Kicking off in October, Kids Country – the educational arm of the East of England Agricultural Society – attended three local primary schools with their Autumn Apples Event, a half day of hands on activities and learning. Activities included Fenland Soil demonstrating the importance of soil and the layers of a typical soil profile whilst working with the children to make their own edible soil layers. Students also got to speak to pomologist Richard Brewer, to understand more about the process of growing apples in the UK, their nutritional benefits and then got to make their own baked apple to take home. The event is delivered into school classrooms, where children also made an apple bird feeder to encourage birds onto school grounds. 
Kids Country education manager, Sandra Lauridsen, says: “We have always believed that engaging with young children about food, farming and the countryside is so important to shaping their decisions as adults, whether that’s what snack they might choose, how to cook a high-nutrition low cost dinner, what behaviour they might display when in the countryside, or even whether they might be the next combine harvester designer of the future. Helping young children to think about sensible food choices is more important than ever this year.”
Clough & Risegate Primary School, Beverley Rooney said “All the workshops were very engaging and fun. The children learnt lots of new information, enjoyed making and then taking their apple creations home. An excellent event which hit many of our school learning objectives but also consolidated the work we do on Food & Farming in School. A brilliant afternoon that we would highly recommend to all and delivered by a great Kids Country team”
In November, the Kids Country team of educators and volunteers will be back out to deliver ‘Breakfast with Kids Country’ into three primary schools in the area. Whilst that is fully booked, there are spaces left for ‘Breakfast with Kids Country’ in January.
Sandra continued: “It is encouraging that schools are still so engaged with helping their students to understand where their food comes from, how it is grown in local fields by farmers, and the nutritional impact of this home-grown food. We are also grateful to all the food and farming businesses and our corporate and individual volunteers that make time to help us in our aim to deliver exceptional, hands-on learning experiences for children based around food, farming and the countryside.”
