School Tours

Agricultural School/Group Tours

Grades: Preschool (Age 4 & up) through 2nd grade

Dates: September 25 - October 31, 2007

Times: Monday - Friday starting at 9:30 am, tours are scheduled throughout the day and last approximately 1 1/2 hours.

Cost: $5.00 per student. Teachers and 1 Teachers Assistant per class are FREE. Additional parents are welcome, but will need to pay $5.00. If your group is paying by check, please make it payable to "Country Pumpkins".

Location: The Country Market (5 miles North of Zionsville on US 421 (Michigan Road)

Rain Dates: If your tour is cancelled due to poor weather, we will try our best to reschedule for you. However, there are no guarantees due to weather and limited time frame for tours.

Lunch: Students can bring their sack lunch and enjoy our picnic area either before or after their tour, depending on which tour time you have scheduled. (We recommend that children bring bottled water instead of juice/soda due to the problem with bees this time of year.)

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

We will have 4 stations that the students will rotate through. Each segment is designed to educate and enlighten students about Indiana Agriculture and various aspects of farming with an emphasis on pumpkins, corn and soybeans.

General Overview: Students will learn about soil types, various seeds, soil preparation, and planting, what makes a crop grow, growth stages of pumpkins/gourds, harvesting our crop, and uses of crop.

Station 1: Corn Maze - Your kids will have fun finding their way through this year's maze of angles!

Station 2: Animal Barn - Farm animals are always a highlight for kids of all ages! They'll find out what they eat, what each animal is used for, and the important role these animals play in providing foods we find at the grocery.

Station 3: Hayride to pumpkin patch: it will be such a great experience for your students to get some hands on learning out in the patch. We'll study the bee hives that are used in pollinating our gourds and pumpkins.

Station 4: Educational Play Area: Here the kids can romp, run their energy out, and learn at the same time. They can ride a pretend horse and lasso a calf, milk a simulated cow, and climb on hay bales. They'll also get to pick out a pie pumpkin to take home with them!

The tour will last approximately 1 1/2 hours. After your tour is finished, the optional snack/lunch time is up to each school. Adults are welcome to peruse and visit inside our gift store.

We would appreciate if each group would clean up their eating areas after they are finished.

* To Schedule a Tour: Please email me with: Date, Time, Grade, and How many students.