Riverhouse Children’s Center has been working on increasing the amount of fresh, healthy, and local foods for the young children at their school. This past summer, they purchased fresh produce from Daniel Fullmer of Tierra Vida Farm in Bayfield, Colorado. Margaret Brown, the cook at Riverhouse, said that the children ate twice as many carrots when they were farm fresh as the grocery store carrots. She would send them to the kids whole, tops and all, and none would come back.
This past winter, Farmer Daniel made a visit to Riverhouse Children’s Center. He dug up some winter carrots, sweetened by the frosts, and brought them in for the children to sample. By the end of the visit there wasn’t one left—the kids loved them!
The visit started in the Blue Jay Room (2 year olds). We read the book “Tops and Bottoms” about garden vegetables and the parts that we eat. Farmer Daniel cut up different colored carrots and beets and the children guessed what they would look like inside. We sang some songs about carrots and beets, and then sampled the shredded carrots.
Farmer Daniel also visited the Starling Room (3 and 4 year olds) and the Eagle Room (4 and 5 year olds). The kids dipped the carrots in some of the pesto he made from basil grown on the farm too. Farmer Daniel showed them the carrot seeds and talked about how he grew and harvested them. The children asked great questions and were delighted to meet the real farmer who had been providing some of the food for them this last summer and fall.
If you are interested in planning this activity at your own preschool, please feel free to download the activity sheet and stickers (“I tried something new” and “Ask me about carrots and beets“) we used.
Leave a Reply