How we teach kids about food

Cityplot’s school garden curriculum is as much about cultivating a child’s love of nature as it is about growing vegetables

Who doesn't love the idea of teaching kids that food grows in the ground and not on a supermarket shelf? The idea of growing school gardens is increasingly popular – so much can be learned in a garden! The main challenge is finding the time and money to implement and maintain these spaces and convincing the already overburdened teachers that a garden at school will not be yet another job for them to do. At Cityplot, we decided that we could happily take over all that extra work in our urban schools. If we're “growing edible cities” we need to start with our youngest citizens.

Cityplot’s school garden programme began in 2016 when Sofie, Jaffie, Helder and I met with Monique Hoogland and the principal of De Rivieren primary school. The school is in Amsterdam’s Rivierenbuurt, a lovely neighbourhood with a diverse population. The school staff around that table were very enthusiastic about starting a school garden on the grounds and incorporating gardening and nature education into the curriculum. The very first step was to get teachers and kids involved by having them draw pictures of their dream gardens. We were charmed by strawberries and carrots growing from trees, tropical pineapples, beautiful butterflies as well as some very strict grid formations!

Inspired by the kids’ art, we next worked on some simple crop plans and a design for the new garden. Jaffie and I spent evenings at her kitchen table working out a detailed budget and project plan to present to the school. We made sure to include reasonable payment for us. Our collective is made up of freelancers, so it was important for us to make this venture financially beneficial to all involved.

*The yearly harvest fest, a cauldron of pumpkin soup simmers while Sameena and the children prepare a salad.*

Multiplying our school gardens

Eva Thomassen, one of the members of our kids education team, describes the process of getting into a school as pretty straightforward: “Cold calling has not worked for us. Usually we need to have a connection; like an involved staff member or parent: we also connect through the larger umbrella organisation schools are part of; if one school is happy, it’s easy to get a face-to-face meeting with the directors of another school. It also really helped us to have a nice printed brochure describing our design and teaching methods to leave with them and lend professional credibility.”

We didn’t start off knowing about what funding was available or how to apply for it, but we found out along the way. Now we are in a position to advise schools that approach us about what’s available. School principals or teachers are not always aware that they have access to all sorts of funding. There are a number of EU and national subsidies and grants schools can apply for to start green playgrounds and environmental or health education projects. We don’t get involved in the application process but we can point them in the right direction.

As a bit of background, many Dutch urban schools already have access to extensive school gardens off-premises, the “schooltuinen”. There are 13 of these huge, beautiful gardens around Amsterdam, where kids learn to grow vegetables for an entire growing season when they are around 10 years old. It’s really incredible to see these neatly organised vegetable plots in towns and cities all around the Netherlands. Some kids fall in love with gardening during this special year, but then it ends. As there is no further option for gardening or learning about growing your own food after that, we felt that there was space for a more continuous food-growing education that starts much earlier.

A few of our school garden teachers went through the school garden year as children and report how much this influenced them in later years. Mani once won a prize for growing the biggest carrot during her school garden year! Naomi told me that when she would take home her school garden harvest, her parents were flummoxed by these armfuls of muddy vegetables and often they just sat in a bucket outside the house till they wilted. Many city parents are just too busy to deal with produce that has not been cleaned or pre-cut. All of these kinds of experiences contributed to our desire to make the kids' connection to growing food more regular and to make growing, harvesting and tasting a vital part of our lessons.

We teach kids during school hours and sometimes in afterschool progammes. Giulia who started an afterschool outdoor play programme in Belgium has written about it here. The children range from pre-school to primary school age, so from about 4 to 12.

A tour of De Rivieren school garden by Eva

It has come a long way since we dug up the tiles here to plant the first flowers!

Introducing the kid’s team

Many of our school garden teachers had already started working with kids in gardens or outdoors joining Cityplot. Sameena Safiruddin had worked with Eva DeCarlo, the brilliant garden designer and artist at the Tugelatuin garden in the east of Amsterdam with kids from the neighbourhood, some of whom had problems concentrating in school. So Sameena was a natural addition to our kids team.

Sofie Blom was one of the founding members and first teachers of the school garden programme. She became the team leader and her fearless enthusiasm was instrumental in getting us into more schools.

We met Eva Thomassen at a little childrens container garden we set up at a courtyard of a location housing refugee families in 2015. We noticed she had a great talent for activating the kids with action songs and invited her to be a member of the kids team. Later we discovered her artistic talents and of course we make full use of them!

