The following is a post from contributing writer Angie.
As Spring is wrapping up and Summer looms on the horizon, farmers markets are having their opening days all over the country. While my family loves attending the farmers market just for the sheer fun of it, I am also always astounded at the educational opportunities that abound there.
While farmers markets offer different items, attract various vendors, and vary greatly in size from one another, I have compiled a list of ideas for a field trip that you can tweak to suit your particular farmers market.
Be Daring with Food
The funny part about this is that it actually doesn’t have to be all that daring. Challenge your children to seek out some type of produce that they haven’t tried before so that you can purchase them one to try for the first time.
Even better yet, prior to attending the farmers market, give each of your children a list of produce that they will probably find at the market. Ask them to find the items when they are there, and then buy a sampling of the items.
When you get back home, have everyone in the family taste at least a small amount of each item and then rate it. You could either finish the activity at that point, or you can involve some graphing to find out what your family’s favorite and least foods were.
Learn About Art Techniques
At most farmers markets, there are artists of some type, whether they be photographers, painters, jewelry artists, textile artists, or any other branch of the arts. While the produce vendors can sometimes be swamped at a farmers market, it’s not unusual for artists to be able to make time to talk about their art with interested children.
At our trips to the farmers market, my children have seen earrings being made (by a jewelry artist that just happened to ask if we wanted to watch), learned about the process of making decorative ceramic pieces, and even been the proud canvases of Henna art (while the artist told them all about the process).
If the artists don’t just naturally start chatting your family up, help your children prepare some questions that they would want to ask of artists ahead of time. It’s an amazing way to talk one-on-one with some really interesting people.
Plan and Prepare a Meal
Meal planning and preparation are skills that are vital for children to learn to save them from a life of macaroni and canned soup. The farmers market presents an amazing opportunity to work on those planning and preparation skills. Assist your children in planning a meal based on the foods that are expected to be at the farmers market that week (many have schedules available in print or online).
Your children can look for the best quality and prices as they shop for their planned meal. Help them to be prepared to make substitutions. A back up meal plan may be a good idea. If you wanted to add to the challenge, you could even give them a budget for their meal.
After everything has been purchased, assist your children (as needed) as they prepare their market fresh meal.
A New Musical Experience
Many farmers markets have musical performers at them either on a regular basis or on special occasions. At larger farmers markets, there may even be multiple musicians at various locations throughout the market. This can offer a great chance to see a performance, learn about local musicians, see unfamiliar instruments, or be exposed to music that is more common in other cultures.
One highlight for my children is to put in a little money for the performer after they are done watching.
Watch for Themed Days
Your local farmers market may be ever changing if they have themed days. Be sure to check out their schedule to see if a trip to the farmers market may actually afford you a chance to see a presentation from local police, the city’s newest fire truck, a cooking demonstration, or any number of opportunities that aren’t normally scheduled.
If you’re disappointed because your local farmers market is little more than a few tables, be sure to do some research about other farmers markets within driving distance.
Learning about Small Businesses
If your children are like mine, they are enamored with the idea of running a small business. A farmers market gives you access to lots of small business owners all at once. If you have a budding entrepreneur, have them prepare some questions that they would like to know about to ask vendors who are not busy at that time.
While in depth questions are probably not the best options, they might ask things about why the vendor likes having a small business, what challenges they face, if this is their sole income or if they have to have another job, and why they decided to start their own business. It’s, of course, best for your child to share up front that they are asking because they hope to have a small business one day too.
Do you frequent your local Farmers Market? What are your favorite things about it?
About Angie
I agree. You can find a lot of educational opportunities at a farmers market. Besides talking to business owners your child (or you) can talk to local farmers. You can learn about what vegetables grow in the area and how to grow them. You can learn about being organic. If you can find a master gardener you can learn about insects and plant diseases.
My jaw just dropped … I had no idea a Farmer’s Market was so vast! …
I talked my husband into taking us to ours last year … we got some amazing deals, but it’s 30 minutes away, and it took us all of 8 minutes to visit the different booths, then another 10 minutes to go around a second time and buy stuff. Then we went around a third time just to make sure we didn’t miss anything, and ask some questions about veggies we didn’t recognize – and came home with a few boxes of “don’t want to take them home, we’ll cut you a good deal”.
But honestly, I thought they were all tiny like ours. Wow!!!
There are some (I think especially in big cities) that are huge. We have three near us. One is smaller, one is medium sized (and growing), and one is larger (with all of the kinds of things I described).
I used to live near Madison, Wisconsin, and their farmers market is huge. It goes all around the capitol building. (And then there is an offshoot of it near it for things that are not allowed to be included in their farmers market, as they’re strict about what things are allowed.)
So, for a fun experience, try to ask around to see if anyone knows a large one that might be worth a drive. Not necessarily for every week, but just once in a while.
Children can sell the things they make or grow at a farmer’s market. DS now 11 will shortly begin his second year of sales at the farmer’s market just 2 blocks from out home in a rural Wisconsin Village. He sells the ballon animals he makes. He pays for own spot at the market. He pays for the balloons. He sells the balloon creations for a reasonable mark up. He developed regular customer base last summer. They returned week after week to purchase new animals for their children. He ended the summer with a tidy profit and is ready to head back to the market for a new year of sales. He has gained so much from the activity. In addition to learning the basics of small business he also has a raport with other vendors and his customers.
That’s so fabulous to hear! Did he decide to do it again this year?
Our local Farmer’s Market was a MAJOR part of our oldest son’s learning experience. Starting at age 6, he sold produced he’d grown (with his Dad) at the Farmer’s Market. He learned so much about life, business and customer service, not to mention basic math. He also developed some strong mentorship relationships, and a reputation as a hard-working, polite, intelligent kid. Today, at age 14, he now does lawn and yard work for many pp he first met through the Farmer’s Market.