Recently the school age children from All Superstars Preschool took a field trip to Southern Fresh Farms in Fort Myers Florida. Southern Fresh Farms is a family owned and operated agriculture park that focuses on hydroponic gardening.
Hydroponic gardening is an innovative way to grow fruits and vegetables that uses land more efficiently than traditional farming. Hydroponic gardening also saves water and uses much less soil than traditional ground farming. Growing food hydroponically also allows for fewer use of pesticides.
The children were especially interested in learning about the hydroponic farming set up because every All Superstars Preschool location has their very own hydroponic garden which produces delicious fruits and vegetables that are harvested by the children and sold to the parents! Seeing a fully operational hydroponic farm was fascinating for the children and they couldn’t get their questions answered fast enough!
Farmer Brad and Farmer buddy provided an educational and fun tour of Southern Fresh Farms for the children. The after-schoolers sat politely in a wagon hitched to a red tractor driven by Farmer Buddy while Farmer Brad discussed the farming techniques used at Southern Fresh Farms.
As the hay ride reached the back-end of the farm, the children started to buzz with excitement as they were greeted by some very friendly farm animals including; two cows, a goat and miniature donkey! The children were instructed to exit the wagon and received some fruits and vegetables that they could feed to these animals!
The youngsters exploded with giggles and shouts as the farm animals licked the pieces of fruit and vegetables from their fingers. They truly enjoyed this up close and personal encounter with these animals and their smiles can be seen on the video recap below:
To wrap up the field trip, the children got an opportunity to feed the turtles, ducks and fish living in the pond at Southern Fresh Farms.
We at All Superstars Preschool firmly believe that educating young children on the importance of healthy eating and agriculture is paramount to their overall health and well being. Showing children that their food comes from an actual source and not just the grocery store provides them with a greater sense of perspective on the world around them. For this reason, we provide a hydroponic stack in our garden for each classroom to take care of. You can see photos of these stacks below.