Winter Boredom Busters – Five Fun Indoor Gardening Activities for Kids

Indoor gardening ideas for kids
Hands up if you find it difficult to keep the kids (and yourself) interested in gardening during the winter months? Don’t worry, you are certainly not alone. It is often cold, wet and windy during this time of year and who wants to spend time in the garden with the kids when the conditions are like this? It can be difficult to find activities to keep kids engaged and entertained when they are stuck inside and the weather is dismal so I have come up with five indoor  gardening ideas to help beat boredom and keep your children interested in gardening this winter. Continue reading

Guest Post: Silverbeet and Feta Cheese Rolls for Kids

Silverbeet and Feta Rolls
Silverbeet is a great vegie for kids to cook with
I am thrilled to share with you today a fantastic guest recipe post by Kay Richardson from The Children’s Food Education Foundation (CFEF). The Foundation aims to improve the health outcomes of marginalised children and young people.  Using food as a vehicle for social innovation and enterprise, their programs encourage healthy eating and address healthier living barriers like social exclusion, lack of literacy and independent living skills.  The Foundation collaborates with others to achieve successful long-term outcomes for children and young people experiencing disadvantage, chronic illness, disabilities, mental disorders, and those who care for themselves or others.

Silverbeet and Feta Cheese Rolls – makes lots

This is a really tasty and easy recipe to use up silverbeet grown in your garden. Unless you are having a party, don’t cook and eat them all at once because, once the rolls are made, they can be frozen. Remember to ask a grown-up to be your assistant and help read the recipe plus do all the things that might be tricky or dangerous for you to do on your own. Continue reading

Broccoli, Potato and Silverbeet Soup

Broccoli, Potato and Silverbeet Soup
Broccoli, Potato and Silverbeet Soup made by my year 1 and 2s
I recently posted about using broccoli from our school garden in recipes with my students. I promised that I would post the recipes as the kids absolutely loved them so here if the first one for you – Broccoli, Potato and Silverbeet Soup. Continue reading

What to Plant with the Kids in Winter

There is plenty that kids can plant during winter
The weather has definitely turned chilly in many parts of Australia so now is the perfect time for kids to be planting some winter crops in the garden. Many people think that not a lot can be grown in winter however this is not necessarily the case. There are still plenty of great fruit and vegies that can be planted now that kids love. Continue reading

Silverbeet and rosemary pasta

A great recipe for the kids using produce from their garden.
Last week I had my students fill out a feedback form that asked them about their favourite activities they have done this term. Not surprisingly cooking rated very highly so as a way to celebrate the end of term I decided to undertake another cooking day with them all. We still have a large amount of silverbeet growing in the garden and the rosemary bush has taken on a life of its own so I thought we would utilise these great ingredients whilst we waited for our newer vegie plants to grow.
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What to plant with the kids this autumn

Autumn is here
The days are getting shorter, the mornings are getting cooler and the leaves are starting to yellow which means that autumn has begun. Now is the time to start thinking about what you would like to plant with the kids over the autumn months.
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Spanakopita with silverbeet

Silverbeet is a good alternative to spinach for spanakopita
I recently asked the students that I work with what they would like to achieve in their kitchen garden program this year. Many of them were very eager to learn how to cook and some asked specifically to learn how to cook spanakopita.  As the school garden already had a large plot of silverbeet I thought we’d try our hand at making this traditional greek recipe with what we had on hand rather than using spinach. We also used leeks that we had growing as opposed to onions.
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