In a partnership with Inspire, a Hackney based charity, Green Lab is to teach KS2 primary school children on the basics of urban farming and sustainability supporting the charity and their STEM-based ‘iDiscover’ programme.
Green Lab are hosting a series of educational hands-on workshops over the coming months combining the principles of recycling, plant biology, hydroponics, microgreens and creative drawing. The sessions are hosted inside Green Lab’s dedicated event space designed for messy workshops surrounded by leafy greens and small scale demo agriculture systems.
Over 90 minute workshop the children learn how something as simple as a 500ml water bottle can be turned into a minature farm for microgreens, using coir, perlite, knitting wool and a choice of two seed types. Combining this with an art exercise the KS2 children create animal faces for their bottles, with the fully grown microgreens appearing as ‘hair’ to complete the session.
Children have a chance throughout the sessions to sample different microgreens and learn about the agriculture projects taking place in the Green Lab.
The workshops are part of a broader educational programme Green Lab is offering for local schools in London ranging from simple microgreen workshops to full aquaponic system installations for UK school gardens.
Find out more about our education programme by contacting the team at hello@greenlab.org
Pictures from June workshops
Getting the seed started with a blast of water
Choosing microgreen seeeds for the planters
Designs for the planters
Designs for the planters
Working in groups in Green Lab
Illustrations for the planters in progress
Threading a wool wick through bottle tops
Lots of happy young farmers
Rabbit ready for cutting for the planter
Find out more about our education programme by contacting the team at hello@greenlab.org