Eco-Gardens Party!

Eco-Gardens Workshop Facilitator Notes

Objective: Students will celebrate the end of Eco-Gardens programming with these festive, interactive food literacy activities and games.

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Field to Table Schools – EcoGardens After-School Programming

Last Reviewed September 2012

/ Recipe Category: Plants & Gardening
/ Cooking Time: At least 2 hours
 / Level of Difficulty: Beyond 3:30 After School Programming – Grade 7/8

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Field to Table Schools – EcoGardens After-School Programming

Last Reviewed September 2012

Recipe Ingredients:

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Field to Table Schools – EcoGardens After-School Programming

Last Reviewed September 2012

Bean Bag Toss

Bean bags (42 – 14 each of red, yellow and blue)

Bean bag toss boards (2)

Strips of cloth or rope (to be used to mark tossing line)

Seed Balls

Worm castings

Red clay

Seed mix (quinoa, wheat, barley, crimson clover, sunflower)

Mixing bowl

Paper towels

Small paper bags

Markers

Drip, Drip, Drop

Sponges (2)

Bucket for water

Pollination Ping Pong Game

Ping pong balls (12)

12”x12” pieces of cardboard (one per student)

Flower cutouts (4)

Green Smoothies

Bike blender

Blender jug

Jug for water

Cups

Smoothie ingredients (see recipe)

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Field to Table Schools – EcoGardens After-School Programming

Last Reviewed September 2012

Introduction & Follow-up from Previous Eco-Gardens Workshops: (15 minutes)

  • Introduce yourselves and tell the students what they will be doing in the workshop.
  • Have students take turns saying their name and favourite type of edible seed (eg. peanut, corn, almond, etc.) to get the workshop started. After each student takes their turn, toss them an apple to snack on.
  • Ask them how the File-a-Sprout has been working. Have they been taking care of the sprouts?
  • If there are sprouts growing, take a photo of the File-a-Sprout.
  • Ask the students how their beans have been doing in the sub-irrigated planters.

Seed Balls (20 minutes)

Explain to the students how seed balls work… The seeds are mixed in with clay and castings and then dry as solid balls. The castings serve as a source of nutrients for the seeds to germinate in and the clay helps keep the seed ball together. When the seed balls are distributed to the vacant spaces that need a little bit of green, rain will dissolve the clay and allow the seeds to germinate.

To Make:

  1. Have the students mix one package of red clay, one package of worm castings and one package of seeds, making sure to be careful not to breathe in the dry clay powder.
  2. Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water and stir until the mixture is the consistency of cookie dough.
  3. Each student can roll four or five balls about the size of a grape and put them on a paper towel labeled with their name to dry.
  4. Students can take their seed balls home with them at the end of the workshop and can “plant” them wherever they want. It’s best to plant them on soil or grass rather than concrete so that the plants can dig their roots in when they get bigger.

“Seed Planting” Bean Bag Toss Game: (15 minutes)

  • Ask the students for suggestions on the best places to plant seeds (i.e. nice rich soil in a sunny spot). What types of things can stop a seed from becoming a plant? birds, dry soil, landing on concrete…
  • Split the students up into groups of three. Two groups at a time play the game, each on their own board.
  • Make a throwing line about ten feet away from the target using the cloth or rope. Students must stay behind the line when they toss their bean bags!
  • Each student in the group gets 7 beanbags of the same colour and they take turns tossing bean bags at the target, trying to “plant” seeds in the soil. The student who gets the most in wins that round and gets to play against the winners of the next two rounds.

Drip Drip Drop Game: (15 minutes)

  • Ask the students if they remember anything about the importance of water for plants from the last workshop. (Plants cannot absorb nutrients from the soil unless they are first dissolved in water. Plants are made up of as much as 95% water. Plants use energy from the sun to turn water and carbon dioxide into food/glucose and oxygen.)
  • Water is especially important when seeds are first planted because they need to be moist in order to start the germination process.
  • The students sit in a circle facing the centre. One student stands up and walks around the circle holding a wet sponge, dripping a little bit of water on the head of each student before choosing one student to squeeze the sponge onto (similar to “Duck, Duck, Goose”) and then they race around the circle to the empty spot.

Pollination Ping Pong Game: (20 minutes)

  • Ask the students what they know about pollination. Why is it important? (Without being pollinated, the flowers of most plants will not turn into fruit or vegetables.) What types of animals serve as pollinators? (Bees, butterflies, ladybugs.) What are other ways the plants can be pollinated? (The wind can blow pollen from one flower to another.)
  • Split the group up into 2, 3 or 4 groups (depending on the number of students.) Each student gets a 12” by 12” piece of cardboard and each group starts off in their own corner with a flower cutout and 4 ping pong balls.
  • The object of the game is to use the pieces of cardboard as fans to blow the ping pong ball into the other teams’ flowers to pollinate them.
  • Students are not allowed to touch the balls with their hands, feet or cardboard, but can only move them by fanning air toward the balls.
  • A team scores when one of their ping pong balls roll over another team’s flower. Other players can block the balls only by fanning at them, not by touching them.
  • As a variation, students can race 4 at a time from one end of the gym to the other and back, each fanning their own ping pong ball. They must roll their ball over the corresponding flower at the half-way point.

Bicycle Blended Smoothies and Snacks: (30 minutes)

  • Talk to the students about how the bike blender works. The drill chuck transfers the energy of the spinning bike wheel to the shaft of the blender, which spins the blades. This is a direct friction drive and no electricity is used.
  • Go through the various ingredients (see recipe below), asking the students what types of plants they grow on and how they might be harvested. Do they grow in Canada? What time of year are they in season?
  • Have them take turns adding ingredients to the blender and riding the bike.
  • When the smoothies are ready, serve them to the students with the other healthy snacks and celebrate another great year of Eco-Gardens!

Green Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 banana
  • 1 handful of berries or more
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped
  • 1 handful of spinach or other green, leafy vegetable
  • 1 cup of water or more

Directions:

  1. Blend all ingredients together in a blender, on high. Enjoy!

Extra Notes:

  • Dark, green leafy vegetables will add more fibre, chlorophyll, vitamins and minerals to your smoothie.
  • Choose from a variety of greens: spinach, kale, collards, chard, dandelion greens, parsley or even romaine lettuce.
  • Remember to remove and compost the thick, hard stems from your leafy, green vegetables before adding leaves to the blender.
  • Start drinking green smoothies every day and slowly increase the proportion of greens every time!

Clean Up: (5 minutes)

Encourage the students to clean up any garbage and put their empty cups in one place.

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Field to Table Schools – EcoGardens After-School Programming

Last Reviewed September 2012