Education in the vegetable patch
24.08.2016
Instead of boning up on math, the curriculum of primary school children consists of building up raised-bed gardens, planting fruits and vegetables as well as cooking, when the BayWa Foundation comes on site with the project “Gemüse pflanzen. Gesundheit ernten.” (Planting vegetables. Harvest Nutrition.).
Many children are not any more familiar with the cycle of nature, they just know fruits and vegetables from the supermarket. The number of overweight children increased about 50 % over the last 30 years, the number of children with obesity even doubled. The education in nutrition topics is urging. A healthy eating habit is essential for the development of children and adolescents. The BayWa Foundation is encouraging the nutritional knowledge with the school gardening project and is backing it on the practical experience.
The school gardening project was implemented in 13 schools in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Thüringen. Since 2013 a total of 108 schools are part of the project by now.
Planting vegetables. Harvest Nutrition. (In German)
In addition BayWa Foundation is supporting two young refugee families in Tuntenhausen (Bavaria). Through a joint action day an integrative bond of food and living culture between Syria and Germany could be created in the beginning of June. While building up together three raised-bed gardens, manual skills were proved and the whole family was taking part at the new task “vegetable garden”. The creation of the vegetable garden became a real teamwork experience for children, parents and helpers. As a result the nutrition games did not only encourage social contacts between the helpers and the families, but also impart knowledge about healthy nutrition and the language.
Published: 24.08.2016
