www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk

Potatoes in school!A guide to presenting to children, in and out of the classroom

Presenting to children can be a

tremendously rewarding experience. But not everyone

is comfortable speaking to large groups of people –

even if they are only youngsters!

We’ve created this booklet to help you prepare for

your school visit; making the experience easy,

enjoyable and fun, enabling you to leave a lasting

impression on pupils.

Through continued support from external visitors,

teachers are able to bring classroom growing projects,

such as ‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’, to life. This guide

has been developed to facilitate that process and

ensure you enjoy the experience as much as the

children do!

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Introduction to ‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’ 4

Preparing for your presentation5

Health and Nutrition8

Fascinating potato facts10

Educational resources14

Planting, growing and harvesting 6

Sustaining the nation 9

Classroom activities 11

AHDB Joint Education Working Group 15

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IntroductionIt is important that children learn where food comes from and the benefi ts of eating a healthy balanced diet, particularly if they are to make well-informed choices as they grow.

AHDB Potatoes has long invested in educational projects and activities to ensure the younger generation is equipped with knowledge and understanding about potatoes; from growing, cooking and eating, to their history and nutritional and environmental impact.

‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’ was the fi rst major food and farming educational initiative and, since its launch in 2005, it has reached well over two million pupils.

It is a fun, practical project that can be undertaken either in the classroom or outdoors. The combination of hands-on activity and theory, alongside classroom visits and talks by growers, helps bring the project to life and leaves a lasting impression on pupils that can shape positive healthy habits for the future.

• The project is available to all primary children, aged 5-11 years

• Schools can register for kits for up to four classes at www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk

• Chitting begins in February, with planting activities in March

• Children learn about caring for their plants and take part in curricular-based classroom activities, supported by online resources at www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk

• Harvesting takes place in June

• Schools can win fabulous prizes for growing the heaviest crop

Taking part

www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk

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Preparation, Practise and Presentation!Good preparation is important when presenting to children. This includes making sure you understand what the teacher hopes the children will gain from your visit, as well as ensuring your talk is as interactive as possible and appropriate for the age group.

Find out the age of the children in the class you will be visiting, as this will have a bearing on their understanding and abilities. It is also useful to know how many children you will be addressing; will you be in a classroom or a hall?

Make a list of all the areas you wish to cover, and think about what visual aids you can use, from photographs and plant samples to product packaging.

Begin with a brief introduction and explain why you’ve come along.

Use simple language, talk slowly and move gently around the classroom! Children respond well to eye contact and body language.

Keep the children engaged by breaking for questions and introducing fun facts and hands-on activities throughout your talk (see page 11 for more ideas).

• Ask questions that encourage the children to make observations or tell you what they like/have learnt. Praise and acknowledge responses.

• Use objects and pictures to encourage discussion and make the visit more memorable.

Have a practise run through beforehand. This will help make sure the sequence and balance of information is correct and that it fi ts within the allocated time slot.

Remember, it’s meant to be fun for everyone – you included!

Visit www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk for downloadable resources to help with your presentation

www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk

All about potatoesYour knowledge of potatoes will be hugely exciting to schools involved in

‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’. Here you can help them understand the different

stages of potato production, from plant to plate, identify key things to look out

for and offering help and advice.

STEP 1: CHITTING

The chitting tray is built into the kit for simplicity, along with instructions to ensure the sprouts

harden suffi ciently.

Explain why chitting at the start of the growth cycle is important

(for fast, healthy growth) and why warmth and light is needed. A sunny windowsill is perfect for

chitting!

STEP 2: PLANTING

Planting events are a great way to interact with children and show them

how to care for their plants.

Why not cover these areas:

• What you need to grow potatoes, including sun, soil and water

• Things that farmers use, such as tractors and machinery

• Use pictures and real-life examples of the various growing stages and what

to look for; leaves, fl owers

STEP 3: GROWING ON

After a time, the fi rst leaves will appear above the soil. When they are about 60-70mm above the soil it’s time to gently build up the compost until

the leaves are covered.

For best results, continue topping up until the compost is about

40-50mm below the top of each bag. This will encourage the plant to grow upwards through the soil. DO NOT pat

down the soil. Water lightly to ‘bed in’ the new compost.

