This year we are celebrating the holiday season by looking at all of the ways that agriculture plays a part in the Christmas joy! Over the next 12 days we will be discussing various topics popular to Christmas and learning how those topics are tied to agriculture. Each day comes with an educational activity that is great for the classroom or at home.
To make this easiest for our classrooms who are participating in this series, one new topic will be posted to our Facebook Pages (@HenryCountyFarmBureau & @DesMoinesCountyFarmBureau) each weekday from December 6th through December 21st. The list of all 12 days are posted below!
Day 1: Discover Christmas Trees
Today is our first day of 12 Days of Christmas- Agriculture Edition! Do you put up a real or artificial Christmas tree during the holidays? Does your family take yearly photos at a local Christmas tree farm? Today we are going to take a deep dive into one of the most widely used symbols of Christmas-the Christmas tree!
The Christmas tree tradition started out in the 16th century in Germany. Unlike today where many people put up their trees long before Thanksgiving, back then children were not allowed to see the tree until Christmas Eve. The Christmas tree then gained popularity in the United States in 1856 when President Franklin Pierce brought the very first Christmas tree into the White House.
Real Christmas trees are grown on farms just like other agricultural crops you might see in our area. They can take anywhere from 6 to 10 years for a farmer to grow a Christmas tree. Each tree will grow about 1 foot per year! While many Christmas trees are grown in states such as Oregon, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and New York, they can be grown in almost any state. Some local options include:
When looking at a Christmas tree, many people refer to it as a pine tree. Christmas trees can be one of several varieties of conifers including fir, pine, spruce, cypress, or cedar. Farmers put a great deal of time into nurturing the qualities we all look for in the perfect Christmas tree such as bushy, fully green, and symmetrical. Learn more about the Christmas tree life cycle and how they grow on farms by working on this Life Cycle of a Christmas tree model made from a paper plate, some string, and some free printable images!
For older students, I have linked a fun STEM challenge they can do individually or as a group to see who can build the tallest Christmas tree from toothpicks and gumdrops.
For more Christmas tree information, check out National Christmas Tree Association.
Day 2: Hot Chocolate vs. Hot Cocoa
I don’t know about you, but the cold weather of winter always has me reaching for a nice warm cup of hot cocoa! What you may not know is that hot chocolate and hot cocoa are not technically the same thing.
Hot cocoa is a hot, sweet drink that is made up of cocoa powder, sugar, and milk. It has a thin and light consistency and is usually much easier to make than hot chocolate. Cocoa powder was not introduced until the early 1800's. It is made from crushed cacao beans, sugar, and cocoa butter. Cacao beans are grown on cacao trees that can only be grown in tropical climates. the trees have pods that hold 20 to 40 almond-sized beans. The pods are harvested with a machete and then broken apart to retrieve the cacao bean. The beans have to be roasted, cracked, fanned, winnowed, and more to get us our finely ground cocoa powder.
Hot chocolate is also known as drinking chocolate. It is a thick, hot drink that is made by melting solid chocolate (like chocolate chips or bars) in either hot water or milk.
No matter which one you choose to make, they both have sugar that is made from sugar beets or sugar cane, milk from dairy cows, water, and minerals.
Today we have some hot cocoa science! Below is the link to a fun hot chocolate science experiment your students will enjoy while also learning how temperature affects the rate of melting.
You can also make hot cocoa with your class with this simple recipe:
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups powder milk
Mix them together in a large bowl and add it to a mug or cup. Then stir in warm water or milk and top it off with marshmallows or your favorite toppings! We would love to see any pictures from anyone who participates! Pull out your ugly Christmas sweater, tomorrow we discuss sheep and their role in producing wool to use for sweaters and other clothing products.
Day 3: Christmas Sweaters
What animal produces wool? If you answered sheep, then you are correct! But do we know what wool is used for? Wool can be used to make socks, mittens, blankets, coats, and even your Christmas sweater!
There are different types or breeds of sheep. Some sheep, such as Dorset, are wool sheep raised for their wool, meat, and/or milk. These sheep grow thick wool that has to be sheared due to the fact that they do not naturally shed. It is important to shear the ewe (female sheep) before their lamb (baby sheep) is born. It can be difficult for the new lambs to drink milk with a lot of wool in the way. It takes a whole year for sheep to grow their heavy fleece and it takes a special professional shearer to remove it. It weights around 8 pounds! After the sheep is sheared, the wool is washed, carded, dyed, spun into yarn, and woven into fabric.
In this activity, Sheep to Sweater (under activity 2), students will walk through the steps of processing wool.
Day 4: Reindeer Farm
Reindeer work hard every Christmas to help fly Santa’s sleigh all around the world to deliver presents to children. Santa’s reindeer were first mentioned in 1821 in a 16-page booklet called A New Year’s Present to the Little Ones from Five to Twelve. Today we are going to look at the history of reindeer, how they are raised, and even make them a little snack!
