Protect Our Farms & Food
What is the future for farms and the food grown on them? Construct a display that shows how a rural landscape can change and suggest solutions.
1. All around the globe, farmland is rapidly being converted to build houses, roads, and other uses. Find out how this loss of land will affect water supplies, the world’s food supply, and other issues. Interview leaders to find out what is happening to agricultural land in your area. Then show what you are learning in a graphic format such as this triarama.
2. Cut a "today" triarama. To make a display like the one in the picture, cut a recycled file folder into a large square with Crayola® Scissors. Fold the square in half, point to point, both ways. Cut along one of these new folds to the center of the square. Slide one of the sides along the cut under the other piece to stand up your triarama.
3. Depict a farm. Unfold the triarama. Draw a farm scene with Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils. You might show a bank barn, cozy farmhouse, grazing cows, fruit-laden orchard, or waving fields of grain. Color the scene with Crayola Oil Pastels.
4. With Crayola Model Magic, create farm animals or other 3-D features. Glue the pieces of the triarama together with Crayola School Glue. Air-dry the glue.
5. Make a "future" flap! Turn the triarama face down on an open file folder. Trace around the triangle with Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils. Cut out the triangle. On this triangle, draw your vision of what this farmland might look like after it has been "developed." It could be a housing community or a large trucking storage unit. With tape, hinge the flap in place on the triarama.
6. Speak up! Display your "today" and "future" scene. Speak or write to decision makers in your community about what you have learned. Suggest ways to solve the problem.
Adult supervision is required for any arts & crafts project. Observe children closely and intervene as necessary to prevent potential safety problems and ensure appropriate use of arts and crafts materials. Some craft items, particularly beads and buttons, are potential choking hazards for young children. Avoid use of such small parts with children younger than 3 years. Craft items such as scissors, push pins and chenille sticks may have sharp points or edges. Avoid use of materials with sharp points by children younger than 4 years. Read all manufacturers' safety warnings before using arts and craft supplies.
Crayola Modeling Materials including Crayola Model Magic®, and Model Magic Fusion™, Crayola Air-Dry Clay, and Crayola Dough—
- Keep away from open flames. Do not use to make candleholders, hot plates, trivets, or other similar objects that will be used or placed near fire and other heat sources.
- Do not put in an oven, microwave, or kiln.
- Do not make into vessels/containers that will hold unpackaged food.
- The use of modeling material to make items that look like food is discouraged for children younger than age 5 to avoid their confusion with real food.
- Unless sealed with a water-resistant glaze, do not make projects exposed to or immersed in water, such as boats or outdoor bird feeders. They would disintegrate when exposed to moisture.
- Crayola Dough—contains gluten (wheat flour) as an ingredient.
- Crayola Air-Dry Clay, Crayola Model Magic and Model Magic Fusion are gluten-free. However, they are produced on the same machinery as Crayola Dough which does contain gluten. Although the machines are cleaned prior to the start of each production run, there is a slight possibility that trace amounts of gluten from Crayola Dough may be present in the other modeling compound products. For information regarding specific ingredients or allergic concerns, please call our Consumer Affairs department at 1-800-272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time.
Scissors—ATTENTION: The cutting edges of scissors are sharp and care should be taken whenever cutting or handling. Blunt-tip scissors should be used only by children 4 years and older. Pointed-tip scissors should be used only by children 6 years and older.
- One half of what people in the U.S. eat is grown on 4% of farms in the country. One third of the food comes from a few enormous farms, many owned by multinational corporations. Delve deeper into this subject. Find out what is happening in other countries. Debate the issue and its impact on life around the globe.
- Try this activity to get a real sense of how much food-producing land is on the planet. Cut an apple into quarters. Put aside three of these pieces to represent the Earth’s oceans. Cut the remaining quarter in half. Put one piece aside to represent the part of the land that people can’t live on. Slice the remaining 1/8 piece into four sections. Take away three of them to represent the land too bad to farm as well the places where people live but can’t grow food. Peel that remaining 1/32 piece of apple. This scrap represents farmable topsoil on the Earth. Eat the apple!
- Invite someone who has lived in your area for at least 50 years into your classroom. Ask questions to find out the ways that your area has changed in their lifetime.
- Go to your local library or historical society to review past newspapers. Look for clues about to role that farmland played in your community 10, 20, and 50 years ago through photos, advertisements, notices, and real estate sales.
- Assessment: Students present their triaramas to leaders and accurately explain what they have learned about agricultural land conservation and preservation.
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