10 FREE Farmers' Market Resources for Kids

10 FREE Resources Exploring the Farmers’ Market

The Farmers’ Market series has been a fun topic to explore. We love our fresh fruits and vegetables grown locally. Here is the final installment in the series. Thank you for taking the time to read and explore with us on this journey. We have over 30 topics in development and look forward to sharing all of our free resources.

I live in a very rural area in New England and there are lots of small farms. The reason I wanted to start my blog with the farmers’ market series, was last summer I was reminded how good and fresh the food is buying from local farmers. When my kids were little we lived walking distance to a little farm stand and all summer long we would walk and get fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, corn and more.

It was the end of the summer, last year, when I was coming home from a walk I stopped and bought at the farmers’ market. When I cooked dinner that evening I was reminded at how good locally grown vegetables were. Was there some kind of magic food grow that made them taste so bold and full of flavor? No, it was how fresh they were, no cold storage, no warehouse, no foreign country distances to travel, it was just pure goodness.

Here is my collection of free resources about the farmers’ market, for you to share with your children. Included are some online book readings, videos and some free printables.

Books and the Farmers’ Market

The farmers’ market is another topic that could use some additional books for young learners. I always start my investigations with books. The three books I have chosen are linked to an online reading of the book for your viewing pleasure. Some of the readings are from guest readers. Many of the books can be borrowed from a library, or found online as a second hand book (be careful though – check feedback before purchasing and read the details of the listings closely). The three books I have chosen are Tractor Mac Farmers’ Market, The Vegetables We Eat, and Apple Farmer Annie.

Tractor Mac: Farmers’ Market

Tractor Mac Farmers’ Market is a fiction book about a group of farm animals. “Pete and Paul the pigs love to eat, and their favorites are junk food and snacks. Tractor Mac and his friends set out to show the pigs a better way of eating and at the same time help their community farmers. Can Pete and Paul change their eating habits? This book has recipes and healthy eating tips for kids.” Excerpt Amazon

Apple Farmer Annie

Next is Apple Farmer Annie written by Monica Wellington. This is a great addition to a farmers’ market study. All farmers’ markets are not in the country. The author explains how she grows her apples and then drives them to the city to sell in the farmers’ market. “Apple cider, applesauce, apple muffins, cakes, and pies! Annie is a very busy apple farmer. She bakes yummy treats with the apples she picks and saves her best apples to sell at the market. Follow Annie through her apple-filled day of picking, counting, sorting, baking, and selling, and then try making some of her simple apple recipes.” – Excerpt Amazon

The Vegetables We Eat

The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons is a wonderful book about many different kind of vegetables. “Peppers, beans, corn, and peas! Nonfiction superstar Gail Gibbons lays out the basics of veggies with colorful watercolors and straightforward text. Learn how they grow, how they get to stores, and how many kinds there are—and learn some weird trivia, too!” – Excerpt Amazon

Videos

Technology and videos are an important part of teaching and learning. The following three videos are excellent for a farmers’ market or food study.

“Finding Stuff Out” series is a wonderful show for kids. Kids are engaged and learn a lot. If you are a homeschool educator or parent your children will probably want to watch this a few times. It is fun and educational and the singing is catchy, too. The title “Where Does Food Come From?” is a great question and the host, a young girl discovers that food comes from more than a grocery store.

This is a short video that shares how important the value of a farmers’ market is to the local farmer. The video states that the average farmer makes about .08 cents per dollar when they sell to a wholesaler. When people shop at a farmers’ market they keep most of the profits. The video also has some pictures of what a farmers’ market looks like and will help children who have never been able to take a field trip to a local farmers’ market, see a virtual farmers’ market.

This is a good virtual field trip and introduction if you can’t take your kids to a local farmers’ market. It is a great start into learning some of the foods you can find, and a little behind the scenes from a farmer’s perspective.

Check out this Farmers’ Market read aloud. This can be used as a supplemental tool for the paid version of the Farmers’ Market reader, available at my TPT Store. Kids can read and color the booklet and read along with the video. The video is word for word the couplets in the reader. Excellent for students who love food, or need a little extra help with fluency. Perfect for homework practice or in an iPad center.

Additional FREE Resources

The last few resources are from some of my peers on Teacher Pay Teacher. Even if you are not a traditional classroom teacher, any educator or parent can download these free and/or purchase these teacher created resources from the TpT website.

This is a freebie that I created for maple syrup and farmers’ market. It has some fun activities that coordinate with the “Maple Syrup” poem in the packet. This includes a word search, tube sugar house coloring page, maze and dot to dot.

“Farmer’s Market Word Card Freebies” is a great addition to your lesson planning. There are several words in this freebie. Simply print on card stock and use them as vocabulary cards, word wall cards, and use them to explain field trip lingo. Some of the words included are high frequency words. Thank you Look Who’s in First for this cool great teaching tool!

This Farmers’ Market freebie is fun for kids. It coordinates perfect with the above freebie. It will help reinforce the high frequency and farmers’ market words. The directions are simple and are color by sight word. Thank you Learning with a Smile for this lovely freebie, you are awesome!

The last freebie is one of the poems included in the “Farmer’s Market Poetry Journal” packet. This is a sample of my poetry that is included in the packet. Thank you for taking the time to read and explore these free farmers’ market resources. These can be used with and farmers’ market or food study themed lessons.

If you like these free resources please consider following these teacher creators. They are always developing new and cool things for you to share with your children. We are on social media @STEMHAX please consider following us for updates on future free resources for other series in development.