GROWING: Maggie's Montessori Preschool children, pictured with Mags O'Sullivan and Yvonne O'Sullivan, are delighted to have learned to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

By Michelle Crean

It's not only the children that growing up fast - but the food that they planted as part of a healthy habits project.

Local children from Maggie's Montessori Preschool got to grow and eat their own food for the very first time have been fascinated by the whole process.

As part of the Incredible Edibles Kerry Gardening and Nutrition Project, which encourages healthy habits, the children from Maggie's Montessori Preschool have watched their produce grow from seed to food!

"It's all part in the Early Years gardening project aimed to help them learn how food is grown and how good it is to eat food that you have grown yourself," Mags O'Sullivan from Maggie's Montessori Preschool told the Killarney Advertiser.

"In December 2020, preschools in Kerry were contacted with regards to a new up-coming gardening project for the Early Year Services called ‘The Incredible Edibles’. The Kerry Children and Young People's Services Committee (CYPSC) and Kerry County Childcare Committee received some Healthy Ireland funding which they used for a gardening project in the ELC and SACs in Kerry."

Each service that signed up for the gardening project received a resource pack in March.

"This pack included some tools, compost, plants and seeds. The project was supported by monthly online meetings which guided us through the ‘jobs’ for each month. The children eagerly got to work straight after ‘lockdown’."

Groups tasks were given each week such as planting, watering, thinning, harvesting, tasting/cooking.

"Our little gardeners planted Betty Beetroot, Lisa Lettuce, Rodger Rocket, Peter Parsley, Cian Carrot, Patsy Potato and Saoirse Strawberry. The children were able to see progress each week as their fruit and vegetables were grown in their polytunnel. The children experienced how some plants needed a lot more ‘sleeps’ than others i.e. Lisa."

Lettuce was peeping after seven ‘sleeps’ whilst Cian Carrot and Patsy Potato needed a lot more ‘sleeps’!

"Over the past 12 weeks our seven plants grew big enough to be harvested and both investigated and tasted by the children. Some benefits of this project included the children appreciating the full cycle from planting to harvesting. They learnt how to care for their plants and what was needed for them to grow big! Some children tasted these fruit and vegetables for the first time. This project aims to not only complete it in preschool, but to encourage healthy habits in the home and to inspire cooking in the kitchen as a life skill."