Reindeer are also known as caribou and are a member of the deer family. In Europe, they are called reindeer. However, in North America, the animals are called caribou if they are wild and reindeer if they are domesticated. Reindeer have been raised as domesticated livestock for as long as 2,000 years, according to the Reindeer Owners and Breeders Association. Today, reindeer are raised on farms around the world and all across the United States.
With most deer species, only the males grow antlers. Male and Female reindeer both grow antlers and have the largest and heaviest antlers of all living deer species reaching as long as 51 inches.
While they can be raised for their milk, meat, cheese, and hides, many people raise these animals for entertainment and tourism purposes. Want to give Santa a little extra boost on Christmas Eve? Leave him Reindeer milk! According to the Reindeer Research Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, reindeer milk is higher in protein and fat than any other land mammal. Reindeer are also fairly easy to keep due to the fact that they are easy to train and fence into various spaces. They eat things such as grasses, sedges, shrubs, and various feed formulas for commercial feeding. Speaking of food...this leads us to todays activity! TMR is the acronym for “Total Mixed Ration”. This is the way that farmers ensure that their livestock get the right mixture of food for their diet. Farmers have to weigh and blend a combination of ingredients and mix it together just like you would use a mixing bowl to make a batch of brownies. Today we are going to make a TMR for Santa’s reindeer!
You will use items such as:
Mini Pretzel Sticks (forages)
Candy Corn (corn)
Peanuts or Mixed Nuts (Protein)
Mini Marshmallows (Sugar Source)
After completing your Reindeer TMR (click here to see documents), you can have it as a snack or leave it out with your milk and cookies for Santa!
Day 5: Homemade Ornaments
Todays activity is a fun and creative way to make memories that will last a lifetime! Not only will these cinnamon applesauce ornaments be a perfect Christmas decoration, but they would make a great gift for kids to give to family and friends.
Supplies Needed: Dough Ingredients:
Twine/string Glue 1 cup ground cinnamon
Scissors Rolling Pin 3/4 cup applesauce
Cinnamon Parchment paper 2 tablespoons basic white glue
Applesauce Baking Sheet
Cookie Cutters Cellophane bags
First, combine all ingredients in a large bowl until all of the cinnamon is absorbed into the applesauce. Gather the mixture and knead it several times into a ball. Then, sprinkle some cinnamon on a smooth surface and using the rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is able 1/4 inch think. Cut out the shapes using cookie cutters. Once they are all cut, place the ornaments on a cookie sheet covered with wax or parchment paper. Using a drinking straw, make a hole in the top of each ornament. Let the ornaments dry at room temperature for 24-48 hours, turning them occasionally so they dry evenly. Once they are dry you can finish them off with a piece of twine, string, or ribbon to hang and decorate them with paint, sharpie, etc.! If you want to speed up drying time, you can bake the ornaments in an oven at 200 degrees for about two hours, turning them over halfway through baking time. At the end, you can throw them in a cellophane bag to send home with students!
The easiest part about this is the fact that all ingredients used in this activity can be found in your kitchen. Before they were in your cupboards, they all came from a farm. Cinnamon is a spice that comes from the bark of several tree species that are called Cinnamomum. Farmers shave the inner bark off of the trees and dry it, where it then curls and is cut into sticks or crushed into a powder. Applesauce also starts out on a tree! It is made from apples, which come from various apple trees, and are cooked along with other ingredients and spices before it is mashed to the desired consistency. Take a look at the My Family’s Apple Farm Book to learn more about the apples that go into this yummy snack!
Day 6: Candy Canes
For 350 years, candy canes have been a staple in Christmas celebrations. At the beginning, they were only available in white. Around 1900, the classic stripes were added. Today, we see candy canes available in a wide range of colors and flavors.
Candy canes are made up of basic ingredients such as sugar (coming from sugar cane or sugar beets), corn syrup (from corn grown right here in Iowa!), water, peppermint extract for flavor, and food coloring. Sugar and corn syrup are heated in large kettles and vacuum cooked. Once it is done, it is poured out onto a cooling table and peppermint extract is added for the flavor. A kneader will mix the flavoring into the candy until it is golden brown. Once it is evenly mixed, it is placed into a puller that turns the candy a silky white color. Once it is formed into a log-like shape, the stripes are formed on a heating table and placed on the log. They then make the candy into a cone shape and size it down to the diameter of a candy cane. At this point it looks kind of like a rope! A twister then gives the rope the signature striped pattern. Once the cutter makes the candy into strips, it is kept warm so it does not harden. The wrappers are then placed on the candy and the heat causes it to shrink. Finally, a crooker machine give the candy its hook shape. Next thing you know, it will be on the grocery store shelf!
