As a homeschooling mama living off the grid in a boreal forest wilderness, hand-on learning is part and parcel of our lifestyle. In all seasons, our two youngest children learn as much from what's happening outdoors as they do from their books and worksheets.
So when spring rolls around in late May, followed by a short (but gloriously sunny) summer, the kids and I are eager for nature lessons. And we’ve found that foraging fits the bill.
(Psst...looking for our Broadleaf Plantain Unit Study ? You'll find the link down at the bottom of this post!)
At first, we focused on foraging for medicinal plants and food as a lesson in self-sufficiency and survival. We forage for rosehips, wildflowers, chamomile, raspberries, and cranberries.
Yet using foraging as a teaching tool lets me touch on at least five different academic subjects as well.
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Whether you’re homeschooling or not, foraging with kids is fun! Even better, you'll enjoy quality family time outside with your children. And take note: you don't need to live in a forest to forage.
Do some local research to find five easy plants to forage with kids. Then take a walk and try urban foraging in your own neighborhood.
How to Use Foraging To Teach
Since we don’t follow a formal homeschool summer schedule, we keep it casual when we're learning about foraging northern greens, herbs, and wildflowers.
Instead, we just head outside with our sunhats, wilderness survival packs, baskets, and bear spray.
(By the way, we forage all year round. But in the autumn, we get distracted by the beautiful changing colors of our leaves. That's why I created this fun fall leaves printables pack and study tips. Use them with your 3-to-13 year olds.)
Foraging Safety First
Don’t forget to teach outdoor safety skills first when foraging in the wild with kids.
Teach children to never eat any berries, greens, mushrooms, fungi, etc. until they check with you. And remind them that sometimes just parts of a plant that are dangerous or poisonous. For example, rhubarb leaves are poisonous yet the fruit may be safely eaten in jams, preserves, and pies.
And while we’re talking about foraging with kids, remember to ask your kids - Who else is foraging for wild edibles? Other animals.
Learn about the predators in your area. And remind your kids to be aware of animals while foraging in the wild. Teach them to keep an eye out for woodland animals including deer, bear, and wild fowl.
Science for The Senses
Consider foraging a science learning opportunity for even your littlest learners. For example, use it to teach preschoolers and kindergartners about the seasons.
Keep it casual, and talk about how it’s hard to pick leaves, berries or flowers in winter. Show them the buds or berries that are in season in the spring or summer, and point out which leaves or fruit is better in the fall.
Foraging allows you and your kids to use all your senses. Smell that? It’s mint. Hear the rustling sound? That means acorns will fall soon. See those rosehips? Time to pick them for jelly.
From a brief lesson on photosynthesis to full-blown science projects, use foraging to teach your kids science basics and beyond.
Use Math to Make Herbal Tea and Jam
Math comes into play in most areas of life, including foraging.
Calculate out loud when you’re deciding how many shoots, buds, stems or leaves to gather. Talk it over with your school-aged kids.
So just how many rosehips do we really need to make rosehip jelly? How much wild chamomile should we gather to dry for chamomile tea? What ratio of mint leaves to cups of water makes the tastiest tea?
And if you use a dehydrator to save leaves, wild herbs or petals for tea through the winter, you'll get the opportunity to teach even more math! For example, estimation, ratios, weights, and volume.
Children bored by workbooks might make more of an effort to understand math lessons when applied to harvesting and preserving what they foraged.
History Records Lost Arts of Foraging and Self Sufficiency
Foraging has long been a necessary survival activity for people through the ages. Early North American settlers learned to identify medicinal roots and herbs in the new world from the indigenous people. And pioneers, mountain men and women, and homesteaders often foraged for food and medicine – they had to in order to survive.
Do some research at your local library to identify the wild plants and foods foraged in your area over the years.
In our case, because we live in such a unique environment (it’s subarctic and very dry) we have some unusual flora and fauna. For example, fireweed, Labrador tea, and bearberry are typically northern greens foraged by local people for hundreds of years to use for healing.
Foraging And World Geography
Although some plants may be native to your area only, others may be found in other countries or even on other continents.
When you’re out gathering with your kids, ask some questions to get them thinking about the world at large, as well as your neighborhood’s place in it.
Ask questions like
- Why does this grow here?
- Where else does this grow?
- How is it different in other parts of the country?
For example, we have beautiful Spruce trees (Spruce Tips are delicious in spring) and Labrador Tea here in the Northwest Territories. Yet they differ from those found the Yukon and Alaska, to the west of us.
Once you head indoors, open your laptop to discover other areas where your foraged goods grow. Depending on your children’s ages, read about them, plot the places on a map, and note the similarities and differences.
If your kids like to cook, try a recipe from another country. For example, this Scandinavian Chicken with Rosemary and Juniper recipe could make a special family dinner.
Foraging and Reading: Books for Kids of All Ages!
We are undoubtedly a family of booklovers. And I’m passionate about raising readers at home, so I’m always on the lookout for great kids' books.
You may be surprised to find out that foraging pops up in fiction and non-fiction books for kids of all ages. Use foraging as a teaching tool for literature by offering your children books in which kids gather berries, herbs, or other greens.
For example, preschoolers and kindergarteners love the Robert McCloskey classic picture book Blueberries for Sal, in which little Sal and her mom get a surprise when they go blueberry picking. And in It All Starts With a Seed: How Food Grows, children in the 4+ crowd can see how both wild plants and gardens grow to provide the food we enjoy.
Do you have family read-aloud time? Or maybe your young readers prefer to curl up on the front porch with a favorite story. Suggest Little House on The Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, another classic children’s book that includes foraging for wild blackberries.
And your older children may enjoy Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond, in which the main character becomes an expert at collecting wild medicinal herbs.
In today’s world of fast-paced technological change and too much screen time, foraging gets families working together outdoors. It's free, easy, and a great opportunity to touch on multiple academic subjects in a gentle, relaxed, and fun environment.
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