Farm fun for kids

Westpoint in Exeter is poised to open its doors to more than 1,700 key stage 2 primary school aged children on Tuesday 8^th October for Farmwise 2024.

The hugely popular event is always a sell out amongst local schools with more than 15 schools now on the waiting list. 

It offers children a ‘beyond the classroom experience’ with the opportunity to engage in a multitude of sensory activities and experiences providing an insight into farming in Devon.

Above: Farmwise 2023. Image: Devon County Council

For the first time, visitors to Farmwise will be able to meet Trevor from the ‘Sheep Show’ and his wonderful dancing sheep.  

This travelling attraction is primarily an educational experience, designed to explain the connection between sheep and wool and features several different breeds of sheep.

A new section of ‘Burping Cows’ will introduce children to the environmental issues surrounding methane gas.

Above: Farmwise 2023. Image: Devon County Council

The section will feature hatching chicks and one day old fluffy chicks that the children will be permitted to handle.

They will also see broiler/meat chicken as well as laying birds that are used by the poultry industry to produce our eggs and meat, with industry leaders on hand to explain the processes. 

Also on show will be the unveiling of a brand new ‘Farmwise’ mobile unit which will be taken to schools further afield in the county to provide even more children with the opportunity to learn about farming and food provenance. 

Above: Farmwise 2023. Image: Devon County Council

Other Farmwise activities include:

1. Delivering a lamb – one of the most popular activities at the event last year, it’s back for 2024!  The experience involves a sheep simulator, and a cuddly toy covered in gloop, which the children can pull through the simulator, as if the sheep is giving birth.
2. Sausage making. Children will feed pork mince through the sausage machine into casings, cook them up and sample their works of art.
3. Apple picking with Sampford Orchards– Children will be collecting apples from the in-situ apple orchard, putting them into a mulcher and then into a press to create apple juice.
4. The children will be making wildflower seed bombs to take back to school and release them into the school grounds to encourage wildlife.
5. Piglets, sheep, goats and cattle will be on site, offering the children the opportunity to get up close and personal – something many of the attending children may never have done before. 

Farmwise will take place at Westpoint Exeter on Tuesday 8^th October.  Doors open at 9am and the event will finish at 2.30pm.