‘Chitting’:Where potato tubers

are put in warm, bright lighting to form short,

tough sprouts that can be planted straight into the ground for fast healthy

growth

Week 1Time to plant your chitted

seeds

Week 4Above the soil: Leaves and ranch stems should

now be developing Beneath the soil: Roots

and ‘stolons’ will be developing from

the ‘nodes’

Week 6Above the soil: Your

potato plant should now be looking green and

healthy

Beneath the soil: ‘Tubers’ will be forming on the

tips of the ‘stolons’

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Guess the number of potatoesCount them and see who was closest!Weigh and measure the biggest and smallest potatoes grownWeigh the total crop Demonstrate what constitutes a ‘portion’ of potatoes (2-4 egg sized new potatoes) and show the children how much is needed to make different potato products, such as a packet of crisps (one medium-sized potato)Talk about the different ways their potatoes can be enjoyed

Things to do at harvesting

‘Stolens’:Are underground side branches of a stem, at the tip of

which potato tubers grow

‘Nodes’:Points spaced

along the stem at which leaves, stolons or roots

can grow

‘Tubers’:Are the part of a stem that enlarges to store

sugars as starch to help stay alive through the

winter and provide food for plant growth in the

following season

STEP 4: HARVESTING

Harvesting in June is a thrilling time as schools get to turn out their growbags and reveal the

fruits of their labour!

Encourage everyone to be hands-on in tipping out the bags

(onto plastic sheets for easy clearing), after all, children

love getting their hands dirty!

Week 10Above the soil: Your

plant should now be full and green and may even

have some fl owers

Beneath the soil: Thanks to all your hard work and

regular watering, the ‘tubers’ are now growing

and potatoes are forming

Week 14Hopefully, now your potato plant looks

something like this with lots of potatoes ready

for harvesting

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CARBOHYDRATESprovide energy

for the body

FIBREkeeps the

digestive system healthy

IRONhelps your blood

carry oxygen around your body

B VITAMINShelp release energy from food. They also help your nervous system, heart and

blood

VITAMIN Cis important to keep skin healthy, help

your body heal any cuts or grazes and

fi ght off colds

POTASSIUMhelps nerve and muscle function

Did you know…?Children get more Vitamin C, B1, B6, folate, iron, magnesium and potassium from the contribution

potatoes make to their diet than from so called ‘superfoods’ like beetroot,

bananas, nuts, broccoli and avocado.

15% of the UK’s entire vitamin C intake comes from potatoes – that’s more than any other single food source!

(Source NDNS)

more potassium than 3 bananas

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What’s in a potato?Potatoes are a pretty amazing food and pack quite a nutritional punch!

They are naturally fat free, salt free, low in sugar and a good source of energy.

Potatoes also contain many vitamins and minerals needed for growth and

development and are a source of fi bre.

Potatoes are known as a ‘starchy’ food.

Starchy foods are those that mainly

provide carbohydrate and should make up

one-third of a balanced diet.

Potatoes provide a range of nutrients; here is what some of them do:

www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk

As well as being good for you, potatoes are a sustainable food too. They remain an important crop

in Great Britain, with farmers producing 5.4m tonnes of potatoes a year.

Potatoes are so rich in starch they rank as the world’s fourth most important food crop, after maize, wheat and rice. The potato plays a strong role in developing countries, with its

ability to provide nutritious food for the poor and hungry. It is ideally suited to places

where land is limited but there are plenty of people to produce the crop.

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Did you know…?Potatoes use less water and produce fewer greenhouse

gas emissions when growing than pasta or rice.

Sustainable food

www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk

A balanced plateHealthy eating is about

enjoying your food and

eating the right amounts

to maintain a healthy

weight. The graphic

on the right shows how

much of what you eat

should come from each

food group.

For more potato health and

nutrition information visit

www.lovepotatoes.co.uk

‘Sustainable farming’:

The production of crops using farming techniques that protect the environment, public health,

human communities and animal welfare

EAT MORE! Fruit and Vegetables

Milk, Yogurt and Poultry

How much of these different

types of food should you try to eat

every day?

How much the

production of these types of food harms the world

Cheese, Eggs, Pork and Fish

Sweets etc

Potatoes, Bread,

Pasta and Rice

EAT LESS!

MORE HARM!

LESS HARM!

A hail the potato!Use these fascinating potato facts to captivate your audience

and demonstrate the popularity and power of the potato!

