Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Guacamole!

Today we went over to Georgia King Village. When we first arrived, we went to the garden to weed and water. It started raining so our time in the garden was shortened.

We then went inside, and the first thing the kids did was wash their hands. Soon after they were all finished and we began to play a recycling game.

In the game we had three different catagories, Cardboard, Paper and Plastic. We pulled several items out of a bag and the kids had to put the items in their appropiate category. The game went pretty well.

After the game we made guacamole with the kids. They were surprised at the pit in the middle, and they thought that the avocado looked gross. Still, ost of them thought they would like the snack, and it turned out that many of them did. They all got to try it with tortilla chips, and many of them loved it.

Green smoothies at GKV

Today at Georgia King Village, it was a great day and it went by very smoothly. We had about 15 kids today and the weather was beautiful. At first we worked on our garden and showed some new kids the plants. The kids helped us water the garden and helped us weed it too.



Weeding the garden

Kids playing"red light green light"

After we finished with the garden we played a quick game of "Red Light, Green Light." All the kids had so much fun with the game that they didnt want to stop.


After the game we took the children inside to play another game. This one was one we played before and the kids seem to like it every time we play. We played enviromental Uno.

A game of Enviromental Uno

After the game we had the kids rip up thier own leaf of swiss chard and put it in the blender. After that we added some bananas, peaches, and some orange juice. The kids were amazed oh how the smoothie looked but they tried it anyway. To our surprise,all of the kids loved it and even wanted seconds. Overall it was a smooth day and we hope we get others like this.



Kids tearing up swiss chard leaves

Planting and Cooking at GKV

Today the Juniors Rangers went to Georgia King Village. When we arrived there, one of the kids was already waiting for us. When we finally made it into the garden we had new growth with the lettuce and other veggies. As time went by more kids came. In the garden we weeded the beds and planted tomato, pepper, cabbage, and basil seedlings. They have a head start on the hardest part of growing - sprouting. The tomato seeds we planted that never sprouted, but we hope that these seedlings do well.

A child plants a cayenne pepper seedling.

Soon after we watered, we headed inside for the snack. By the time we were inside, we had gathered about 20 kids. We are thinking about moving downstairs to a bigger room if the same amount of kids keep coming. The kids washed their hands and then helped make the snack. For the snack we had leeks, sweet potatoes, and kale. We mixed them into a skillet with the help of the kids. Along with the three veggies we added olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper.

Cooking up our fresh snack!

After the snack was done cooking, the kids got to try the snack, and surprisingly a lot of them loved it. Many gave each veggie a the rating of a 5!

Digging in!

We gave the kids this fact sheet about the veggies that they tried. Maybe they will try them at home, too!

Garden work at Georgia King Village

Today at the garden we tried watering with the hose, but the pressure of the water was way too strong and it all ended up splashing on everyone. It was a relief from the heat, so we might play water games over the summer. In the garden, the radish and lettuce leaves were ready to be taken out and eaten so the kids harvested it and tried it as an appetizer before the snack. Then the kids ate their snack which was a fruit kebab. They had strawberries, bananas, kiwi and mandarin oranges. They said that if they were making their own, they would include apples, pears, watermelon, and pineapple. Hopefully they make their own at home! But they liked the one that we made for them. They all enjoyed the program and left off to fulfill an enjoyable and energetic day.

A radish a child just dug up with her bare hands!

Weeding the carrots. We are still waiting for them to be ready.

Planting bell pepper seeds where we just pulled up the radishes.

Kids are about to taste the radishes and lettuce we harvested.

Earth Day in the Garden :)

This week, the Youth Gardens was pretty successful. Yesterday at Georgia King Village, the weather was windy but sunny. We are seeing impressive progress in the garden. The peas are 9 inches tall, the lettuce is 2 inches tall, the radish greens are 3 inches tall, the cabbage is 2 inches tall, and the carrots are 2 centimeters tall. We are seeing good progress, and we hope that it continues on schedule.


There were three kids at the garden at GKV, and they all had a turn to water the plants. We had to take out some dying plants in one of the barrels and we planted new seeds in the barrels. In one of the large beds, we had to take out some of the cabbage plants due to the fact that each plant needs adequate space to grow and spread their roots.