Paul Vlugman had been involved in both nature and cooking lessons with children before being recruited by Sofie to join Cityplot once we added more schools to the programme. He later brought Mani Nagarkar on board. Before joining us, she had worked in the Steiner Schools where she herself was a student. She has also studied agriculture at Warmonderhof, a biodynamic farming college, and like many of us at Cityplot was also an art student.

The teaching team got larger over time as more schools were added and currently we teach in five schools in Amsterdam with nine team members: Eva, Paul, Naomi, and Mani, with Sameena joining in when she is in town. After the summer, Marijn and Sylvia will be working in Haarlem where Marye now works in the school gardens. Kylie moved to Baarn where she ran the local school garden project for many years.

In Haarlem, Cityplot supports the citywide school garden program providing lessons two days a week at the Haarlem school garden complexes. We reach five schools. Additionally, Marye gives lessons at two schools in Schalkwijk, Haarlem, using a community garden Cityplot set up as the learning site. This work has a small but important role in filling the gap for nature education in an area where the city’s resources don't quite reach.

The Tugelatuin in Amsterdam East designed by Eva DeCarlo

What is most enjoyable?

Tasting unfamiliar vegetables and herbs can be fun and exciting for young children: if one child tries a strange herb, others will too. They soon become familiar with many culinary herbs.

Many of the lessons for the youngest focus on the sensory elements of taste, texture and aroma. Mint, nasturtium, fennel and dill are favourites. I was surprised when Sameena told me kids love fennel! We could be nurturing future chefs here! They call it ‘drop plant’ - licorice plant.

There is quite a bit of raw vegetable preparation and tasting during lessons and for that reason the school gardens are mostly planted with vegetables and herbs that can be eaten raw. At the end of the year there's usually an autumn harvest party with the pumpkins, carrots and beets, where soup is made outdoors.

Most enjoyable experiences for the teachers
I asked our garden team about some of their most memorable moments in the garden.

Eva said that brainstorming with a fellow teacher to think up seasonal and creative ideas for lessons is a lot of fun. Sameena loves when a child’s eyes light up when they discover something. “Nature is the best teacher!” Naomi loves when kids get excited about small things like holding worms, and Paul cherishes the enthusiasm of the kids and making up games with whatever is lying around like twigs or pebbles. Mani says that when she works in the garden, kids come to help even when it's not lesson time. “I love that.”

The kids also have special moments in the garden. We regularly hear things like “This is the best carrot I’ve tasted in my whole life!” and moments of wonder such as “All these little bugs have their own lives.”

“ Matching the goals of the educational curriculum can be useful in convincing the schools to begin garden lessons. The life cycles of insects or learning about the seasons may be things the kids are also doing in their classroom, so it’s good to know the educational goals when you propose lesson plans to the schools.”

— Cityplot teacher Paul Vlugman

Inspiration for lessons

Kids team member Paul says: “Matching the goals of the educational curriculum can be useful in convincing the schools to begin garden lessons. The life cycles of insects or learning about the seasons may be things the kids are also doing in their classroom, so it’s good to know the educational goals when you propose lesson plans to the schools.”

For example, Mani and Naomi have created a lesson inspired by the Vanessa Atalanta (red admiral) butterfly. Many of the children have Moroccan backgrounds, so the idea that a butterfly in their garden has travelled from Morocco to the Netherlands resonates with them! Since the classroom teachers sometimes don’t like nettles in the garden, we also need to educate them about how they are the primary host plant for these butterflies!

Our methodology

We always teach in teams of two so we can divide classes into smaller groups. The class sizes range from 15 to 24 kids, so having a couple of garden teachers is really necessary. Classroom teachers are always present during garden lessons, and are there to keep order if needed but they generally just observe and get time to relax a bit. It’s really useful to have them there if children become unruly, but in general we have found that the kids who are not able to concentrate in classroom settings are often quite interested and focused when it comes to garden time.

Observation is key to our lessons. Sameena says that kids are so observant and often notice things that even garden teachers miss: tiny insects and flowers, or an ant carrying a seed or a leaf. Close observation teaches kids to be careful and respectful of tiny lives in the ground. They enjoy growing familiar vegetables but also learn about the unfamiliar and get a big kick out of funny-looking fruits and vegetables.

