Tag: Practical
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How to make a Keyhole Garden - Starter Kits
Advice for two designs of the African garden
Keyhole Gardens are a great addition to any school grounds and a really great technique used across Send a Cow projects in Africa. A Keyhole Garden is a type of kitchen garden that recycles as it grows. The design - which looks like a keyhole from above - incorporates a central ‘basket’ where compostable waste is placed and water is poured. They are especially useful in areas where good soil is scarce, often adding nutritious vegetables to diets. Send a Cow uses them as part of our training, and they get fantastic results; families start to grow enough to eat and sell.
You can buy a Starter Kit to get you going for £10, by calling us on 01225 874222. The kits contain seven seed types commonly grown in Uganda, growing and building advice, info on how the crops are used in Uganda and coloured seed markers. The two files below also help to show the Ugandan style version and the rocky Lesothan version. Also, see how we made a Ugandan style garden in the UK in the Powerpoint and then make your own using our kit and enter the competition! -
African recipes - including chapatis for Shrove Tuesday
Simple but tasty African dishes to try out
These recipes will spice up your learning about African countries and have been chosen as most are fairly easy to make. The first is for chapatis, and along with Mandazi, are a great alternative on pancake day. Types of food eaten across Africa varies greatly and is partly dependent on access to different ingredients. Often poor families will have to survive on a diet of beans and rice, but when money starts coming into a household and more food is grown, children’s diets become more varied, healthy. . . and tasty! Use the food images gallery to set the scene before you get cooking.
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How to recycle a plastic bottle into a toy
Dennis from Uganda re-uses a drinks bottle to make a car
This short video shows how ‘waste’ can be re-used and made into toys like this plastic bottle car. It is typical for young boys like Dennis from Uganda to make their own toys out of recycled materials such as bottles, tyres and plastic bagsas as there often is little money to buy them. Use of locally available resources is one of Send a Cow’s principles as it creates uses out of things that are often seen as waste. Why not have a competition in your class to see who can make the best car; send a picture in to us (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address))and we can put the best up on our website. If you don’t have access to Vimeo.com at school, register for an account on their website at home and then you can download all our videos using the link on the bottom right of each video page.
Make a toy car from a plastic bottle from Send a Cow on Vimeo.
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Plastic bottle re-use & recycling ideas from Africa - Video
Lorna from Uganda shows various uses for plastic drinks bottles
Lorna from Uganda shows how they re-use plastic drinks bottles on their small rural farm in Kumi. From solar lights to drip irrigation, the bottles make themselves very useful in all aspects of life. Use of locally available resources is one of Send a Cow’s principles as it creates uses out of things that are often seen as waste. Watch the video (or use the Powerpoint below) with your class and why not have a design competition for the most ingenious uses for bottles. Then send them in to us (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) and we will put the best ones on our website! If you don’t have access to Vimeo.com at school, register for an account on their website at home and then you can download all our videos using the link on the bottom right of each video page.
14 African uses for plastic bottles from Send a Cow on Vimeo.
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Make an Energy-saving Stove
Simple mud stove design that saves wood
These stoves are used in Send a Cow training in African countries as they use less wood and take smoke away from the cook. They are also a great idea for a design project for older pupils. You can make them over the period of a few days, depending on the weather, and with a bit of supervision they can be cooking their own food on it within a week! You could also set pupils the task of designing their own versions of the stove using various different materials.
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Make your garden a work of outdoor art
Some art ideas for your Bag or Keyhole Gardens
Brighten up your garden even more by using these fun ideas or turn your own recycled materials into something amazing. Your pupils can learn more about African art and recycling through activities like these. Signs are included to colour in.
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African organic gardening tips
Quick tips and ingredients for organic crops
If you don’t want to use pesticides and other nasties, but you do want to make the most of nature. . .try these tips! Simple pieces of advice from companion planting to making plant tea, these pointers should help your pupils get even more excited about the world of growing plants. They are especially good for use in your Bag or Keyhole garden as they mirror the techniques used by African families.
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African garden tips and timings
Helps you know how, when and what to do
When planning your African garden, you may need to consider a few things like when to collect materials, what learning resources there are and how best to make use of pupils and parent help. This document helps to address some of these and will be added to over time as we get feedback from all you gardeners! You can also go to http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk for more in depth advice.
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Keyhole Gardens in action (+Welsh)
Shows a garden being used and one being made
One of these colourful Powerpoints is from a school in Lesotho who made a Keyhole Garden to provide food for their school dinners. This can also be seen on the Cabbages and Cowpats DVD (preview using YouTube link below). The other shows how Mpho helps his grandma with their garden and benefits from the healthy food. The slides could also be printed and used as display material. For more information for Welsh schools wanting to partner with a Lesothan school, visit the Dolen Cymru website.
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Bag Garden Powerpoints
Explaining the what, how and why of Bag Gardens
These Powerpoints show what Bag Gardens are all about, how they are useful for African families and why they are a great idea for children in the UK to make. Pictures are included of children in the UK and Africa making gardens. They are a good way of introducing Bag Gardens to your pupils.
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African Gardens leaflet
All about Bag Gardens, the competition and ordering a kit
These leaflets explain all about the African Gardens competition and how you can purchase a Bag Garden Starter Kit for £12. The competition entries have to be by July 9th each year, but there’s nothing to stop people ordering kits and growing their own Bag Garden all year round. You can view the leaflet as a pdf and order some for for your school or event on the Order and sign up page.
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Wire toys
Make your own version of these African toys
This lesson is based on the toys that children in Africa often make out of wire and ‘scrap’. There are examples of these ingenious toys in the Powerpoint below and hints and tips for how to make your own. This makes a great Art lesson and can lead to some discussion about different cultures and recycling waste materials. Children should wear safety goggles for this one!
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How to make a Tip Tap handwasher - with video clip
Easy to make African tap for a school garden
A fun, practical challenge for pupils. They can get into groups and make their own version of this simple water conserving/hygiene device used in Africa. A great addition to your school garden and they work well next to Bag or Keyhole gardens. Links can easily be made to the DT curriculum (eg Moving toys). You can also enter the ‘Best Tip-Tap’ category in our African Gardens Competition by using the entry form contained in our kits. If you don’t have access to Vimeo.com at school, register for an account on their website at home and then you can download all our videos using the link on the bottom right of each video page.
How to make a Tip-Tap from Send a Cow on Vimeo.
