School holiday activities
The school holidays are right around the corner – leaving many of us scrambling to find new ways to keep our tamariki entertained throughout the summer.
Luckily, the warm temperatures and long days mean there’s no better time for your kids to get out and about in the garden - growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing great food.
That’s why we’ve put together a collection of five Garden to Table activities, set to engage your kids with learning in the kitchen and garden (and of course, have a tonne of fun)!
1) Explore the garden with a magnifying glass
This simple activity can provide hours of entertainment and learning for curious minds.
Just equip your tamariki with a magnifying glass and send them off on an outdoor adventure – challenging them to get up close and personal with the elements of nature.
Whether it’s the veins of a leaf or the rock particles of soil, there are plenty of things that they can examine – and they may even like to write a story about, or draw pictures of what they find.
2) Use vegetable scraps to create artistic masterpieces
This fun activity is sure to delight budding artists of all ages and abilities.
All you’ll need is a few food scraps (vegetables work best), which you and your children can turn into watercolour paint.
Check out this blog post to discover how to do so (you’ll also spot a couple of easy recipes in the blog, perfect for the school holidays).
3) Whip up a delicious spice rub
Or, why not make the most of all your spices and seasonings, and have your children create their very own spice rub, just in time for a summer BBQ?
Check out this blog post for a delicious BBQ-flavoured rub that has proven popular amongst our team!
4) Garden gratitude
The holidays are a time to focus on the most important aspects of life – which is why there’s no better time to practice gratitude with your tamariki.
Why not ask them to imagine walking into a gratitude garden – a place where they can grow things they are thankful for. As they walk through their garden, they can plant seeds of gratitude.
At the end, they can imagine the seeds germinating and shoots pushing through the soil, reaching up towards the sun and moon, and then blooming into a myriad of colours.
5) Strawberry picking
Harvesting fruit in summer is a great way to get children excited about growing. Find your nearest strawberry or other fruit farm and challenge the kids to fill their buckets. This activity is great for a lesson about how we know if a fruit is ripe, and what it might taste like if we pick too early.
Older children might be interested to learn that strawberries are not actually a true berry. The tiny specks on the outside are not true seeds, and the sweet flesh we love to eat is not the actual fruit!
