If you have taught your children where food comes from, please share

[Familia]

I have been searching all morning on past threads and internet, but just haven’t found what I am looking for.  Perhaps you can help.

I would like to teach a few children (PreK - 3rd grade) where food comes from.  I do not want to plant a garden or go to a farmers market, as many of the resources I am finding suggest.  I want to teach them to the fact that their bread comes from wheat grown on our vast prairies, their hamburgers come from a cow, and their bowl of fruit has been grown and harvested and shipped very far away sometimes - perhaps even in other countries.  I do not really want to start with the idea of supporting local or ethics of farming, but the fact that the crackers and spaghetti sauce on the grocery shelves begin on a farm (somewhat=).  

Thanks!

 

Things I find added here, that you can google:

• ‘We grow corn’ Book, Kansas Corn
• Heinz.com under ‘Grown not Made’ tab

Edited October 1, 2020 by Familia
Adding resources as I find them

[Familia]

Awesome @HeighHo !  I like the it also incorporates good nutrition, as I intend to teach more about that to my charges, as well.

[Familia]

I love that the second resource you sent: https://ndwheat.com/consumers/educationalactivities/ , has a link (under Useful Links at very bottom) a link to ‘team nutrition’, which is nutritional information from the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).  Although it is detailed for meal providers, there is a lot of good nutritional information there that can be used as a jumping off point for discussion beyond food manufacturing to nutrition. 

With our own children, I talked about food and where it comes from all the time; even junk food has origins to the farm - chocolate from the cacao bean, potato chips are very thinly sliced potatoes...even twinkies have their origins in that wheat production up above.  This opportunity to share with another family is so much fun!  I like a small dose of junk food, but knowing that some foods are more directly connected to the farm motivates me to eat healthier - I hope it helps these children I am teaching do that sometimes, too.

[Earthmerlin]

There’s a series of uber simple books called ‘From Start to Finish’. We took them out of the library & they covered how food starts & moves along in production. We loved them back when my kiddo was younger. 

[Terabith]

Another vote for the From Start to Finish series.  

[73349]

There are some Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street clips to that effect. For Mr. Rogers, one example is episode 1537.

We made food from scratch, so we would start with the flour (and I would explain that it comes from a wheat plant, grown on a farm, and ground up into flour) to make bread/crackers/pasta. Or if we were using meat, we would discuss what farm animal it came from, e.g. noting that bacon, ham, and other "pork" products come from pigs, often in NC or VA.

We also looked at produce stickers and looked at a map to see how far our pineapple or mango or whatever had traveled to get here.

Edited October 3, 2020 by Carolina Wren

[Janeway]

Curiousity Stream had a great show on this. It was a short one. We get the channel free with FRNDLY TV.

[nwahomeschoolmom]

I am finding a lot of that information in CLE Social Studies Grade 3.  If you are looking for secular, that would not work for you though.  (We taking a year off of regular history this year and enjoying the "Social Studies.")

[73349]

1 hour ago, df3121 said:

Just look for books at the library. Search the topics: bread, farming, milk, dairy, wheat etc... you'll find plenty of options. But nothing from a book will ever replace the kind of real experience that comes from visiting farms etc...  Would love to know why you aren't willing to do those things? Hands on learning is always best.  Our kids learned where food comes from from touring farms - private and commercial, making food from scratch, growing our own food etc...

 

I can't speak for the OP, but in many areas, tours may unavailable right now, or farms that allow visitors may be far from the area. My state fair is canceled, so I wouldn't be able to bring a child to see farm animals that way this year.

In my area, we benefited from having the state ag school and farmers' market nearby, and berry picking within a reasonable drive, but that's not necessarily possible everywhere even without closures.

[Familia]

On 10/14/2020 at 12:52 PM, df3121 said:

 

Very true. Perhaps erroneously, it just sounded as though the OP didn't want to utilize those things, more than couldn't.

I have very limited time with these children; they are not my own.  I cannot take them on field trips.  

Although I am tutoring them in reading, math, and penmanship, I find myself teaching them many other subjects that spring up during our conversations together since I had so many years of teaching my own children at home.  Being a professional dietitian eons ago, I had access to and utilized hands-on presentation materials in teaching.  Now, with the myriad of videos on YouTube and the lesson plans available on Teachers-pay-teachers (just to name a few ‘modern’ sources of ready made teaching materials), I was thinking some of you may have utilized some of those types of resources and share them with me.  Even games someone may have used to complement their teaching.  That’s what I have used WTM boards for since 2005 (or 6?), to gather ideas so I did not have to reinvent the wheel.  

I appreciate the sources linked above, like the NE wheat council materials, etc, that will provide me with some slick-professional resources to complement the casual, yet informative discussions we are having.  BTW, tomorrow, we will be discussing Twinkies (while feasting on them, of course=), watch a YouTube video of  Twinkie factory processes, and dovetail it right into the NB wheat materials.  I want to emphasize that all of their food has an origin other than simply their cabinet or the grocery store.  Food labs are, unfortunately, the source of a significant number of ingredients in the items in the typical person’’s diet...the food lab is certainly a major source of Twinkie ingredients!  I plan to introduce the food lab to them, as well as the farm, in some way.  I hope to instill the understanding that the closer to the farm a food is, the more wholesome (relatively speaking).

 

[Familia]

On 10/3/2020 at 1:58 PM, Carolina Wren said:

There are some Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street clips to that effect. For Mr. Rogers, one example is episode 1537.

We made food from scratch, so we would start with the flour (and I would explain that it comes from a wheat plant, grown on a farm, and ground up into flour) to make bread/crackers/pasta. Or if we were using meat, we would discuss what farm animal it came from, e.g. noting that bacon, ham, and other "pork" products come from pigs, often in NC or VA.

We also looked at produce stickers and looked at a map to see how far our pineapple or mango or whatever had traveled to get here.

Thanks so much...these are all great suggestions.  I especially love to tie in geography whenever possible, so I will definitely use your stickers/map idea!