Bushfoods visit to Kindy!
Bushfoods visit to Kindy!
UAF’s PhD Candidate Jess Cartwright and Engagement Coordinator Sophie Ader visited a Mount Cotton kindergarten centre today, to teach over 40 bright eyed kindy kids about the healthy and tasty goodness of bushfoods.
Sophie opened by asking the kids about fruits and veggies they eat at home, and then introduced the idea that Indigenous Australians have been living with Australian foods and medicines for a very long time. They ran a sensory activity, asking the kids to crush and smell eucalyptus leaves and lemon myrtle leaves, and talking about traditional uses of these plants and the health benefits.
Jess then spoke about Vitamin C and how good it is for bodies, all the good things Vitamin C does for us, and how the Kakadu plum and Davidson plum drink she is working on is really tasty, has less sugar than other soft drinks and is very healthy! Everyone tried some – and nearly all the kids loved it! Some even lined up for 2nd and 3rd servings!
Before trying some native foods, the kids knew they had to wash their hands – but this time with a difference! They did a water play activity with some warm water, and tried to get the soap tree to foam up by rubbing their hands very fast with a crushed soap tree leaf, like Indigenous Australians used to do. Some were successful and some weren’t, but that’s ok, because everyone had fun.
Sophie then talked about some midjim berries, which everyone also tried – they taste like sweet eucalyptus lollies.
Then she introduced the rosella to the kids – a ‘naturalised’ plant in Australia, closely related to the native hibiscus, and also very high in vitamin C. The kids (and teachers!) loved finishing their session with a lemon myrtle jam drop biscuit with rosella and strawberry jam.
This was a fantastic way to get young kids to become more interested in and aware of Australia’s native bushfoods and some different flavours, learning to love the smells and plants of the bush, and learning about nutritious things for their bodies. It was a great morning and feedback from the centre was hugely positive.