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The purpose of this paper is to establish where four‐year old children think certain basic foods come from. The authors explored how much children can learn about the origin of food through outdoor activities in the garden at preschool and on local farms.

An experiment was conducted with a control and an experimental group, which consisted of 32 children each. Before activities the authors used semi‐structured interviews about the source of food for both groups to explore children's prior knowledge. The experimental group practised activities at local farms and in their small vegetable garden. Then the authors repeated the semi‐structured interviews about the source of food for both groups.

Before their experience on the farms, many children had no idea where food comes from (milk 62 per cent, eggs 47 per cent, juice 78 per cent, and beans 84 per cent), while afterwards children in the experimental group showed a statistically significant improvement in their knowledge about the origin of food. Most children could tell us exactly where milk (84 per cent), eggs (84 per cent), juice (69 per cent), and beans (84 per cent) come from.

The paper concludes that through outdoor activities on farms and in the garden, even preschool children can learn that food comes from living beings.