Farmers’ Market Foods Infusion Project

The FMFIP project was a community-wide hit!  Through this partnership project with CitySeed and United Way of Greater New Haven, we brought a literacy-based healthy foods curriculum to 275 children.  We anticipated 30 classroom applications to join the project and received 52.  We were able to accommodate just 16 classroom-based programs.

The in-classroom curriculum combined literacy, music, art and healthy food activities for preschool children who then took home high-quality children’s picture books about healthy foods and free farmers’ market coupons for their families.  Each program took a field trip to a local farmers’ market where they met farmers and purchased healthy foods for their classrooms and their homes.  Over 1/3 of the families accompanied their children on this field trip, introducing 100 new people to a local food resource. 

We anticipated a farmers’ market coupon rate of about 50%, but were delighted to see triple that number of families redeemed their initial coupon and subsequent coupons.

The most important feedback was the enthusiasm of teachers, children and their families to healthy eating and literacy.  Highlights included that parents were surprised that their children actually liked salad and green vegetables.  Families reported that having bi-lingual books for their home libraries helped extend the learning experience of FMFIP.

Several classrooms reported including a pretend Farmers’ Market in their dramatic play area, complete with the children’s picture books they received on healthy foods.  Classrooms integrated healthy foods into their snack menus, including eating peas the children grew themselves, making vegetable soup and sharing whole grain breads from the market!