There are plenty of ways to incorporate lessons into a trip to the farmers market. We love to go once a week to our local farm market so here are some of the ways we have built learning into our trips.
- A lesson on eating healthy: With all the wonderful fruits and vegetables at your disposal at the farm market, it is a great opportunity to teach children about healthy eating habits. I always ask Boober what he would like for dinner, and he looks around and chooses a veggie to prepare as a side.
A lesson on money management: Additionally I give Boober five $1 bills. His grasp on money is very vague at 3 years old but to see five $1 bills, and watch them disappear in exchange for food gives him a basic concept of money.
A lesson on manners: In walking around the farm market we have plenty of opportunities for using our manners, from a simple "excuse me" when walking around someone, to saying "thank you" for a purchase.
A life skills lesson on meal planning: Boober gets to see what goes into planning a meal, and participate when we shop from the farm market. We can create a meal plan right then and there depending on what catches our eye. One trip in particular he found an eggplant that looked appealing, and we ended up making Eggplant Parmesan that night for dinner
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A lesson in counting: There are plenty of counting lessons to be had at the Farm Market. I may ask him to put 2 onions in our basket or 5 tomatoes. I may also ask him to hand 2 dollar bills to the farmer. It's really all about using any opportunity you can find.
A lesson about local produce: I encourage Boober to be curious and ask questions. He usually doesn't have a bunch of questions for the farmers. I try to ask questions instead. I ask about what is growing well this year, or if a crop is particularly good at the moment. I ask ask about crops at their peak and what may be coming into season soon.
A lesson on seasons: You can notice a lot of changes from season to season at the market. Identifying what crops grow in what type of weather is a great lesson.
A lesson on identifying different fruits and vegetables: This is pretty self explanatory. As we walk around we talk about what type of fruit we’d like to buy and identify which items are fruits. They we discuss which veggies we would like and identify those.
A lesson on plant growth: We can discuss how certain items grow (in the ground, from a tree, on a vine). We can discuss what time of the year they grow. We can talk about what produce needs to grow. We also get to see the diversity in our area.
A lesson on community and local economy: We support our local community when we go to the farm market. He gets to meet the local farmers. He learns where his food is coming from. We also have bakers, butchers, and artisans at our market.
Bonus: Letting Boober pick out food has led him to willing try new things!
Here are some books to go along with the lesson:
For Preschoolers
For Younger Children
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