Sow the seeds for family learning fun

For the first time, the whole of October is going to be one long family learning celebration and farms could join in the fun. The Campaign for Learning is extending its annual celebration to a month long Family Learning Festival to mark 10 years of work in this area.

Last year, in just a week, over 3,500 organisations including farms held family learning events as part of the national awareness campaign. This year, the Festival will include a half term and Halloween, and the amount of activities offered to families looks set to soar.

Family learning celebration events provide the perfect platform to reach and engage local families and promote farm services and rural life to town communities. The activities offered are often used to help parents support their families' education and build their confidence to take their own learning forward.

The main theme for this year's Festival is 'Challenge' with sub-themes of wellbeing, creativity, the environment and new media and technology. This offers farms and other participating venues the scope to offer a range of events and activities that appeal to family members of all ages and from all backgrounds.

Some examples of what farms could do to mark the celebration include:

Follow products from the fields to the shelves to give families an idea of where their food comes from.

Tell animal or farming stories to help families discover a passion for rural life and find out about local farming history.

Run countryside code quizzes to test families' knowledge of the rules that preserve the countryside and make it safe. Have farm related prizes so families can take a piece of the countryside home with them and remember the things they've learnt.

Arrange farming ready, steady, cook sessions using ingredients from the farm so that for families can learn about healthy meals and snacks that they can make, as well as discovering where these ingredients come from.

The Campaign for Learning will once again be producing activity ideas and planning materials so that farms can make the most of the Festival and connect with families in their communities. The Campaign's website, www.familylearningweek.com provides a one-stop shop, including a Google maps facility from September to plot all the events for families to see at a glance.

Register your interest online now at www.familylearningweek.com to be part of the biggest ever family learning celebration in the country. Alternatively, you can call the Family Learning Festival team on 020 7766 0001 or email: flw@cflearning.org.uk