Pre-schoolers are learning how to garden at Barnardos Early Learning Centre in Ōtara. Photo: RNZ/Felix Walton
Preschoolers in South Auckland are learning how to grow food, going hands-on with a veggie garden and a worm farm.
RNZ visited the Barnardos Early Learning Centre in Ōtara just in time for its latest winter harvest.
Clawing through dirt as if mining for gold, the group of three and four year olds revealed an impressive crop of potatoes, beetroots and kumara.
After school, the kids would take a bag of veggies home to share with their families.
Their teacher, Barnardos' Ōtara centre manager Carolaina Mua Peterson, said it was an exciting day.
"They love getting their hands dirty, it's one of their favourite things to do," she said.
"Harvesting vegetables is a mana enhancing experience they get to share not only with the other students and teachers, but they get to share the stories with their families [too]."
The worm farm was donated to the school. Photo: RNZ/Felix Walton
Beside the garden was a worm farm, where the kids took their food scraps to become fertiliser.
The worm farm was donated to the school by AMC Commercial Cleaning as part of a pilot programme to teach children the value of recycling.
AMC Marketing Director Sharmini Masilamani said food waste didn't need to be wasted.
"We came up with ways to get children, even before they can read or write, to think about waste not as something to throw away but something that you give," she said.
"It's to impart the knowledge that waste has value."
Photo: RNZ/Felix Walton
The wormy juices would supercharge the garden, which Mua Peterson said had become a valuable resource for the community.
"It's something we get to have here in the kitchen for our centre to have food throughout the day, but it's also an opportunity for us to share with our parents who come through the centre," she said.
"[They] can just pick up some vegetables and take it home to cook with their children."
The latest harvest had been months in the making.
Mua Peterson said it taught children the value of being patient.
"They get to have ownership over a long process, so it's not just one day or a few weeks, it's months worth of maintaining and keeping our worm farm going, as well as keeping the garden and making sure the vegetables are growing well," she said.
"By the time we harvest them it's definitely an achievement for our children."
Photo: RNZ/Felix Walton
Sharmini Masilamani said the worm farms had been a massive hit and other schools were lining up for the programme.
"We started out in Auckland and we're now going to roll it out to ten other Barnardos centres," she said.
"But we're not stopping with Barnardos, some of our other clients are coming on board."
Photo: RNZ/Felix Walton
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