One of the advantages of the preschool setting is that parents can be more involved — if the preschool seizes the opportunity. Preschool parents are usually more intimately involved in dropping off, picking up, relaying food needs, etc. Newsletters can alert parents to opportunities to become involved, such as:
- Eating with their children on occasion.
- Providing healthy snacks and lunches, with local products as possible – see our Parent Snack Sheet (Spanish version here) and Lunch from Home Handout.
- Helping with special local meals.
- Helping preserve abundant produce at harvest for winter use.
- Volunteering in the garden.
- Donating kitchen equipment, food, and gardening supplies.
- Assisting with farm field trips or taking their kids to local farms on the weekend.
If you are a parent interested in helping get Farm to Preschool going at your child’s preschool, here are some ideas to help you get started (in addition to the ones above):
- Familiarize yourself with the benefits of Farm to Preschool (the Basics) and talk with the preschool director, or download our sample letter to craft your own letter to the preschool.
- Help organize a “Meet the Farmer” day (see an example of this in our post, Farmer Daniel Day) or other activity.
- Help create small scale gardens or mobile raised beds if space is limited.
- Organize or participate in a farm field trip.
