Let’s Go on an Adventure!

With winter break fast approaching, kids will soon be home from school full-time if they aren’t already. This year already looks different in so many ways – from modified holiday celebrations to museum closures, out-of-home activities are hard to come by. Health Powered Kids is here to help.

 

Release Energy

Health Powered Kids has a variety of Power Chargers for your family to choose from. Your kids can stay active and engaged all while playing bingo for a chance to win prizes from Health Powered Kids. Complete different Power Chargers to make a bingo, take a photo of your bingo sheet and email it to [email protected] for a chance to win! Choose from 2-, 5-, or 10-minute activities depending on the time and space available. Use Power Chargers to wake up kids in the morning, energize them after lunch or help them focus before a big activity!

 

Virtual Field Trips

Who says staying at home means you can’t visit your family’s favorite places? Tour the Colosseum in Rome, ride your favorite rides, explore the rainforest or share a lesson at the museum. You can do all this and more through virtual field trips, a fun and safe way for the family to spend winter break!

• Go on a virtual ride at Disneyland
• Check out the live cams at Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Visit the Colosseum in Rome, Italy
• Explore the Amazon Rainforest
• Take a virtual tour of the Alamo

Involve the whole family and ask kids and adults alike to share about their experiences. For a full list of virtual tours, check out this list.

It Takes a Community to Feed a Community!

October is Farm to School Month, an annual 31-day campaign to acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate the connections between families and their food systems. Although this year is the 10^th anniversary of National Farm to School Month, celebrations look a little different!

 

Show Thanks

Farm to School Month is a time to honor and appreciate all those who contribute to feeding our kids and communities – from growers and farm workers, harvesters and distributors to nutrition professionals, educators, garden and food shelf coordinators, bus drivers, volunteers and more! They are all essential in providing healthy, nutritious meals to our communities.

 

Virtual Farm Tours

Minnesota Ag in the Classroom is partnering with Midwest Dairy to host a series of free Virtual Field Trips in October. Students and classrooms are invited to tune in for virtual farm tours and meet the farmers who provide fruit, vegetables and more to Minnesota school cafeterias. At home or in the classroom, you can plan meals featuring local food highlighted in the weekly tours.

All Virtual Field Trips will occur at 10 a.m. Dates and locations:

• Tuesday October 13: Revol Greens, Owatonna, MN
• Thursday October 22: New Roots Produce Farm, Morehead, MN
• Thursday October 29: Ahlgren Dairy Farm, Central MN

For more information and to register visit: https://minnesota.agclassroom.org/educator/virtual.cfm

 

Give Back

The pandemics we’re facing bring additional challenges to our communities. Here are a few things you can do as a family to support a healthy food system:

• If you can, donate healthy food or other resources to your local food shelves.
• Ask your neighbor if you can pick anything up for them on your next grocery run!
• Color a “Thank You” card from our Merch shop and send it to a local farmer, grocer, food shelf coordinator, school staff or other food system hero!
• Set aside time before each meal to express gratitude for the work that went into bringing the food to your plate.
• Schedule a visit or order delivery from a local farmers market vendor to support community growers.

 

Learn More

The food system is SO big and there is so much to learn! Start a conversation with your family about where food comes from and find out how it got from there to here. Check out the post “So our food isn’t grown in a grocery store?” to get started! For more ideas on how to incorporate lessons into the classroom, visit Minnesota Ag in the Classroom.

Raising a Monarch

In the wild, monarch eggs and larvae have a small chance of survival with only 10% of eggs reaching adulthood. By raising a monarch at home, you can bring the outdoors inside for a fun activity for the whole family while helping an entire species! Kids will have the opportunity to learn about life stages of a monarch while responsibly caring for another being.

Timeline:

The entire process takes 14-28 days.

What you’ll need:

• A large ventilated jar or container, clean fish bowl, or aquarium
• Access to fresh, untreated milkweed

 

Step by Step:

Step 1: Find the milkweed

Search for milkweed in your yard or a nearby park and look for eggs or larvae on the leaves. Eggs and larvae are usually found on the underside of leaves or on buds and flowers near the top of the plant. Once you find a leaf with an egg or larvae, remove the entire leaf and transport it safely into your home.

Step 2: Make a home

Place the leaf in a container with a damp paper towel at the bottom, egg- or larvae-side down. Set the container in natural light away from the direct sun. Place a ventilated lid, screen, or mesh covering on the container. Eggs only take 4 days to hatch and caterpillars form a chrysalis within two weeks.

Step 3: Feed your larvae and clean the container regularly

Keep an eye on the container and clean it regularly first by removing and setting aside the leaf with the caterpillar on it. Dump out the remaining contents of the container including the damp paper towel. Wipe down the jar with a wet rag or paper towel and replace the damp paper towel at the bottom. Gather fresh, untreated milkweed, rinse it off and place it in the clean jar. Once the caterpillar has moved to the fresh milkweed leaf, discard the wilted leaf.

Note: caterpillars can eat up to 200x their weight in milkweed so it is important to give them a fresh supply to keep them growing!

Step 4: Caring for the chrysalis

Once the caterpillar reaches its 5th molting stage, it will climb to the top or side of the container and create a chrysalis. Note: Do not move the chrysalis or a motionless caterpillar because they are likely preparing for or recovering from a molt. The caterpillar does not need more milkweed or for its container to be cleaned at this stage. Watch what happens as the chrysalis begins to turn colors and the caterpillar begins to turn into a butterfly!

Step 5: Release your butterfly

The chrysalis will turn clear before the adult butterfly emerges. Once this happens, it is important not to touch the butterfly for at least 5 hours so their wings can dry. When the butterfly’s wings begin to flutter, it’s time to let it go…but check the weather first! If a storm is on the horizon, you may need to move the butterfly to a larger cage or place in an upside-down laundry basket until calmer weather returns. When you’re ready, choose a location and set it free!

Visit www.saveourmonarchs.org for more information. Like this activity? Check out our lesson page for more activities for the whole family to enjoy!