Vrtec Vrhnika, enota Želvica

As part of the challange we embarked on an exploration of food. We decided to explore where food comes from. The children were able to list some healthy foods on their own, but we quickly realized that they preferred the types of food that should be eaten less frequently and aren’t very healthy for our bodies. Through this process, we encouraged the children to try foods at kindergarten that they hadn’t tried before, and many discovered that just because something doesn’t look appealing at first doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste good. We then explored the origin of food. The children’s answers about where food comes from made us laugh, but also showed us that they lack experience with food production and don’t have a clear idea of where it comes from. This is completely understandable, as children today are not directly involved in growing food, although they are often present during grocery shopping. Through various encyclopedias, stories, short videos, discussions, and storytelling from children who have had these experiences, we gradually learned about the origin of food. Now, the children know that food comes from both animal and plant sources, and how it is produced. We also explored local and imported food. Through different games, we learned that local food is healthier and contains more nutrients than imported food. At the same time, we touched on the environmental aspect of food imports. The children learned that their bodies receive more nutrients from food that is grown locally or at home, which also has a lower environmental impact. Then, we moved on to investigating which types of food are more commonly available and consumed. We went to a grocery store to look for answers and had difficulty finding Slovenian fruits and vegetables — most of the food was imported. The children recorded the exact numbers on a sheet, which later helped them easily compare the data. Next, we were curious about how many Slovenian products we could find at the local market. We visited every stand, observed what was being sold, and bought a few items. The children asked where the food was produced, and we found only Slovenian products. In both the store and the market, we discovered that there were several foods the children had never tried before. We bought them and tasted them together. At kindergarten, we first observed, touched, smelled, compared, and then tasted all the purchased items throughout the week. Each child created a tasting booklet where they drew individual fruits, vegetables, or cooked foods made from what we had bought. They rated how much they liked each item with stickers. We used the vegetables bought at the market to cook pumpkin and cauliflower soup. Later we explored what happens to food when it becomes waste and what we can do to throw away as little food as possible. We used a scale to weigh the leftover food and compared the quantity for a week. We discussed what we could do to produce less food waste.