Watch this short video explaining how Corn Syrup is Processed to get a better understanding of one of the main ingredients in candy canes. Just one bushel of field corn can produce 33 pounds of corn syrup! We use corn syrup in other items such as other candies, soft drinks, and baked goods as a way to sweeten them.
For our activity this week we have the Dissolving Candy Canes Experiment. Students will compare how different liquids dissolve the candy canes and what causes them to do so.
For younger students we have the Magic Bending Candy Canes! This fun activity will have them thinking they have super strength as they bend their candy canes. They will discover answers to questions such as how long it may take to make a candy cane malleable, do different brands of candy canes have similar melting points, and will a microwave work as well as an oven to warm the candy canes?
Check back tomorrow for our activity on cranberries!
Day 7: Cranberries
Many of us have seen the famous Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice Cocktail commercial, where the berries are floating in water. But did you know cranberries don’t actually grow in water? Today we will see how cranberries are grown and how they’re not only a popular holiday side dish, but a healthy one as well!
Cranberries are actually grown on small woody plants called vines that are about 6 inches tall. Cranberries are perennial plants, so they grow year after year, just like a bush or tree. These vines grow in bogs with acidic and peaty soil from April until November. There are two ways to harvest cranberries. Wet harvest is when they fill the bogs will water and a machine drives through and beats the berries off of the vines. The cranberries float to the top of the water and are gathered to one part of the bog and removed. Berries that are normally wet harvested are processed and dried or used for juice and sauce. There is also dry harvest. They do not fill the bog with water. Instead, a harvester lifts the berries off of the vines and bags them. Dry harvested cranberries are then sold fresh instead of processed. Want to see how cranberries grow? Watch this video called How Does it Grow? to learn more!
Did you know that Cranberries can bounce? Cranberries have four air chambers inside of them. Having air inside of them, kind of like a ball, gives them the ability to bounce. Growers use the bounce test to see if their cranberries are good or not! Squishy or soft cranberries do not bounce. Try this Bouncing Cranberry Experiment with your kiddos!
Cranberries are known as superfruits! They are full of antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that can help you live longer, look better, and prevent disease.
Another activity for today is Dancing Cranberries. This easy experiment takes only dried cranberries, Sprite, and a clear cup for students to learn and see the concept of buoyancy.
Day 8: Sugar Cookies
As we get closer and closer to the end of our countdown, we couldn’t talk about Christmas and agriculture connections without talking about sugar cookies! Ingredients put into these yummy cookies all come from agriculture.
Flour is one of the key ingredients when making cookies. It holds all of the ingredients together and makes the dough less sticky. Flour starts out as a wheat plant that will later be harvested. The wheat harvester plucks the outer shell from the wheat plant and grinds the inside of the plant, the seed, into a powder. This powder is then called flour. After the wheat grains turn into flour, proteins are also created in it, creating gluten. There are lots of flour substitutes that have been created for those with gluten allergies. These substitutes are made from things such as coconut, almond, oat, and more. A fun STEM experiment you could do is exploring different flour types and the gluten content in them. Here is the link to learn more about it!
Our next essential ingredient is sugar. Sugar, as we have talked about in previous days, comes from sugar cane or sugar beets. Sugar beets grow in the ground similar to potatoes. After they are grown, the beets are harvested. To harvest the beets, the top is first chopped off by the harvester and then sent through again to pull the beets from the ground. After harvest, the beets are sent to a factory where they are washed. The sugar particles are removed from the beet during the soaking process. The sugary juice substance is then heated to create a concentrated syrup that is then crystallized to create sugar. Here is a Gumdrop Making lesson that will teach students all they need to know about sugar cane and sugar beet processing!
Our last key ingredient is butter. Butter comes from milk which comes from dairy cows on the farm. Cows are milked using a vacuum-like machine that sends the milk to a large refrigerated tank. Once cool enough and pasteurized, the milk is churned by being shaken. This process separates the fat from the milk. Next, salt and food coloring can be added to the butter. Want to teach your students how to make their own butter? Click here for an easy lesson all about it.
Need a good sugar cookie recipe? Here is a link to Sugar Cookies and Frosting. Keep this handy as we may be needing this when we get down to one of our final days!
Day 9: Giving Back
Todays activity is going to be different than days in the past. We have had activities and topics that have brought value to our own lives but today we will be giving to others! The holidays is a season of giving and not only do we want to teach our youth the importance of that, but we want to teach by example. Here are some ideas that your classroom (or family) can give back to their community this Christmas:
Donate food, money, clothes or even time to a local food pantry or shelter.
As a class you can work together to bring items to be donated. One tip could be calling ahead to see what they might need most! Volunteering your time to help might go a long ways as well.
