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. ^_^!

Mango lesson

This week in the garden we are going to be watering over the soil and plants. Also, taking out any weeds we find in the soil. Our activity will be based on an environmental and educational process. The activity consists of drawing and cutting out a paper flower and on each petal writing good things about the environment or ways to support the environment. During snack time, we will give examples of ways a mango can be processed into eating - for example, dried, fresh, and in a smoothie.

Bradley Court visits GNC

Our lesson plan was based on Easter, which is next Sunday. Today Bradley Court kids came to the Greater Newark Conservancy. We gave them a tour of the garden. They were so excited.

After the tour we did a scavenger hunt with the kids. Each Junior Ranger paired up with a kid from Bradley Court. It was fun for us and the kids because we got to have one on one time with the kids. Everything went as planned and they had a blast at the Greater Newark Conservancy.

We then made a snack with the kids. Each child got to participate in making Deviled Eggs. They added the ingredients and mixed them together. The eggs turned out great and the child were very pleased with what they made.

Spring Break Nutrition

Over the past week Junior  Rangers & Farm Stand interns are on spring break. We had time to come in early to the conservancy and start different activities. For example, yesterday we went to the urban farm on Court Street. We planted beans, peas and lettuce.  We also built trellises for the beans and peas to grow up.

After the farm work, we watched a movie called Forks Over Knives. That movie was based on healthy living. It explained how you can end or reverse diseases just by eating a whole foods diet.We saw how many people switched to a plant based diet and it reversed diseases without the use of medication or technology such as chemotherapy and radiation.

Today we learned about the super foods such as fish, tomatoes, pumpkin, nuts, yogurt, etc. Each member of the NYLP (Newark Youth Leadership Project) created their own posters based on their assigned super fruit. We learned many things we never knew of and at the same time we had fun.

Hummus and pita chips

Today we had 12 kids. They watered the garden and we are still waiting to see the growth of our plants.

Our main goal was to get the kids together and help take care of the garden today.
The children tried our snack which was hummus and pita chips. Most liked it. Others just liked the chips.

After snack time we played a game called charades guessing fruits, plants,animal, and vegetables. In round one they had to only describe parts of the word. Round two they had to act it out.

Next week the children will be coming to the Conservancy for their spring break, and we are really excited!

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:)