Weeding the peas at GKV

Watering the carrots at GKV

The weather at Bradley Court was a little drizzly with a lot of humidity. The progress of the garden was a lot better than we all had expected. The radishes are 6 inches, the beets are 4 inches, the kale is 6 1/2 inches, the carrots are 6 1/2 inches and the peas are 11 inches. These measurements are from the kids themselves. We started out with five kids but three more kids came along for a total of eight kids. We didn't have to water due to the fact that it was going to rain, but we let the kids water the plants to get them involved. There were a lot of weeds in multiple beds but we were able to take them out.

Measuring the peas at BC

Earth Day Activities

#TeamActivitesCrew
Junior Rangers started out the day with gardening, however after that we went straight to activity. At Georgia King Village, the kids participated in Limbo and they had a wonderful time.  Activites crew brought a large stick that was pruned off a tree at the Outdoor Learning Center. Two Junior Rangers held the stick while the kids went under. Most kids won, while the Junior Rangers lost, but what matters is that they had fun.
Sadly, it rained at Bradly Court, so we had an indoor activity. We played the True or False game with an Earth Day theme. One Junior Ranger held a True sign while another Junior Ranger held the False sign. We read statements about the earth and environment, and the kids ran to the true or false side. Some statements were funny, like, "The sky is purple." Others were less obvious, like, "Clouds are made of water." Hopefully they learned some things about the environment!

Gardening Developments

Good news, guys! Our plants have made progress! About a month ago, we planted seeds such as radish, lettuce, carrots etc. When we went to Georgia King Village this week, the plants had grown about 3 inches tall. That was really good, but when we went to Bradley Court today, guess what? They had grown 7.5 inches tall! We were really surprised at how tall it had grown. So today we watered the plants and weeded the plant beds. We are hoping to see an even greater progress next week! Can't wait!

GKV March 28, 2012

GKV April 18, 2012

BC March 29, 2012

BC April 19, 2012

Mango Smoothies for All

This week's lesson was mainly about one specific fruit, which is the mango. Our plan was to have the kids try the mango a couple different ways. One would be dried using the dehydrator. Another was fresh mango so that the kids have a chance to try it. The other way was a mango smoothie, which we would make with the kids.

At Georgia King Village, there were only about three kids at first. As time went on, a few more kids came. We showed the kids how a dehydrator works and how to put the mango slices in the dehydrator. Not only that but we also showed the kids how to cut the mango two different ways. Then we made the smoothie. The kids seemed to like the dried mango, fresh mango, and the smoothie.

At Bradley Court, we did mostly the same things, but the children weren't able to try the fresh mango. Close to twenty kids attended our lesson, so there weren't enough for them to have and also make the smoothie. The children at Bradley Court didn't seem to like the dried mango as much as the smoothie. Some kids even came up for seconds of the smoothie. Try the recipe for yourself and see if you like it as much as they did!

Garden progress at GKV

#TeamGardenCrew
              Today we went to our work site. My job as part of the garden crew was to gather everything that we will need for the garden. When we reached the garden there were great improvements. The peas grew tremendously since last week. The radishes were just starting to grow. Our other plants are not yet progressing. As part of the garden crew we took many pictures of the plants. As for the children they colored flower sheets when we reach inside. The topic of the sheets was "What I Like About...." The children stated what they like about the Earth,the garden, their family, spring, and their community.
                                                                                                Sincerely,
                                                                                                           Garden Crew 


P.S : One of the residents at GKV left us a potted plant to add to the garden at the gate. ^_^!

Hummus and Pita Chips Delight!

Today turned out to be a bright sunny day. We had gone to our youth garden and nothing had sprouted yet. We hope that everything is ok due to the fact that the weather was cold during the past week. We watered and we weeded and hopefully are plants will grow soon.

We also played the game charades with the kids outside and they seemed to enjoy it alot. At first words like farmer, garden, and pollution  were too complicated for them to guess and fruits and vegtables were too easy, however as the game continued we realized words like flower, sun and grass were good enough for them to guess and we just loved to see their smiling faces as they played:)

After playing charades we took the kids inside to prepare a snack. Our snack was red pepper hummus and pita chips and step by step we showed them the instructions on how to make it as they read along with the recipe cards we handed them. We assigned most of them a way to participate on making the hummus.

After we were finish making it, we handed them the pita chips along with the hummus. Some of them seemed to enjoy it, buh others didnt like it at all. Other than that we had a great time and everything turned out pretty good as we had planned:)