Art & Agriculture: Partners in Education

Teachers are always on the lookout for fresh resources to engage their students in the classroom or when studying at home. The internet has opened up a whole new world of possibilities, and educators have been among the first to employ them. Last year school teachers introduced their students to a collaboration between Good in Every Grain and author/illustrator Rob Biddulph, who developed three brief videos combining art concepts with simple agricultural knowledge.

Classrooms this spring will once again be abuzz with lessons about plant growth, and that means teaching students how what plants need and how farmers help them grow and develop. While drawing along with these videos, kids learn that seeds require loose soil to sprout (thank you, earthworms, for your service!), that soil is cared for by farmers using machinery, and more.

Rob Biddulph’s three short videos (about 20-minutes each) instantly capture the attention of children, who love to draw, paint or colour. Biddulph shows them some basic art concepts while they learn about healthy soil, about seeds and what they need to grow, and how modern technology is used to tend to our food crops.  

Here are just a few of the students’ creations as they followed along with the videos:

Your students, too, will welcome the opportunity to use their art supplies while increasing their knowledge of the natural world and the way farmers interact with it to grow the food we eat. Farmers have to know a lot of things about plants; it’s not just a matter of sticking a seed in the ground and leaving it there to grow and stay healthy by itself. They prepare the soil, they add fertilizers to it (if needed!), and they watch carefully to make sure the plants are healthy, and to know when the plants are ready to harvest. These entertaining videos give kids a wee peek into what is essential when it comes to filling their lunch kits. They also demonstrate how to use colour, contrast and shape, among other things, to develop artistic skills. What a perfect connection between art and agriculture!