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

11 Fun Ideas for Exploring Nature with Kids : “Help kids explore and learn from the wildness that’s just outside their back door and down the street.” (ParentMap)

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

Center for Ecoliteracy : Supports and advances education for sustainable living. E.g. School food reform and integrating sustainability into K–12 curricula

Child and Nature Alliance of Canada : working to authentically collaborate across all sectors in support of outdoor play!

Dig In Manitoba For Schools : newsletters full of practical food tips for parents and teachers, gardening and cooking resources, inspiring activities (Food Matters Manitoba)

EcoKids : The award winning environmental education website for kids and teachers from Earth Day Canada. Lots of resources for living greener at school and home.

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

The Edible Schoolyard Project : Sharing resources to teach essential life skills and support academic learning through fully integrated schoolyard gardens.

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

Food Security Resources for Schools : Resources on food policy, the role of civil society and government, strategies, research and reports, and useful links (BC Food Security Gateway)

Forest School Canada : A national education initiative that strives to connect all children to nature within their educational settings through increased access to Forest School in early, primary and secondary years.

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!

Healthy Eating at School : Healthy Eating At School is an initiative aimed at encouraging healthy eating at school. It is designed to be the one-stop shop where school communities can find all the resources they need to implement nutrition policy at school.

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

Kids Eat Smart Foundation Newfoundland and Labrador : a registered charity dedicated to education, health, and well-being for school children. The Foundation supports ‘Kids Eat Smart Clubs’ - quality nutrition programs run by volunteers at schools and community centres throughout the province.

Kids Eat Smart Nutrition Blog : Kristen Harris, registered dietitian with Kids Eat Smart, hosts a Family Nutrition Blog to share recipes, tips, menu planning, news and advice for families in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Nature Play : Links to lots of activities for play and exploration with nature (Sun Hats & Wellie Boots)

Newfoundland and Labrador Environmental Educators (NLEE) : A growing network of people who have a passion for teaching about environmental issues in Newfoundland and Labrador

Nourish: Food + Community : Nourish is an educational initiative designed to open a meaningful conversation about food and sustainability, particularly in schools and communities. Use the videos, activity plans and teacher resources to build food literacy.

Our Learning Garden : A portal for sharing information on developing curriculum that seamlessly integrates with growing in classrooms, school gardens, nutrition, sustainability, composting and greenhouses. Focus on activities that foster connections with food, health and the earth. (Frontier Schools, Manitoba)

St. Bonaventure’s College Garden and Compost Program: Harvesting Critical and Transformative Learning in a Place-Based Educational Context by C. Peters

Steckle Heritage Farm Great Educational Resources Listing : Links to resources for agriculture education, environmental education, global issues and granting agencies.

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)

Fun Fall Foods to Make With Kids : Want some fall recipes to help you and your kids cook together? Here’s a few suggestions. (Whole Foods Market)

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

DIY Maple Syrup : Information on how to collect and make maple syrup in NL.

DIY Sea Salt : Information on how to easily turn sea water into sea salt. This would be a very cool classroom activity.

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)

Averee’s Garden : Facebook group of a successful new school garden program in Harbour Breton supported by many local partners.

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

Evergreen School Ground Greening Resources : Wondering where to start, what other schools have done or what the latest research tells us? In our Resources section you’ll find answers to these questions and more.

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

Food Safety Tips for School Gardens : The practices addressed in this document will help program operators enhance the safety of fruits and vegetables grown in school gardens. (USDA)

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)

Happy Valley- Goose Bay Children’s Garden : FSN teleconference presented by Jill Airhart, coordinator of the children’s garden program, providing an overview of how she and other volunteers started this successful program, including partnership development, funding, activities and workshops, and more.

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 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

Leave it Better : Our organization teaches students how to grow food, and empowers them with technology to share their knowledge through video storytelling.

Little Green Thumbs : an educational program that helps young people value the health of themselves, the environment and their community through active participation in classroom gardens. In NL it is hosted in pilot classrooms by Agriculture in the Classroom.

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)

Nova Scotia School Garden Resource Guide : To support schools considering starting a garden, we have created a guide with advice on starting the garden,  resources available to schools in Nova Scotia, curriculum links which can integrate the garden into lesson plans.

Plant a Row- Grow a Row Junior : Encouraging young gardeners to grow an extra row in their gardens for donation to food banks. Resources on gardening, composting and more to grow a successful garden.

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

School Garden Network : An excellent extensive list of resources to support school gardens and profiles of gardens across Canada. Add your school garden’s profile!

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 Grounds, Naturally! : A Guide and Companion Resource Guide to help local schools create ‘Living Classrooms’. (Hamilton Conservation Authority)

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

Someone, please think of the children! (Root Cellars Rock) : A post about gardening to feed little eaters, from Andreae’s series Downtown Dirt.

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

St. Francis School Greenhouse, Harbour Grace : Description of the program on the Public Health Agency of Canada website

 

Composting

Eco- Cubs : The Eco-Cubs program provides leaders and Cubs with fun and creative ways to learn about waste reduction, including composting (MMSB)

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)

 

Sustainable Seafood and Healthy Oceans

SeaChoice Kids Corner : Teachers and parents can make a splash with the SeaChoice Educator’s Guide. This website also has kid and eco-friendly seafood recipes and other inspiration.

 

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 NL : resources, virtual farm tours, events, and more to help NL children increase their awareness and understanding of why our food system is essential in society.

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

 

Farm to School

Earthworks Farm and Community Garden : We strive to reach out to local schools to provide on-site education, as well as field trip opportunities. Our mission is to provide healthy food, environmental education and farm-related recreation to the local community, while promoting local and sustainable farming.

Farm to Cafeteria Canada : Farm to Cafeteria Canada is an emerging national network that promotes, supports, links farm to cafeteria programs, policy and practice from coast to coast to coast.