, photos and videos.

Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture (NLFA) Just for Kids : jokes and riddles, activity book, and story books