Explore the World of Food With the Farm to Table Program
How many times have you been asked, “Where does milk come from?”
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Maybe it’s because of how many kids we have, but I can assure you I’ve been asked that exact question once or twice (times 20).
Kids are curious, and because we homeschool, we receive those questions as both parents and teachers.
Colby and I answer them as best as we can and look for tangible ways to show our children how things work.
Farm to Table
For us, being able to offer hands-on activities or visual representations of how things work helps our kids learn best.
For example, we read about the Oregon Trail in books, but it wasn’t until we took our children to one of the very first establishments along the trail that they began to understand the history.
Walking through the store, touring the house, working the farm, and packing the covered wagon taught them more than a textbook could.
It also taught them to value farmers more when they understood how the concept of “farm to table” relates to them.
Understandably, we can’t spend all of our time traveling (yet) so we also look for ways to learn more at home. The Milk It! and Scholastic Farm to Table Program has helped our girls explore the journey of food.
As much as we talk about “farm to table,” I think we often forget that milk—just as fruits and vegetables—comes from the farm!
In fact, milk is an example of original farm-to-table food.
It’s minimally processed and farm fresh, and often originates from dairy farms about 300 miles away from your local grocery store.
The Farm to Table program wants to help children (and parents) learn where their food comes from
through resources that include:
- Recipes for nutritious breakfasts and snacks with plenty of nutrients to help fuel kids to achieve
- Conversation prompts and activities to help keep kids actively engaged at the grocery store and beyond
- An interactive dairy farm map that demonstrates the importance of food production and how a nutritious diet can help kids be their best
- A comic-style magazine about milk’s journey from farm to table.
- A classroom component that parents can share with teachers or use at home for extra math and reading support
Of course, as a homeschool family, we were thrilled to find an incredible amount of lesson plans and learning aides.
Plus, the interactive farm map counts as a fun virtual field trip, which the girls always liked to participate in.
With a better understanding of where food comes from, we have been able to have open conversations about eating a balanced diet of a variety of nutritious foods.
For example, we learned that milk’s journey doesn’t end when it reaches your table. The nutrients in milk actually work in different ways throughout your body to help you be your very best!
Fun Fact: One 8-ounce glass of milk provides eight grams of natural, high-quality protein. One of the reasons protein is important is that it helps build strong muscles and keep bones strong.
Our children are naturally curious and their brains absorb new information like sponges.
We hope by teaching them the origins of their food, they will understand where their food comes from and continue to make good nutritional choices for a lifetime.
With resources such as the Farm to Table program, they can better appreciate the importance of how food is produced and how a nutritious diet can help fuel them to be their very best.
How do you explore the world of food with your children?
Learn more about the Farm to Table program at scholastic.com/farmtotable