Going to the Beanstalk

When you ask a group of 3-5yr. olds what the word “harvest” means, who knows what kind of answers you will get? We asked this question to over 1,000 preschool children a few weeks ago and the answer that stood out the most in my mind was....

”Going to the Beanstalk.” I love it. Can it really be that simple?

Indeed it can. Part of our work with Food Matters is to explain growing, harvesting, and cooking healthy foods in a way that young children can understand— and they are often our best teachers. Building on this student's answer, we then pretended to go to the beanstalk, pick all the beans and put them in a big basket. Then we dug carrots and potatoes from the ground, plucked tomatoes and peppers from the vine, and pinched blueberries from a bush.

We put them all in big baskets and said... ”Now, what can we do with all this food? Can we eat it all at one time?”

Of course not, and this led to a nice discussion about storing food, especially in the winter, by canning, freezing, or drying them in the sun. We brought in cranberries: fresh, frozen, dried, and canned. The children tasted each and decided which they liked the best or least.

We reviewed with them the different ways to preserve food, echoing an intelligence and simplicity that, I hope, would make our ancestors proud.

Blog Categories: Food Matters