On Saturday 8th February we had one of our fun eco workshops in London at the Green STEM Fest at the University of Greenwich. We held workshops for children and their parents to re-grow vegetable scraps and taught them about composting.
Green STEM Fest – Our Planet was the first edition of a festival that aims to empower children and families to live more sustainably and how STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Maths) can help us to protect our Planet. It was organised by the social enterprise Engineering Minds.
This was a great event to attend and the first one for the Eco Around team; Ludo, Jon and our enthusiastic new recruit Eleonora. We had a stand and workshop running in tandem. On the stand we were giving information about what we do, simply helping the planet in the community. We also sold some eco products to help raise some funds.
Ludo led the workshops with a helping hand from Eleonora. There was a lot enthusiasm from everyone involved. Children and parents really enjoyed getting their hands dirty and learning. We had planned to do four workshops throughout the day with five children and five adults per group. In the end though there was such a lot of interest that we ended up doing five workshops and a few extra people in each group. Everyone seemed to have a great time!
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT?
Do you know you can grow certain kinds of food from scraps that you would normally throw away? There are a number of vegetables that you can replant and grow yourself like bean sprouts, spring onions, mushrooms, turnips, tomatoes to name but a few.
We did a bit of gardening together using these leftovers! During this practical workshop, children and their families learnt how the process of growing plants works and why they are important for the environment and our diet. Also, how to avoid food waste and learnt what composting is. So, going forward they are now able to observe the way different kinds of waste decompose by doing a simple science experiment, by creating a compost jar!