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KNOCK! KNOCK!

Lighten the mood with these farming

funnies!

Q: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MAGIC TRACTOR? A: IT WENT DOWN

THE ROAD AND TURNED INTO A

FIELD!

Q: WHAT DAY DO POTATOES HATE

THE MOST? A: FRYDAY!

Q: WHY DO POTATOES

MAKE GOOD DETECTIVES? A: BECAUSE THEY

KEEP THEIR EYES PEELED!

Q: WHAT DO GET IF YOU SIT UNDER A COW? A: A PAT ON THE

HEAD!

Q: WHY DID THE SCARECROW

WIN A PRIZE? A: HE WAS

OUTSTANDING IN HIS FIELD!

• In October 1995, the potato became the fi rst vegetable to be grown in space! NASA called in top boffi ns to help them develop super-nutritious and versatile spuds to feed astronauts on long space voyages• An exclusive fashion accessory! Louis XVI of France wore fl owers from the potato plant (blossoms) in his buttonhole

• Britons eat over 7.3 billion fresh potatoes each year

• The UK is the 12th largest potato producing country in the world. In Britain, we consume 100kg of potatoes (including potato products) per person, per year (approximately 500 medium-sized spuds)

• The world’s heaviest potato was grown in Nottinghamshire in 2010, weighing in at a massive 3.8kg!

• French fries were introduced to America in 1801,

when the President, Thomas Jefferson, served them

at the White House

• If you laid all the potatoes produced in Great Britain

in one year end to end, they would reach to the

moon and back three times!

• Potatoes account for 64% of carbohydrates

consumed at evening mealtimes

• Why is a potato called a spud? A ‘spud’ is actually a

narrow fl at spade used for digging and in the past

it was used for digging potatoes

• The Potato originated in the Andes, South

America 8,000 years ago. It was around 6,000

years ago that Incas in Peru fi rst cultivated them

• The Peruvian Quechua (pronounced ‘qhueshwa’)

language records more than 1,000 words to

describe potatoes and potato products

• The Incas had many uses for potatoes, including

placing raw slices on broken bones to promote

healing

GROWING POTATOESUse visual aids to explain…

• A chitted potato

• What is needed for potatoes to grow ie soil, sun and water

• What else farmers might use ie a destoner, planter, harvesting machine

• The different parts of a potato plant ie leaves, stem, fl owers and tubers

KNOWING POTATOESShow examples of different types of potato

varieties and product packaging.

See how many different types of potato products the children can name.

TIPAim for a balance

between giving information and asking questions. For example, rather than saying: “This is a chitted potato”, try:

“This is a potato. Can you see anything growing

on it?”

TIPUse ‘hide & reveal’;

describe items and ask for guesses from the

children before revealing or bring along a ‘feelie

box’ containing things for the children to touch and describe to the others, eg potatoes, soil, chips, etc.

Classroomactivities

It is good to have a range of ideas and hands-on activities prepared to use during your

visit. These will help build interaction and

ensure your presentation is fun, as well as being educational.

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Classroom activitiescontinued

EATING POTATOESExplain the supply chain process, from farm to plate.

Ask the children about their favourite way to eat potatoes.

Conduct a poll to see how many different potato-based foodstuffs they

have eaten (use recipe images to illustrate the dishes).

WEIGHING POTATOESAt harvesting time, have a set of scales on hand for the children to weigh their own crop.

At other times, take a sack of potatoes into school with you and ask the children to make a pile that weighs the equivalent of 3.8kg – the weight of the heaviest potato.

Show them a typical portion of potatoes and how many are needed to make different potato products they will eat (ie a portion of chips).

TIPYou could bring a

shopping bag containing different potato products and vary the questions,

e.g. “Hands up if you have ever eaten...”, or

“stand up if you think you know what this is.”

HEALTHY POTATOESExplain that potatoes are an important part of a healthy diet, using simple health facts (see page 8) to back this up. You can use the following statements and ask children if they are true or false:

• Potatoes are low in fat (true)

• We should eat three portions of fruit and vegetables a day (false, it’s fi ve)

• Potatoes contain vitamins (true, including Vitamin C)

• Potatoes give you lots of energy (true)

www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk

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DRAWING POTATOESMake a potato face out of different potato products – you can print and cut out pictures of chips, smiley faces, hash browns and mashed potato for use as eyes, ears and hair, etc.

