Grow, harvest, grind wheat & bake bread

Grow, harvest, grind wheat & bake bread

Key words:

Discovery play, creative play, non-human play gardening, harvesting, baking, chemical reactions, states of matter, mixing

Centre:

Blackwater Tiny Tots

Description:

This learning experience was inspired by the children’s book The Little Red Hen. Gini and her team of educators at Blackwater Tiny Tots in Central QLD grew wheat with the children from leftover bird seed they had been sharing with the birds in the yard. The children germinated some of the seeds in a container to witness the germination process in action, and planted seeds in different locations around the centre grounds. The children were committed to watering and caring for the wheat throughout the dry winter. The children waited for the wheat to grow, harvested it, examined the wheat up close, threshed the wheat, ground it and then made bread from it, enjoying the bread with honey from a child’s own hive. They also saved some seeds to add to their seed bank at the centre. The children learnt through play about caring for plants, planting cycles, where food comes from, and symbiotic relationships in the environment.