Environmental activities at Countryside Live

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Local School Children Experience Rural Life at Syon Park

Healthy eating tips, the origins of foods, and how to make plant-pots from old fizzy drinks bottles are just some of the activities that will be laid on by Hounslow Council this week when some 4000 children from 55 local schools descend on the annual Countryside Live event in Syon Park (13-14 May).

Lucy Griffiths, Hounslow’s Environmental Strategy Officer, said: "We’ll be highlighting healthy eating through a number of interactive educational games, such as guessing where foods come from, and tasting various vegetables such as mangoes, strawberries, capsicums, radishes, spring onions, and courgettes.

"We’ll also be looking at the lifecycle of plants and how they grow - and making it clear that peas don’t come from a freezer!"

The Council will also be promoting the School Grounds Network, an interactive information resource for schools on how to make the best use of their grounds for educational, curriculum-related activities, and encouraging schools that already have allotments or plots on-site, to grow food as part of their lessons.

Hounslow’s Recycling Team will also be getting its hands dirty making self-watering plant pots from recycled materials and organic compost, as well as running a recycling quiz.

Community Recycling Officer, Natasha Epstein, said: "This is a great opportunity to reinforce the three R’s (Reduce, Re-use, Recycle), in a way that children will find enjoyable as well as interesting. We can also show them how versatile recycled goods can be, such as making computer mouse-mats and pencil-cases from old tyres, and rulers from recycled computer printers!"

The team will also promote recycling facilities for schools, including offering them extra green boxes, compost bins, and the opportunity for visits and talks by the borough’s Community Recycling Officer.

March 27, 2004