This week’s activities

Harvesting our broad beans

You may have noticed that some of our vegetables are ready, or nearly ready to be harvested. The broad bean plants have a mixture of ripe and nearly ripe pods, so one of the teachers took a group of children to see if they could find the ripe ones. The teacher explained that by feeling the pods we can tell if they are ready to be picked. The teacher asked the children if they could first pick out the biggest pods and then give them a little squeeze to see if they can feel the bumpy beans inside. One of the children commented “this one has lots of beans because it feels big and squishy”.

Whilst they were picking the ripe beans, they looked at the potatoes that had recently been dug up and were waiting to be brought in to be used. They were of varying sizes and one child noticed “there are big ones and really small ones”. This led to discussion around where potatoes grow and what they need to grow bigger. One of the children said “they grow in the mud”. This led to further chat about where other vegetables grow and the children looked at the other vegetables that are growing in our allotment plot.

Once they had brought the pods inside, the children washed the beans to get rid of any insects that may have landed on them – we don’t use chemicals on our allotment (everything grown here is organic). They then thought about how they could get the beans out of the pod. One of the children put her finger into the top of the pod to open it,”it popped open” she observed. She showed the other children how to open the other pods. They then looked inside the pods and one of the children noticed that “it’s fluffy”. The teacher asked them why they thought it might be fluffy? “To keep it safe” one child responded.

Finally, the children tasted the beans. Opinions on whether they liked them were divided! Some did, some didn’t. One child made their feelings clearly known “yuk, I don’t like it!”, as they pulled a face.

Preparing and eating potatoes

As mentioned above, some of the potatoes are ready. This week the children learnt how to prepare potatoes ready for eating. First of all, they talked about how the potato skin was dirty. The teacher helped them to scrub the skin clean so that all of the potato can be eaten. She talked about how we can prepare pototoes in different ways and how different cooking methods give different results, eg roast potatoes, mashed potatoes or, as in this case, boiled potatoes.

Once the potatoes were clean, the children looked at the different sizes. As they were going to be having boiled potatoes, the teacher explained that it is best to peel the skin off. The children used the peelers to peel the large potatoes. The teacher explained about using the tools safely. The children discovered that some of the smaller ones were too tricky to peel. However, the teacher assured them that they would still be ok to eat and that the skin has lots of health benefits.

Unlike the broad beans, the children learnt that potatoes need to be cooked and can’t be eaten raw. The teacher put the potatoes in a saucepan and covered them with water. She explained that they needed to be cooked on the hob and that this is something that needs to be done by an adult, as it is very hot. The description of what kind of potato they were eating is directly linked to their name. This helps the children understand that cooking something in hot water is known as boiling.

Finally, once the potatoes were tender and had slightly cooled down, the children got to eat them with their snack. Yummy!

There is lots of lovely learning happening through these activities. Children are learning about what plants need to grow and how to take care of them. They are learning that it takes time and patience for plants to be ready for harvesting. They are developing an understanding of where some of their food comes from and how to prepare it ready for eating. Whilst they didn’t all like the beans and potatoes, at least they explored new tastes and could make an informed decision.

There are some photos on our website, www.anthonyropernusery.co.uk, and Facebook page.

We hope you have a lovely weekend and enjoy the Anthony Roper Primary School Fair – don’t forget to visit our Teddy Tombola stall.

The Pre-school Team