HOW TO #4 How to harvest potatoes with ten children aged eleven months to four years old.
WHAT:
Today we harvested our potatoe crop in the front garden and cleaned the planters out ready for the next rotation of crops.
FIRST:
First, Adrian gave a demonstration to all the children of how to pull out the top of the potatoe plant, to reveal the potatoes attached underneath. (Cue lots of children pulling out large handfuls of plants and being surprised to find potatoes attached, which was cute.)
Next, Adrian demonstrated the hand movements needed to dig down with a trowel into the hard baked soil. The hand movement is push right down until the bottom of the handle of the trowel is touching the soil, then lever the trowel up-slowly, so as not to flick lots of soil in your friend's faces.
The soil really is impacted because of all the hot weather we have had since April. So some of the recently turned two and three year olds needed Adrian to loosen the soil for them first, before digging up their potatoes.
MEANWHILE:
Meanwhile, the three children aged between eleven and twelve months all explored a bucket of soil, and green waste, which is on the floor for their easy access. (This age range of children often need to sit to explore properly as they are newly mobile on their feet and can't stand up, hold on, and play with their hands all at the same time).
The children were then invited to ‘collect all the potatoes and put them in the bucket’. Most children picked out the potatoes with their hands. Some were more interested in picking up the soil and dropping it on the floor (learning about cause and effect), or transferring the soil to the nearby planter (learning about moving things from one place to another).
A few of the under twelve month children mouthed the raw potatoes (this is important oral based learning) and also ate a little bit of soil (not sure what learning this is but all young children seem to do it).
CURRICULUM:
This particular harvesting activity yielded some wonderful moments that lent themselves to the children's practising of specific hand movements - pulling, digging, levering, flicking, dropping. There was a lot of mathematical language about the potatoes - small, big, bigger, biggest. The children also learnt about their environment and their part in it- they took care to rehome all the worms and woodlice they found in the planters so they can help to cultivate the soil for the next crop.
The harvesting, and subsequent cooking, of the potatoes completes a full four month cycle of nature-based learning within our Montessori Cultural activity programme here at Jellybeans Childcare: in April germinating or ‘chitting’ the existing potatoes, in May planting the chitted potatoes, in June lots of watering of the growing potatoes, in July harvesting and eating them.
Within this cycle, the children have had the chance to learn where a potatoe comes from, how to grow their own food, as well as how to sustain and care for the plants they are growing.
We will be eating our yummy home grown potatoes this week.
