Farm to School initiatives are programs that focus on featuring locally grown, healthy foods in school meals. They often include lessons on food and nutrition, visits to farms and farmers’ markets, and even growing school gardens. However, since we’re all currently learning from home, Cornell Cooperative Extension has assembled a collection of Farm to School materials and exercises in a public Google Drive folder. Here, you can find virtual farm tours and live streams, worksheets, and hands-on learning activities that can help you teach your child these important lessons all while still at home.
Learn more about some of the resources provided below!
Maple Season – What’s more delicious than maple syrup? Show your kids how it’s made through coloring sheets, word games, and cut out activities! (Grades K-2)
Water on the Move – Learn about the history of irrigation and how it works on farms through puzzles, games, and colorful worksheets! (Grades 3-5)
Flower Power – With these printable activities and worksheets, you can show your kids how plants grow and teach them about different kinds of seedlings. (Grades 6-8)
Food Chemistry – Kids can get experimental with these hands-on activities. Make a science lab at home all with ingredients you probably already have in your own kitchen! (Grades 9-12)
Kid-Friendly Food – You can definitely keep yourself and your kids busy with this long list of educational recipes and food-related worksheets. There are cooking tips for baked apple slices, mini-activities for determining the doneness of a steak, storage tips for raw veggies and beans, and more! (Fun for all ages!)
Also, keep an eye out for our Harvest of the Month blog updates in collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension.
For more information about Cornell Cooperative Extension and their programs, check out their website or Facebook page.