Eva describes a typical one-hour lesson with two garden teachers and 15 to 24 kids:

We always start in a circle holding hands, greet each other and introduce the topic of the day.
Then we do about 10 minutes of physical movement related to the topic of the day, like playing a game with cleavers (sticky weeds that cling to the kid’s clothes).
We ask the kids to share what they know about the topic of the day.
We then split into groups to harvest or prepare a snack or do a creative task like making drawings of insects.
We end again in a circle and reflect upon the lesson.

Some recommendations from our kid’s team

Get into a good work flow rhythm with your teammate.
If you want to work with kids, “shadow” a team of garden teachers to observe and learn.
Give yourself time to develop a rhythm and style.
Expect some setbacks and don't set your expectations too high!
Be patient and calm.
Don’t do this work if you don’t have patience for children!

Some ideas for activities and games

All our teachers revealed that always starting lessons with physical movement was helpful to get the kids focused and present. Interspersing movement is Sameena’s go-to technique for transitioning from one topic to another. “Garden yoga” could mean creative movement like growing like a seed underground, being a frog or turning from an egg to a caterpillar and finally fluttering off like a butterfly!

Creating mandala collages with flowers or found objects is quiet and creative, while scavenger hunts get kids moving and using their observation skills.

Mani adds that kids love the blindfolded-guiding game where they can use their sense of touch to learn about trees and other natural objects. Jumping when we call out the name of a creature that flies is another fun game for the younger ones .

Many of the lessons are sensory. Some gardens have barefoot paths or different textured and scented plants to discover.

Paul in the greenhouse classroom in Haarlem

Challenges

Teaching kids in the garden is not without its challenges. “We have them for only one hour, so full respect for the teachers who have them all day!” says Paul. He relates how one child’s energy can influence others to follow along, which resulted in one garden being almost destroyed. His advice for such situations was to encourage older kids to take the responsibility to tell younger kids not to be destructive when they see it happening.

The role of the classroom teachers is also important. Most of the challenges our kids garden team face stem from the behavior of one or two children who disrupt the learning of the others. Classroom teachers are capable of handling these situations as they know the kids better. Classroom teachers are also needed for making sure that the garden remains intact when the garden teachers are not around to keep an eye out.

Although we do factor care and upkeep into the work hours when presenting a budget, it’s very easy to underestimate the time that it takes. Getting a neighbourhood green team together can also be a solution for the summer holidays.

Living small and dreaming big

I asked the teachers if they felt they were making a decent living as freelance garden educators, and the answer was a unanimous yes!

Paul is a dad who lives in the north of Amsterdam. He says that this work challenges his brain, that he works reasonable hours with enough family time, and that he is following his passion! Others expressed similar sentiments and felt they were able to make ends meet while doing what they love. Marye, who works with kids in Haarlem, said “I feel like I’ve finally found my life’s work!”

Yet, living is expensive and rents in the Amsterdam and Haarlem area where most of our garden teachers live have skyrocketed in the last 15 years. However, our Cityplot members live quite modestly, commute mostly by bicycle and some are lucky enough to reside in social housing. Naomi lives in a cabin in a farmer's field in picturesque Monnickendam, to the north of Amsterdam. She is one of the few of us who finds it necessary to own a car. Nobody is saving a lot, but they feel lucky to be doing meaningful work with pay that covers the basics.

Mani, the girl who once won a prize for growing the biggest carrot, now dreams of founding a farm to offer a refuge for teenagers experiencing difficulties. She would love to create a haven for them to live close to nature and get work experience and also express themselves creatively.

Marye, our school team member in Haarlem, has been so inspired by her work with school gardens that she is now formalizing her experience to become certified to teach in the Dutch public school system. Her dream is to combine her love for teaching, language and growing into a garden-based English classroom.

Start a school garden!

We wrote this post with the aim of encouraging people to start similar projects wherever they are. The experiences we share are specific to the Netherlands, but we feel they are applicable anywhere, especially the lesson ideas. Local schools can be encouraged to implement school gardens where kids can learn about growing vegetables, eating healthy and not incidentally, learning about all the other lives that live on earth with us and support our health. Kids don’t just learn about food, they learn intimately about soil, insects, flowers, life and death – in very tactile and immediate ways.

Sometimes finding just one enthusiastic parent or champion as we did in the beginning with Monique, who was on the school board, really helps. A couple of go-getter Cityplot members like Sofie and creatives like Eva combined with a staunch supporter was the impetus we needed to develop a full-fledged programme of school gardens. As always, like all our projects, it was a team effort. Like the garden ecosystems, our curriculum is also self-perpetuating, adaptive, diverse and resilient!

School gardens

How we teach kids about food