Sustainable food at the new Festival of Childhood
Barcelona's biggest Christmas family entertainment event invites children to learn how to eat healthily through a series of games and workshops on cooking and responsible consumption.
The Festival of Childhood, Barcelona’s biggest Christmas family entertainment event, is reviving its original name and spirit with the aim of bringing pleasure to young and old alike with lots of ideas and activities that encourage healthy habits and a healthy lifestyle.
The theme running though this year’s edition of the festival is the Barcelona 92 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of that historic occasion.
All the activities are themed and linked to the events in 1992, aimed at encouraging children to become more familiar with the world of sport and healthy lifestyles in a fun way. Sustainable food will play a key role in the activities programme, with a wide range of workshops and games focusing on cooking and responsible consumption, so that kids can learn about healthy eating.
The festival will be held from 27 to 31 December at the Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuïc exhibition centre.
Workshop “From Field to Fork”
In this fun activity designed for kids between the ages of 4 and 10, the children will learn about different links in the food chain and wonky vegetables from the allotment.
The first game is “The Hot Potato”. Using a series of images representing different links in the food chain, players will have to put them in the right order to show the path a potato takes on its way to being made into chips and landing on your plate. Next there’ll be a memory game, with wonky fruit and vegetables so that kids learn to recognise them even when they don’t look quite so pretty.
This activity is being organised by the Espai Consum Responsable [Responsible consumer space] and run by Espigoladors.
When?
- Tuesday 27 December, from 11.30 am to 1 pm.
Workshop: “Sembra Natura: Ivy”
An activity for all the family on learning how to plant ivy. At the end of the workshop, which will be run by the team at Sembra Natura, families will be able to take one of these hardy climbing plants home with them, to put on their balcony, windowsill or roof terrace.
When?
- Thursday 29 December, from 4.30 pm to 7.30 pm.
Game: “Challenge Roulette”
In this roulette game, kids will be asked to have a go at mastering the challenges that come up in each spin, either by managing to spin the hula hoop around their waists, guessing ‘which fruit?’ in a blind taste test, or answering true or false questions. Each participant will need to complete five challenges to win a prize: a piece of fruit.
The activity is being organised by Mercabarna for children aged between 4 and 12 years of age.
When?
- Tuesday 27 December, from 4 pm to 8 pm.
- Thursday 29 December, from 11.30 am to 1 pm.
- Friday 30 December, from 11.30 am to 1 pm, and from 4 pm to 8 pm.
Workshop “Breakfast of Champions”
In this activity, a team of monitors will teach children between 6 and 12 years of age three breakfast recipes for champions, before finishing things off by getting them to imagine what their favourite champion’s breakfast should be.
This workshop is being organised by the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Markets.
When?
- Wednesday 28 December, from 11.30 am to 1 pm, and from 4 pm to 8 pm.
Workshop: “Labelling and stamps on food products”
What do food labels tell us? What do the numbers on eggs mean? How do you know if a product has been produced locally? This activity is all about creating labels and stamps for different products in order to learn how to make reasoned, conscious and responsible choices when buying food.
The workshop, organised by Direcció de Comerç, is aimed at kids aged 8+.
When?
- Saturday 31 December, from 10.30 am to 11.30 am, and from 12 noon to 1 pm.
