Learning at Home
Home Cooking Ideas
Do an inventory of the main ingredients in your kitchen.
Visit a farmers’ market or join a CSA (community-support agriculture) on your island. Make a menu out of items you find and cook it with your family for meals. Visit these sites for current updates on food access points:
Farms and Food Aggregators (GoFarm Hawai‘i)
Farmers Markets, Farm Tours, Annual Hawai‘i Farm Guide (Edible Hawaiian Islands)
Research simple nutritious recipes online:
Check out these ʻulu (breadfruit) recipes from the Hawai‘i ‘Ulu Cooperative!
Find more delicious and nutritious local farm to table recipes from the Farm to Keiki book!
Learn about local produce (with fun facts and recipes) in Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation’s Hawaiian Harvest Toolkit!
See what food scraps you can use for composting.
Experiment with re-planting foods from their roots, shoots, stems or seeds (e.g., pineapple, potatoes, carrots, onions, papaya, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, taro).
Research your family’s cultural cuisine and learn to cook a new dish as a family.
How does your dinner grow? Identify where each item on your plate comes from and how it is grown or raised.
Make tea with fresh herbs (e.g., māmaki, lemongrass, mint, basil).
With adult supervision, have children participate by practicing safely with kitchen tools (peelers, knives, juicers, pitchers, scissors, whisk).
Teach children how to wash dishes/load dishwasher/help in the kitchen.
Home Gardening Ideas
Access this parent-led curriculum from the Home Garden Network (UH CTAHR):
Homeschool Edition (10 hands-on STEM lessons)
Use best practices for gardening and food safety:
How to Practice School Garden and Food Safety (Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation)
Hawai‘i School Garden Safety Poster (Hawai‘i Farm to School Hui)
Hawai‘i School Garden Safety Manual (Hawai‘i Farm to School Hui)
Purchase locally grown seeds:
University of Hawai‘i Seed Lab
Plant in pots or start a garden! Check out these resources from Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation and learn how to:
Practice Green Pest Management
Practice Slug and Snail Removal
Make your own compost to reduce waste, recycle nutrients, and feed your garden! Check out these resources from Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation and learn how to:
Create Aerobic Compost (compost piles)
Create a Vermicomposting System (worm bin)
Make and Use Bokashi (anaerobic composting with beneficial microorganisms)
Cultivate Beneficial Microorganisms
Protect your soil by covering it with mulch from yard clippings, fallen leaves, and branches.
Research which food plants grow well in Hawaiʻi. Look at the Farm to Keiki book and Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation’s Hawaiian Harvest Toolkit for ideas.
Contribute to food security and food self-sufficiency in Hawai‘i by growing taro, breadfruit, sweet potato, and other staple foods.
Read about 10 important crops for your home garden in Hawai‘i.
Plant some vines along a fence in your yard (e.g. pole or wing beans, liliko‘i, blue butterfly pea vine).
Research and find weeds you can eat.
Identify native Hawaiian plants in your neighborhood.
Go on nature walks:
Find the “rainbow” in nature.
Print pictures and go on a plant or insect hunt.
Match leaves.
Collect items in nature and create a collage or do leaf rubbings with crayons or leaf printing with paint.
Look to nature for design solutions: how does nature solve problems? How does nature capture water? Check out AskNature.org
Invasive Species
Learn about little fire ants (LFA) and their current distribution, and test for them in your yard!
Educate your family about rat lungworm disease (RLWD) with these resources:
RLWD Activity Book (UH Hilo)
RLWD K-12 STEAM Curriculum (UH Hilo) and Videos(Hawai‘i Farm to School Hui)
University of Hawai‘i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (UH CTAHR)
Safely remove slugs and snails from your yard:
Practice Slug and Snail Control (Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation)
NEVER touch slugs and snails with bare hands. Remove them by picking up with disposable chopsticks, double bagging securely, and disposing in the trash. Wash your hands well!
Set up different traps (e.g. lay down cardboard, newspaper, wood, trash bag); collect data to determine the most effective design.
Learn about the many invasive species affecting Hawai‘i from the Hawai‘i Invasive Species Council (explore their extensive list with links).
Report invasive species to (808) 643-PEST.
More Resources for Remote Learning
Farm to Keiki: Cooking, Gardening and Nutrition with Children
FoodCorps: Resources to Support Remote Education
Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation
Learn at Home Resources for Keiki
Earth Month Activities, Resources, and Inspiration
‘ĀINA In Schools, K-6 Farm to School Curriculum
Mālama Learning Center: Virtual Resources/Field Trips
The Edible Schoolyard Project: Lessons for Students to Complete at Home