Have each student think of a friend or neighbor who may be struggling this holiday season.
Once they have thought of someone, give them time to write them a Christmas card and help them determine the best method for delivering it to their person.
Color Christmas pictures for a local nursing home
Have your students bring some joy to people living in a local nursing home.
As we have learned from previous days, farmers work tirelessly to provide us with grains, fruits, vegetables, and any other crops that help fuel, feed, and clothe our world and impact our lives on a daily basis-even on Christmas. Let’s teach our students to take what we have learned and apply it to giving back to others this holiday season! As always, we would love to see photos of you and your class/family taking part in giving back this holiday season.
Day 10: Snowflakes/Snowman
Who doesn’t want a white Christmas? Snow on Christmas day makes the whole holiday that much more magical. Even for people like me who don’t like the cold, we can still admire how beautiful the snow can be! Today our topic is snowflakes!
Each snowflake is unique, no two snowflakes are the same. All snowflakes have six sides, a unique pattern, and have approximately 200 snow crystals on them! Snowflakes are made in the sky when a water droplet freezes onto a dust or pollen particle, making an ice crystal. As the ice crystal falls from the sky, the water vapor freezes onto it, creating new crystal arms and making the full six arms of the snowflake. Snowflakes are also always symmetrical thanks to the ice crystals that make them. Snowflakes can only be formed when it is around 23 degrees Fahrenheit. When the temperature is even colder, the snowflakes grow little needles, hexagonal prisms, and hollow columns. In even colder temperatures, the snowflakes grow larger and can eventually turn to prisms and flat plates at frigid temperatures. Overall, there are six main types of snowflakes: flat, column, stars, dendrite, lacy, needle, and capped column. Below is the steps for a snowflake activity for everyone!
Material:
Glue
Water
Salt
Paper
Food coloring/watercolors
Step 1: Lay out a piece of paper and use glue to draw out a snowflake shape.
Step 2: Pour salt onto the glue, dump off the excess salt once there’s enough on your glue.
Step 3: Once the glue has dried, mix a few tablespoons of water and blue food coloring.
Step 4: Slowly drip the colored water or watercolors onto the salt snowflakes (pipettes work great for this step). Do it one drop at a time, try not to drown the snowflake pattern!
Step 5: The water will be absorbed by the salt and move throughout the pattern shape. Mix other colors if you wish, but allow the snowflakes to dry overnight.
To learn more about how the weather affects farming, check out these two weather themed lessons to add to your classroom:
Day 11: Milk & Cookies for Santa
On Christmas Eve, children across the world will be setting out milk & cookies, anxiously awaiting Santa’s arrival. Did you ever think about how farmers play a part in the milk & cookies we leave for Santa?
We have already touched on the agricultural products we use in our sugar cookies, so lets take a closer look at milk. Dairy farmers raise cows that are milked 2-3 times a day. That milk is consumed or made into ice cream, butter, yogurt, and other dairy products. Milk is a great source of protein, vitamins, and minerals. Cows milk is homogenized. This means that when processed, the cream is not separated from the milk. Cream particles are broken up and mixed with the rest of the milk. Milk is also pasteurized. This means that it is heated up quickly in order to kill pathogens. If the milk is left raw (fresh from the cow) it can pose possible health risks if not put through pasteurization. There are also many milk alternatives incase Santa has a possible allergy such as almond milk and soy milk.
Todays activity will be testing for the Best Cookies for Santa. Students will test Chocolate Chip, Oreo, and Gingersnap cookies to determine what cookie holds up best.
Day 12: Paper Chain
Merry Christmas everyone! This is our final day of the 12 Days of Christmas- Agriculture Edition. I hope everyone enjoyed this series I put together and found some great content to add to your classrooms and or homes lea
ding up to Christmas break. Today we will be wrapping up all of the things we have learned these last twelve days. Agriculture impacts us daily. From the moment our eyes open, until we lay down for bed, almost everything we come in contact with has a tie to agriculture. Over the last twelve days we were able to see all of the ways agriculture helps to make the holidays a special time of year. From the cookies we bake, the Christmas tree we decorate, and the canned goods we donate, I think it’s safe to say that without our farmers Christmas would look much different!
Todays activity will be a refresher of everything we have looked at over the last few weeks. You can use our paper chain activity as a review game or simply as a discussion to have with students. If you have a classroom tree you can add your chain to your tree or even choose a lucky student to take it home with them. Give each student one slip of paper. Each slip is a different picture related to Christmas and Agriculture. Have students either write on the back one thing they learned about that product or have them come up to the class and tell about their product. As each student brings up their slip, you can attached them together, making a paper chain! There is also an attached fact sheet that discusses each picture as well. Great for added discussion with students!
Thank you to those of you who participated in our daily activities!
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