My children are big fans of Innocent products and treat any opportunity to visit the company's HQ, Fruit Towers, in London like most children would approach a trip to a theme park.
A recent blogger event there had such an impact on Grumpy he wrote a poem about it. It was very deep. I won't bore you with it but suffice it to say he obviously found it memorable.
When they found out they had been invited back to Fruit Towers to learn more about the new #SowAndGrow campaign my youngest three were beyond excited. So excited in fact that my 9 year old daughter turned down an invitation to a birthday party so she could attend.
So what's this Sow and Grow campaign?
Lorraine is a
passionate supporter of the campaign, and has grown her own produce for years having
grown up on a farm in Devon. She said:“As a mum, I know how difficult it can be to get
kids to eat their all-important portions of fruit and veg. For
me, one of the best ways to get kids excited about the healthy stuff is to get
them involved in making their own food – and that starts with growing their
own."
Innocent has run the
Sow & Grow campaign in Ireland for the past 4 years, teaming up with the
charity Grow It Yourself to help provide 20,000 children up and down the country
with everything they need to grow their own fruit and veg in classrooms, and
this spring innocent and Grow It Yourself are bringing Sow & Grow to the
UK.
Over 3300 British schools have already signed up to get their very own free growing kit full of seeds, info packs, recipe sheets and lesson plans to help teachers incorporate healthy eating in to their lessons.
Throughout the
campaign, kids are being encouraged to upload their photos and growing diaries
to be in with the chance to win monthly prizes from innocent and see their
classroom crowned as Sow & Grow champions.
During their trip to Fruit Towers my youngest three enjoyed trying to identify which veg came from which seeds (I failed to identify carrot seeds!), donned blindfolds to dig into a sack of dirt to identify hidden veg, did some blind taste tests (DS#4 not keen on raw pepper!) and planted up their own pots with cress, spinach and pea seeds.
We met the very lovely (and very tall!) Lorraine Pascale who was very friendly and passionate about the campaign, and we got to eat a gorgeous healthy lunch. Well,most of us did. Grumpy refused to try the lovely pasta, or chilli, or salad and instead made a beige lunch of bread and tortilla chips. Oh the shame of it.
A recent blogger event there had such an impact on Grumpy he wrote a poem about it. It was very deep. I won't bore you with it but suffice it to say he obviously found it memorable.
When they found out they had been invited back to Fruit Towers to learn more about the new #SowAndGrow campaign my youngest three were beyond excited. So excited in fact that my 9 year old daughter turned down an invitation to a birthday party so she could attend.
So what's this Sow and Grow campaign?
Well. Innocent drinks has
teamed up with television cook and mum of one, Lorraine Pascale, to get kids
excited about eating healthy fruit and veg by growing their own.
The campaign aims to gets kids out in the fresh air, sticking their
hands in some dirt and having fun with growing their own veg. It's a fact that children who grow their own food
are more likely to eat fruit and veg, show higher levels of knowledge around
nutrition and are more likely to continue healthy eating habits throughout
their lives.
Over 3300 British schools have already signed up to get their very own free growing kit full of seeds, info packs, recipe sheets and lesson plans to help teachers incorporate healthy eating in to their lessons.
Anyway, my other children do eat a pretty healthy diet and I am lucky that living in a fairly rural part of the UK they get to see the crops and animals they eat in the fields as well as in the supermarket but many children don't get that opportunity.
The Sow & Grow scheme is such a great opportunity for children from all backgrounds to enjoy the satisfaction of planting, caring for then hopefully eating something they have grown.
Disclaimer: We enjoyed lunch and activities at Innocent and received a goody bag. Views and opinions remain honest and my own.