Ask the children to draw or create their favourite potato-based meal. You could bring in paper plates for them to draw on!

“Tell me, I’ll forget.

Show me, I’ll remember.

Let me do it, I’ll understand”

DESCRIBING POTATOESPut a large photo, picture or object on each table and give the children a sheet of paper and marker. Give them a set time (two minutes is about right) to write/describe what their picture is, using as many adjectives (describing words) or phrases (for older children) as they can think of e.g. potato: brown, dirty, round, hard, yummy, ‘grows in ground’, ‘good for me’, etc.

Ask questions which make the pupils think, but can be answered easily

Don’t direct questions to individuals but address the whole group

Give pupils time to think and do not answer your own question!

Use your body language (eye contact, smiling, nodding) to encourage responses

If no answer comes, ask the question again in a simpler way

Make questions short and clear using straightforward language

Questioning skills

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Grow Your Own PotatoesA project that teaches primary aged children about potatoes. With almost 2 million primary school children benefi ting from this classroom experience that is linked to the UK curricular, children learn how potatoes grow and how they fi t in to a healthy balanced diet. www.gyop.potato.org

Prep, Cook and Serve Potatoes (16+)Prep, Cook and Serve Potatoes (16+)Prep, Cook and Serve

A new module aimed at collegeand catering students, which is supported by the website:www.prepcookservepotatoes.org.uk

ResourcesIf your local school has enjoyed the ‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’ project, let them know that there are many other resources and potato-based activities for schools available from AHDB Potatoes.

www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk

Cook Your Own PotatoesAimed at secondary school pupils,

Cook Your Own Potatoes provides much needed support for Food Technology teachers.

Supported by a dedicated websitewww.cookyourownpotatoes.org.uk,

the project provides information and practical tools to cover healthy eating and nutrition, the

role of potatoes in a healthy balanced diet, potato varieties and their different tastes and

textures, as well as issues such as sustainability.

For more potato information visit www.potatoes.ahdb.org.uk and www.lovepotatoes.org.uk

Potato recipe and nutrition informationwww.lovepotatoes.co.uk

Meat and Educationwww.meatandeducation.redmeatinfo.com

Grain Chainwww.grainchain.com

Food – a fact of lifewww.foodafactofl ife.org.uk

Farming and Countryside Educationwww.face-online.org.uk

Countryside Classroomwww.countrysideclassroom.org.uk

UK Agriculture (Why Farming Matters)www.ukagriculture.com

Countryside Learningwww.countrysidelearning.org

Farms for Schoolswww.farmsforschools.org.uk

Open Farm Sundaywww.farmsunday.org

Bright Cropwww.brightcrop.org.uk

British Nutrition Foundationwww.nutrition.org.uk

For more AHDB education advice, visitwww.ahdb.org.uk/education

AHDB Education seeks to inspire and encourage our young people to adopt a healthier lifestyle through the delivery of educational initiatives covering food, nutrition, farming, growing and the environment.

Our role is:

• To increase awareness of where food comes from and how it is produced by levy payers

• To develop a positive image of farming

• To raise awareness of the nutritional value of foods within a healthy balanced diet

• To support the development of basic meal and food preparation skills in line with national competencies

Within this educational framework, AHDB supports levy payers by developing a positive image of farming, encouraging healthy eating habits and educating our future generations on the importance of food and farming to the UK.

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Other projectsAs part of the AHDB Joint Education Working Group. AHDB Potatoes also jointly funds a number of other educational projects and has collaborated on a cross-industry initiative to launch ‘Countryside Classroom’. It is the largest ever partnership of organisations committed to helping children learn about and experience food, farming and the natural environment.

Sources of further information you may also fi nd useful are available from:

www.growyourownpotatoes.org.uk

AHDB PotatoesAHDBStoneleigh ParkWarwickshireCV8 2TL

Tel: 0247 669 2051www.potatoes.ahdb.org.uk

© 2016 Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

While the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board seeks to ensure that the information contained within this document is accurate at the time of printing, no warranty is given in respect thereof and, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board accepts no liability for loss, damage or injury howsoever caused (including that caused by negligence) or suffered directly or indirectly in relation to information and opinions contained in or omitted from this document.