My friend Erin and I have recently started an herb club for kids! {Which I am learning a lot along with them!} We haven’t decided on an official name for our club yet, but we have 9 members for now. 🙂 We are using a “curriculum” of sorts, which I will share what we are using at the end of this post!
This month we are learning all about the chickweed plant. Chickweed can be used internally and externally. It’s one of the first green plants to show themselves in late winter/early spring. While it is still cold in my area {supposed to snow again soon}, chickweed can be found showing itself this month!
We had all the children pick handfuls of chickweed.
Even my adorable toddler is learning all about harvesting and eating chickweed! 😉
We picked through the chickweed and washed it.
And we made yummy, very healthy chickweed pesto. {Click here for this pesto recipe} The kids really enjoyed eating this with crackers! A powerhouse of nutrition!
We also made an herbal oil with chickweed. Our club is meeting in 2 weeks to turn this herbal oil into a very useful salve!
To make an herbal oil, simply fill a jar with fresh chickweed {fill jar halfway if using dried} and cover with olive oil. Push all the air bubbles out with a spoon and cover with a tight lid. Keep on counter and shake daily for 2 weeks. Strain the liquid from the herb and you have an herbal oil!
The only complaint Erin and I had when our meeting was over was, “Why didn’t we start this club a long time ago”? 🙂 It was so much fun for both us and the children, and we all learned so much!
As for the material we used, we purchased a year’s subscription to HerbalRoots Zine for kids! This material and information is loaded with helpful and fun ways to learn about each herb. Currently, when purchasing a year’s subscription, you receive all of 2009 issues free! The March 2009 issue focused on chickweed, so that’s the herb we decided to start with.
*Note: We may not agree with everything in this material. For instance, we do not utilize the “Herbal Lore” pages because they are about “Mother Earth”. We teach our children about the true God, our Creator of all things. There are several other really neat pages to use for each herb, so it’s no big deal to not print the herbal lore pages.
But as I said, this learning is not just for kids – adults will really benefit too!
Do you have chickweed growing near you?
This post is linked to:
The Better Mom A Mama’s Story What Joy Is Mine The Modest Mom
Growing Home Time-Warp Wife Deep Roots At Home Walking Redeemed
Raising Homemakers A Wise Woman Builds Her Home Raising Mighty Arrows
This sounds so exciting!!! I’m going to sign up for the magazine for my granddaughter!!! I know we will have fun learning together with this. Thanks so much for sharing♥♥♥
Let me know how you like it! It is LOTS of fun! 🙂
That is awesome. I homeschooled my 7 children and we did lots of herbal projects. Now we have “Grandma School” and the grandkids come.
Next we are making Project Journals out of composition books and cut out pictures from seed catalogs. So fun!
That does sound fun! It sounds like you are an awesome mom and grandma! 🙂
We do, but I honestly don’t know enough about its uses and properties. Thanks for encouraging us to share herbal knowledge with children:)
I learned a lot about chickweed at this club meeting – it will now be a regular part of our diet! 🙂
This is a SUPER cool idea, Jill! I wish I could join. I’d never even heard of Chickweed.