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4 December 2024
We’re excited to announce that 50 Fantastic Ideas for Farm Activities, written by our Residential Manager; Hannah Jones McVey, has been shortlisted for the Teach Early Years Awards 2024 in the Early Exploration category AND has been 'highly commended' in the Books for Children 0-5 Years category at the Creative Play Awards 2024!
In this collection, Hannah presents 50 engaging and effective activities to explore the fascinating themes of farming and food production. Earlier in the year Hannah sat down with Bloomsbury Publishing to talk a bit more about why The Country Trust got involved with this project. Here are some highlights from her conversation:
Q: Can you tell us about how the book came about?
Alistair Bryce-Clegg suggested the project to us, and I felt it was too good to miss. He has such an incredible reputation amongst Early Years Practitioners, and we were working on a dedicated Early Years Project called Early Years Farm in a Box within the organisation, so it felt like a perfect fit. I wrote the two follow up booked to The National Trusts 50 things to do before you’re 11 and ¾ (Extra Messy and Night) a few years ago so had some experience in thinking about things in sets of 50 so I set about collating some of the great experience across the organisation as well as my own and here we are!
Q: What inspired you to write this book?
Farming themes are so prevalent in Early Years settings, from Old McDonald to first school trips. There is so much connected to the world of farming that can provide a helpful and important way of bringing the Early Learning Goals to life. Farms are custodians of much of our country's nature, producers of the food we eat and have an integral relationship with the health of our planet. We need children to grow up really understanding this world and their relationship with it. Whether it’s through using natural manipulatives or bringing books to life, by weaving these activities through children’s early experiences we set the foundations of such a fundamental relationship, that of humans and the land they depend on. I love encouraging children to be curious and messy and to have fun but whether it’s hands in soil, noses in fresh herbs, ears ringing with the roar of a tractor, seeing cream turn to butter or tasting something you have made from scratch, these foundations are building blocks in ensuring the next generation have the passion, understanding, connection and capacity to manage this relationship in a way that will benefit both them and the planet.
The Country Trust holds this commitment at the centre of everything they do. However, there are so many practitioners out there and this is an amazing way to reach a wider audience, to be able to share this in a different format is really exciting.
Q: What is your favourite activity from your book?
I love the butter disco. I did it with my extended family last week and they couldn’t believe their eyes, it’s such a simple, quick exercise with amazing results. My son and nephew loved creating our own Wassail celebration…they thought feeding toast to trees was very funny! The pupils I worked with especially loved Vegarobics. The Potato Monsters they created really made me laugh but they also were so interested in the amazing tendrils the potatoes produced and we had great chats as we made them about what these are.
A big thank you to Hannah for sharing her insights and for her ongoing dedication to nurturing the next generation of confident, curious and connected children. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition!
To learn more about 50 Fantastic Ideas for Farm Activities, or to explore how you can incorporate these fun and educational activities into your own setting, shop below:
