We want to invite you to join SEEAG to learn more about agriculture, gardening and wellness at home.
Our goal is to share garden, wellness and ag-tivities via this newsletter and on our social media platforms, so students throughout Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties will continue to learn how their food is grown and where it comes from. We hope these at-home activities and lessons will help your students and kids to stay busy and learn more about plants, soil, water and agriculture. This also is the perfect time to start an outdoor garden or indoor-container garden at your home, and SEEAG wants to help you with that journey. Check out these seed companies who sell seeds online, and check back with us each week for information and gardening tips: Plant Good Seed – based in Ojai Johnny’s Selected Seeds Share your garden’s progress with #letsgrowagarden, and we can all grow a garden together! Each Monday, we will share fun and educational garden, wellness and ag-tivities that can be enjoyed at home. These activities will include creative ways to make all kinds of low-cost, minimal-input gardens so we can all grow a garden together.
We hope you enjoy these newsletters. Please stay in touch and share any activities you think other kids would like. We miss you!
Thank you and be well.
Mary and Team SEEAG
Keeping it standard.
Maintaining education standards for our students over the next few months is imperative. You can check out the science standards your child is learning about in school this year here: first grade, second grade, third grade, and fourth grade. Our weekly newsletter will help you find fun ways to teach these topics at home, or wherever you call a classroom.
Environment: The surroundings in which a person, animal, or plant lives
Farm: Land used for growing crops or raising animals
Habitat: The natural environment for a plant or animal
Pollinators: An animal that moves pollen from one plant to another
Seed: The reproductive structure of a plant that can grow into a new plant
Soil: The upper layer of earth where plants grow consisting of organic matter, clay, and rocks
Build-a-Butterfly An Outdoor, Creative, and Fun Activity for All Ages
It’s always important for our kids to go outside and connect with the world around them. Here is a fun craft that will get them exploring and get their creative juices flowing. This can be done right in your backyard, patio, neighborhood, all you need is some paper, scissors and glue.
While you are making this craft, your kid(s) might have questions about butterflies. Here are a few things you can share with so they can learn why farmers love them:
1. They are pollinators 2. Eat weedy plants 3. Their presence indicates the health of an environment
Want to learn more about butterflies? Check out this teacher-created website featuring tons of activities and information!
Mini Garden in an Eggshell Activity Start your own garden at home
With so many families spending the mornings together rather than rushing off to school drop-offs, do you find yourself making more elaborate breakfasts than you would on a typical school day? If breakfast includes eggs, save those eggshells! They have a wide variety of uses from fertilizer to bird feed. Since eggshells are high in calcium, plants love them, especially carrots and celery. So, for a creative at-home project, why not start an indoor mini garden of your own by planting a seed directly inside of those eggshells?
Here’s how:
Step 1: Crack an egg open
Step 2: Poke a small hole at the base of the egg shell for drainage using a pencil or pen
Step 3: Gently fill the egg shell about midway with soil
Step 4: Add seeds and a bit of water
Step 5: Place in a sunny spot, like a windowsill, and watch your seedling grow
The soil and your seed will directly benefit from the many nutrients provided by the eggshell. When your seed has sprouted, you can plant both the eggshell and your seedling directly into the soil in your garden or in a pot.
Finding the Healthy Hero in you! Introduction to nutrition and wellness lessons
There are over 2,000 farms in Ventura County, and together they grow more than 200 kinds of fruits and vegetables. Living on the Central Coast, we have a unique access to a diversity of produce year-round. One way that we can support our local farmers and help our bodies stay healthy is to eat a rainbow of fresh fruits and veggies every day. Below are several nutrition and food related activities – as well as local resources for produce.
Fruits and vegetables come in all different colors, shapes, sizes, flavors, and textures. Of these attributes, an item’s color can help us easily identify what part of our body will benefit from eating it. Learning the “food rainbow” is an engaging way to learn how to stay healthy by eating a diversity of fresh produce.
The weather has been a bit all over the place. One minute it rains, the next minute the sun is shining and in between we have gloomy afternoons. If you’re stuck inside amongst the chaos and you’re kids are starting to go stir crazy, use this beach ball exercise activity to help get energy out but also keep them in shape. Try this as a fun “at home P.E” activity using an inflatable beach ball to take a break from the screens and get up and moving!
Freeze dance party! During SEEAG’s nutrition presentations, our educators teach students about the Food Rainbow by quizzing them during a game of freeze dance. Pick a fun song that everyone can dance to, and when the music stops everyone freezes. Yell out a question to quiz the group, those who get it right get to dance again and those that don’t remain frozen until the end of the game. See how many questions your students can get right before everyone freezes!
Color Scavenger Hunt. Time your student(s) while they run to find as many items of the same color around the house in under a minute. Consider giving extra points for finding fruits and vegetables in the Food Rainbow!
Parents, this is a great moment to reiterate to your kids why exercising is important. Encourage them to start thinking about why they need to move their bodies and how it will improve their health in the long run. Sometimes when kids are told to exercise there is resistance because they don’t fully understand the importance behind the action. Lets empower them to make their movements meaningful by teaching them why they are valuable.
Let’s create healthy habits! Printable games and links to online resources
STEAM CAREERS IN AGRICULTURE PROGRAM Curriculum and STEM News
The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has a myriad of educator resources for students, with many resources available specifically for 6-12th grade students. Check out their website to explore their free resources such as lesson plans, articles and videos. Here are a few of our favorite finds:
This comprehensive curriculum is aimed at encouraging students to explore careers within the Ag industry, including lessons and activities for 9 Ag career focus areas.
Check out how modern agriculture uses technology to monitor and assist with plant growth, from seed to mature plant. Highlighted Careers: Plant Scientist, Information Technology Programmer, Mechanical Engineer.
Let’s start a garden together!
We are all in this together, and your story can inspire those in your community to try something new. Share a picture starting a garden at your home and continue to share your progress over the next few months. Tag your posts with #letsgrowagarden to encourage those around you, and together we will grow!