Primary school children in Boston enjoyed showing off their vegetable knowledge during the third annual Freshtime Fun Club, which launched on Wednesday (25th May).
Staniland Academy on Peck Avenue in Boston is the latest school to welcome the Freshtime Fun Club, which is now in its third year.
The educational project is run by fresh food producer Freshtime and teaches primary school pupils about vegetables, particularly those grown in Lincolnshire, alongside promoting healthy eating.
During the launch session, 47 pupils from Year 3 participated in an interactive vegetable-themed quiz and planting session hosted by Freshtime’s Head of Agronomy, Mel Miles.
Mel came prepared with a box of groceries including okra, kale and broccoli, ready to test the children’s knowledge.
He engaged the youngsters by allowing them to pass the vegetables around while asking questions and encouraging them to think about the shapes, colours and textures of each fresh item.
Year 3 then braved the rain and headed outside to take part in a planting session and, with the encouragement and support from Mel, all of them volunteered to sow pea plants.
Mel said: “I always look forward to hosting the Freshtime Fun Club. It’s great to see how each one will pan out because the level of intrigue and interactivity among the children varies from school to school.
“They may not remember Freshtime as a business, but that’s OK. At this stage in their lives it’s about finding new ways of generating excitement and interest in food provenance, which is why we launched the fun club in the first place.”
The children also took it in turns to fill out specially designed fun club activity sheets and, at the end of the session, each pupil who took part received a Freshtime Fun Club balloon and a bookmark.
James Russell, a teacher at Staniland Academy, watched over some of his pupils during the day. He said: “The first session went really well and the children thoroughly enjoyed it. I was pleasantly surprised by how many of them were able to guess the vegetables.
“We have been learning about the plant system in class so it’s been especially nice for them to actually participate in the planting.
“We’re already looking forward to welcoming the Freshtime Fun Club for the next session for the other half of the year group, when we can see how much the pea plants have grown.
“Schemes such as this one are so important as they provide an opportunity for children to get excited about vegetables and think about the positive impact of healthy eating. It may even inspire them to get more involved with growing some of their own plants and vegetables at home.”
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