End of the Year Wrap Up

So the year is coming to an end, and we are reflecting on all the things we've done so far. For example, all the weekend events we participated in. They were so much fun and a learning experience for all of us involved. We also took the chance to help the community. For example, we helped the senior center prepare their garden. They are throwing us all a BBQ on June 18th to show their appreciation. We also helped a brand new veterans housing facility plant their own rooftop garden. For our help, the manager will be thanking us with a pizza party that we are excited to have. It will be held on Friday June 8.

This past Saturday, on June 2nd, the new Riverfront Park opened, and of course we were there. We had a farm stand running there alongside the Junior Rangers who had a fun game for the kids to learn about how healthy natural foods are and how processing food affects nutrition. On Sunday June 3 we made our way to the Save Latin America Health Festival. There we also had a farm stand and our famous Junior Rangers were not far behind. Junior Rangers taught the kids there about cilantro and we even helped them plant there very own cilantro from seeds. Then they got to try it in the bean salsa dip. Everyone really enjoyed it.

This past year went by really quickly. One of our biggest achievements was getting the Jefferson Award for our youth service. Another one was the Senatorial Citation Award for our summer program completion. We also received an award for our completion of the Nutrition Program where we learned the importance of healthy living.

We might not blog for the next couple of weeks until our summer program begins again. Next week will be our last. We will go to Seaside Heights this Saturday for a beach cleanup and have an open mic night next Thursday. It is $2 and open to the public, so come share your talent and enjoy a fun evening with the community!

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

The harvest at Bradley Court

Today at Bradley Court, we saw amazing results in the garden. Our radishes and kale are fully grown and the kids were able to take them home. The kids then planted cabbage and peppers. We didn't have enough time to give them the snack, but we will return tomorrow to make the snack and play an educational game. We had roughly about 15 kids.

Wow! We were surprised by how tall the radishes grew!



A closeup of a radish poking out of the ground



The biggest radish I've ever seen!




Let's finish weeding so that we can plant our seedlings!



Then we played Simon Says... pat your tummy and rub your head!

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.

Bringing Italy to Georgia King Village

On Wednesday at Georgia King Village, it was drizzling and there was fog in the air. We checked the garden, and there was a noticeable change in the growth of the vegtables. After we checked the garden, we went inside we began our activity. Initially we were going to teach the children the numbers one through ten in Italian but it was hard enough to learn from one to five. The four children that attended seemed to enjoy very much learning how to say the numbers.

Measuring garden progress

We played two Italian games in honor of Sardinia's big festival for St. Efisio, which goes on May 1 to 4. One game, one person was a witch and called out colors, then the children had to run around the room and find something of that color the witch said before the witch caught them. The second game was almost simliar to Mother May I where there was a princess who told the other kids how many steps they could take to her castle and what animal they had to act out while they walked toward her.

Learning about Italy

For the snack we made the Italian flag out of vegetables on a kebab.We used red bell peppers and little cherry tomatoes as the red, a piece of Swiss cheese as the white, and cucumbers as the green. The children seemed to like the snack, although I think that one of the kids didn't like the cheese. It was still a good, fresh snack for them!

Making kebabs with the kids

Junior Rangers made some Italian flag kebabs too!

Senior Citizen Center

Tuesday May 2 ,2012 Junior Rangers and Farm Stand went to a senior citizen center home to garden. There we meet a lady who was continuing a garden that her mother started. In her mothers honor, we helped weed, water, and add mulch. In the garden there are going to be flowers, grass, and herbs. They will also have a place where you can come relax and enjoy the weather. For the next two Tuesdays we are going to continue to help with the work in the garden. We enjoy the opportunity to go out and help the community.

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!

Earth Day Snacks

Sunday was Earth Day. Junior Rangers went to Georgia King Village and Bradley Court. As a part of the kitchen crew, our main focus was creating a snack for the kids that was healthy yet good and that they would enjoy. We centered the snack around Earth Day. We filled a cup with different fruits that could represent the different layers of the earth. For example, peaches and strawberries represented lava; Low Fat Honey Graham Crackers were the dirt; we used blueberries and blackberries as the water; kiwi slices stood for grass, and we used whipped cream for the clouds. The kids enjoyed the snack very much. They even asked where you buy the fruit from and how much it is. One of the children at Georgia King Village, had learned about the layers of the Earth in school and said the snack was a better way to learn because you can eat it. At Bradley Court, one girl said it was her first time trying kiwi, and she loved it. She said she was going to ask her mother to buy her some from the store.

Peaches, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and kiwi -
Earth parfaits are fun with fruit!

Making whipped cream! 

Enjoying the perfect Earth parfait!

Crushing graham crackers to represent the crust of the Earth

A Mole Lot Of Fun!

Our guacamole recipe!

This week, we made Guacamole with Georgia King Village and Bradly Court. Guacamole has avocado which conatins Vitiman A. This is good for your eye sight.  The guacamole was used for a dip while the kids used tortilla chips to dip inside. They enjoyed the guacamole even though they thought it looked gross at first. We altered the recipe a little. We used salsa instead of tomatos and onions, but it turned out great! Therefore you can try it that way. Overall everything went well and the kids really loved it.

Making guacamole at Georgia King Village

Guacamole and salsa at Bradley Court

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

Environmental Uno

Our activity for this week was to play Environmental Uno. For those who haven't played Uno or forgot how to play, it its very simple. All you have to do is match the number and/or color to the card on top of the deck. When one of the players has one card left they say Uno or Uno out. The first player to get rid of all his cards wins.
With environmental Uno, we had the cards in different categories. For example, there were red, blue, green, and brown sections that correspond to different things in the environment. At Georgia King Village, since there were a few more kids then expected, we had to split the group of about 8 in half. In all, the game went on smoothly and the kids seemed to enjoy it. We only had time for one game because the first one took a little longer than usual.

As for Bradly Court, unfortunately we didn't have time to do the game of Environmental Uno. Instead, we took the kids outside and had them play Simon says. At first, it was a little crazy because the kids didn't want to listen, but after a while, they did, and we got the game started. But that's not all, we also had the kids who lost at Simon says go with another Junior Ranger to play Red Light Green Light so they wouldn't get bored.

We are happy to teach kids fun games to keep their bodies and minds active!

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!