On Thursday the 25 th of April, Ms Begley’s class took a trip to the Lidl Distribution Centre in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. They were not going shopping for a bargain air fryer or a new ski jacket though! They were taking part in Agri Aware’s initiative called ‘Farm to Fork’. In Science this month, we are teaching the 3 rd class children about the journey of our food from the farm to our dinner tables. It is a very valuable learning topic for the children as it promotes an understanding and appreciation of all the important processes and people involved in ensuring our population has access to food. With this in mind, we arranged a field trip for the children in partnership with Agri Aware and Lidl Ireland. The children from Ms Begley’s class were the first of the 3 rd classes to travel to the Lidl farm in Newbridge,County Kildare and it was here that the children had the opportunity to learn about food processes.
The children experienced the process of growing and producing food and they learned about soil conditions that help our crops to grow. They also visited a large polytunnel where they saw first-hand how many of our fruit and vegetables grow. They got to taste herbs and even a lettuce that they picked from the polytunnel. This combination of hands-on activities and discussion led by the Agri Aware education officers, Roisín and Eimear, really helped the children to learn and appreciate where their food comes from. They even made butter with one of the tour guides – we were very impressed at how well the children could shake the cream up! The butter was made in record time! They also got a sneak peek behind the scenes to see how all types of food are distributed from the centre to our local Lidl store with a train ride inside the Lidl Regional Distribution Centre. There may have been a few songs sung along the way and we doubt the staff in the distribution centre has ever heard the Wheels on the Bus song sung more beautifully than our class managed to! We enjoyed every minute of our experience in the Lidl Distribution Centre and we thank the Agri Aware staff for imparting all of their knowledge about growing food…and butter making too!
