Life Lab Approach to Food & Nutrition Education

We believe in providing experiences for children that positively impact their relationship with food.  Our food education lessons are fact-based, well-researched, and designed to teach children simple, memorable, positive and actionable concepts surrounding food and their overall well-being.  We want children to understand:

  • Food comes from nature. We are interconnected with the plants and animals that provide us with food. 

  • A diversity of foods from the garden fuels our bodies, gives us nutrients, and supports our overall well-being.

  • The garden is a source of whole and minimally-processed foods that are nourishing and taste good.

  • Everyone has their own relationship with food, which can change over time, and everyone deserves respect.

  • There is value in experiencing new foods with an open mind because our relationship with food can change over time.

  • We can grow our own food. 

  • We can cook our own food.

  • There is value in celebrating all of the people (including us!) involved in bringing food from farms to our plates.

Read the full document where we outline:

Enduring Understandings - The Enduring Understandings listed above, and also in the left-hand column of the table below, are the big-picture ideas that we want students to learn and carry with them throughout their lives.

What do kids need in order to understand this? - In this section, we identify the knowledge and/or experience students will need in order to reach each Enduring Understanding.

How do we approach this? - In this section, we give details of how we support students in gaining those experiences and increasing their knowledge on those topics.