LEARNING ACTIVITY
Creating your own potato chips: cooking
Category: Food Production
Climate Region: Arid | Temperate | Tropical
State or Territory: ACT | NSW | NT | QLD | SA | TAS | VIC | WA
Age Range: 7-13

The Junior Landcare group has been patiently waiting for their potatoes to grow. At every meeting, they eagerly check the garden beds for sprouts. Miss Gorman promised a special reward to the children for their patience. They couldn’t wait!

The day had come when the potatoes were ready to be harvested. Miss Gorman revealed her surprise to the group. She has organised with Mrs Burns, the school canteen coordinator, to cook the potatoes that they harvested. They couldn’t believe it!

Miss Gorman asked the children: “‘If you were going to cook your own chips, what would you need to know?”

The room was buzzing as the children discussed their favourite types of hot chips. Most said plain with salt, but Beth shared with the group that her favourite is when her Grandad makes them with rosemary and thyme. It sounded so good that everyone was eager to make that – and then eat it. Yum!

ACTIVITY OVERVIEW

We’re going to investigate food production! In this activity Junior Landcarers will become product technologists and cook their own potato chips.

This learning activity is the second part of a sequence of 3 individual learning activities focused on creating your own potato chips. The order of these learning activities are: growing, cooking and marketing.

Outcomes

For children to:

  • understand the processes involved in producing food
  • cook food they had harvested in the kitchen
  • consume the food they have grown
  • create a procedural text
  • reflect on food production.
SEASONAL NOTES

This activity can be undertaken at any time of year, however where you live will affect your ability to grow and harvest potatoes. Tropical zones may not be a good location to grow potatoes, so we suggest substituting them with sweet potatoes instead.

Consult with your local garden centre or use a guide, such as the Gardenate app or use the Gardenate website to help determine the timing, spacing and other elements required for your climate zone.

Did you know?

What we know as ‘hot chips’ in Australia are more often referred as fries in other countries.

Did you know?

There is a whole museum dedicated to French fries called the Friet Museum in Belgium.

Did you know?

Americans eat over 2 million tons of fries each year.

Did you know?

Potatoes are the fourth largest crop in the world.

We value your feedback

When you have finished this learning activity, please tell us what you think with our survey.
Your feedback will help Landcare Australia improve the activities in the Junior Landcare Learning Centre.

Why not try one of our other Junior Landcare learning activities?

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