We had the ideas to involved Bugbee Children’s Center students in a fun activity, involving them with something I’ve been working on this semester: composting per-consumer food waste from the center. This learning experience enabled me to share my knowledge about food waste and composting with children, with the goal of getting them excited about repurposing food and what food can turn into.
Final Project Outcome
This attached presentation was used as a foundation to present to the children from Bugbee.
What I did
When the students from Bugbee joined us for a lesson on composting and food waste we carried out multiple activities. We started with a brief overview on what happens to their food scraps, and how I compost it for them at SUNY Oneonta, then we played compost bingo with the goal to help the better understand what can and cannot be composted. We did story time with the book: How to Say Hello to a Worm by Kari Percival, which got the children very excited about worms, dirt and the different way fruits and veggies can be grown. At the end of their visit they each covered their hand with paint to leave their mark on the composter.
What I learned
I learned how easy and important it is to incorporate ideas relating to sustainability and food waste into students life. Simple activities like ones that were performed this day hopefully stayed with the children, so in the future they can incorporate more sustainable practices into their lives. I found this experience really exciting due to the engagement from the children. I think that this experience was a great learning opportunity to know the best practices to educate individuals on how to make the environment a better place.
