Session I: - Farming and Gardening - Where does it come from?

When we ask children where our food comes from, we hope their answer will be "from farms and gardens", not the grocery store!  To develop this theme, the children will learn and take part in gardening, worm composting and farming. We will create and grow a vegetable garden at our Kids’ Club site for the first time.  We will team up with Garden Mentors and Lettuce Link which will help the children get our garden started and distribute some of the harvest to our local community in need.  In the Pacific Northwest, farming can mean much more than growing corn.  We will head out of the city to tour oyster farms, which have been an important part of Washington State history since the 1800s, and visit a working farm where we will help with haying, pick strawberries and much more.

Session II: Do It Yourself/Cooking

Though our sessions are designed to be taken separately, when taken consecutively children will see interconnected concepts build throughout the summer.   In our second session we will continue nurturing the school garden. With the help of local chef and food writer Matthew Amster-Burton , (and the inspiration of Michael Pollan ) the children will learn how to prepare, cook and eat the fruit (or vegetables) of their labor, and learn the importance of vegetables in our diet.  Continuing the DIY/Cooking theme, the children will make their own soap, candles, jam and cheese.  They will also have a leather making class and visit an alpaca farm where they will learn about the spinning process first hand.

 

Session III: Nature and Body

Throughout the summer, we will have an emphasis on providing the children plenty of outdoor time to be physically active.  In our third and final three week session, we will focus on health, exercise, physical education and the outdoors.  We will team up with personal trainer and founder of Healthy-Bride, Christi Masi and yoga instructor Breona Gutschmidt.   Darrington Archers will teach the kids archery and we will have jump roping classes with Ropeworks. We will also go hiking at Mt. Rainier and have a first aid and CPR class.