Preparing and going on a picnic is a great childhood experience. It is something that generations of families have done, but is an activity that not all children today have experienced. It combines planning, food preparation and time outdoors.
These are all things that children can really enjoy being a part of and so learn from.
BENEFITS
There are many benefits for children planning and joining in with a picnic. Here are just a few of them.
Language development By planning for a picnic, children can use talk in order to express and organise their ideas. It provides a natural opportunity to encourage children to learn to problem-solve as they talk about where to site their picnic, what food might be taken and how it might be packed.
Introducing tastes and flavours Many young children are resistant to trying out new foods, textures and flavours. Being involved in planning and preparing a picnic can help children overcome anxiety about food, especially if it is presented as a little adventure.
Physical skills Preparing for a picnic is a good way to encourage children’s fine motor skills as they wash fruit and vegetables, put things into labelled containers and even pack small cool bags.
Building relationships A picnic can help children develop a new relationship with an adult or strengthen an existing one. It is therefore worth considering picnics as part of the settling-in process.
PLANNING A PROGRAMME
Many settings do organise picnics from time to time. Interestingly, it is something that children really enjoy, and so it could be argued needs to be done more frequently. Ideally, picnics need to happen indoors, outdoors and also out of the setting. Children will also learn more if they are involved in the planning and preparation, and so this also needs to be thought of when planning a programme. Here are some tips for planning picnics.
Start small
One of the wonderful things about picnics is that they can be relatively small events with children just having their snack outdoors for a change. Starting small has advantages as it helps children get used to sitting down and eating somewhere different. It also means that very young children can be encouraged to carry things out and also be involved in simple preparation such as washing a few cherry tomatoes or a piece of fruit to take outdoors.
Planning with children
One of the joys for children is to be involved in the actual planning of the picnic. If you start off small, children could identify locations indoors on rainy days or outdoors where they think that the picnic could take place. As part of a cooking programme, you could also encourage children to look back and think of foods that would be useful for a picnic, e.g. making bread rolls, scones or wraps.
Choosing foods
One of the reasons that you might want to arrange picnics is to encourage children to try out some new foods. In consultation with parents, you might like to prepare with children a range of raw fruit and especially vegetables, along with each child having their own selection of dips such as plain yoghurt or hummus. (Note that for food hygiene reasons, dips cannot be shared.)
Hygiene
One of the major barriers to picnics is the potential hygiene risk. This needs to be taken seriously, but the good news is that it can be overcome. First, if the picnic is out of the setting, think about using hand wipes and bacterial gels, as well as taking along plenty of water.
In hot or warm weather, you should also remember to take steps to prevent food poisoning. Use cool boxes, ice packs, and also choose foods carefully to avoid ones that are more likely to be a hazard.
Building on the experience
There are many ways of building on picnics. You can put out picnic baskets in the role-play area and items that are associated with picnics such as plastic plates, drinking bottles and serviettes. You can also look out for books that have a picnic theme such as All Together Now! by Nick Butterworth or Teddy Picnic by Georgie Birkett. You might also want to organise a classic teddy bears’ picnic and bring in a lot of different teddies for children to ‘feed’.
HOME LEARNING
Many parents will enjoy seeing photographs and hearing about a picnic that you have organised with the children. It might prompt some parents to think about doing one too with their children. To support them, you can put up suggestions of places for picnics in the local area. Finally, one of the great things about organising picnics is that you might be able to invite parents along too and so create a social event where everyone can be involved.
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