Youth Programs

Our youth programs are designed to engage, excite and educate children of all ages. Using farms as classrooms, students learn hands-on about growing, harvesting and cooking food; caring for the environment; and working collaboratively with their peers and greater community. Students spend time on the farm participating in activities tied to classroom curriculum units as well as service learning exercises.

Farm to Classroom

Locating farms at schools enhances educational programming, improves nutrition in school cafeterias for healthier young minds and bodies, and helps to address “nature deficit disorder” among our youth.

k-8 Curriculum

SCF has worked extensively with the Denver Green School (DGS) to develop Denver Public Schools district-approved, standards-based curriculum connecting students to the farm located on school grounds. Youth education programs are focused on instilling skills and values regarding food, health, and environmental stewardship through hands-on learning about growing, harvesting and cooking. Our work sets a foundation for deeper academic exploration and agriculture careers by cultivating students’ interest and knowledge about the natural world, their communities, and the food system. We received a USDA Farm to School grant from 2021-2023 to revamp our decade-old curriculum. Working with teachers to develop and implement the new curriculum has been a great success!

Every spring and fall, each class learns on the farm at least twice, and many classes visit once a week! In the spring semester, students plant seeds and prep beds, and in the fall when they return they get to harvest and distribute what they planted, in addition to helping weed and water, seeing the full farming cycle. This year we are rolling out a brand new farm elective class for DGS 5-8th graders! Students in this class get the chance to build on the knowledge from previous years, and have a hands-on, in-depth approach to learning where their food comes from, how to grow it, and how it relates to taking care of their bodies and the planet. During the winter, the farm curriculum for all grades continues inside the classroom when kids learn about food traditions, insects, life cycles, and weather patterns.

Outdoor Classroom

The farm also serves as a dynamic and ever-changing outdoor learning environment for a wide range of subjects including math, art, music, science, and more. Students often come outside for a “hands-on, brains-on” experience to enhance topics of study in the classroom: 2nd grade witnesses worms as decomposers in action, 3rd grade counts plants and rows for multiplication and division, art students collect leaves for leaf-rubbing.

Field Trips

The farms are a field trip destination for schools and summer camps, offering educational opportunities to a number of groups throughout the spring, summer, and fall.

To request a field trip, please fill out a visit request form on our Field Trips and Tours Page. 

For High Schoolers

Youth internships

SCF provides paid internships to local high school students! Youth interns spend their scholastic summer as part of a SCF farm crew at one of our farm sites. This provides an opportunity for students to spend their summer furthering their knowledge of farming, food systems, community building, and social and environmental justice, without interrupting their traditional schooling. SCF is a safe and welcoming work environment for young people that fosters responsibility, teamwork, and stewardship. Check our Join Our Team page for open positions!

Youth food leadership and advocacy Program (yflap)

In 2017, we piloted a summer camp for high school youth, and the Youth Food Leadership and Advocacy (YFLAP) Program was in full swing by 2018, thanks to our partners at An Ounce of Nutrition. YFLAP is a high school elective course currently being taught at three public high schools: Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design (where it was piloted in 2018), North High School, and Strive Smart. YFLAP teaches high school students about nutrition and food systems, trains them as leaders and advocates for a healthier local food system, and engages them in implementing self-directed school-based initiatives to improve their world. In a typical school year, we reach 130 students through these classes, most of whom are students of color from under-resourced neighborhoods.

The YFLAP program offers a unique experience for students to become involved in creating a healthier food system for all of us, by:

• Introducing and expanding student knowledge of the food system, food sustainability, food justice, leadership skills, equity, advocacy, and policy.

• Teaching and enhancing nutrition and cooking skills related to the topics discussed in the elective.

• Providing students with the opportunity to learn and engage with the Denver Green School Community Farm, so they can form a better understanding of how our food is produced.

• Exposing students to a variety of community partners that are already working to improve the quality of our current food system.

• Encouraging students to adopt a school-level policy initiative related to improving their local food system, and helping facilitate its implementation.

Farm Camp & Extracurriculars

Sprout City Farms has offered extracurricular programs that focus on activity-based learning about growing food, cooking & nutrition, self-sufficiency, and earth science. Our programs that supplement in-school learning have included:

• After-school Friday Enrichment at the Denver Green School Farm for grades K-6

• Summer programming focused on high school youth: since 2016, SCF has partnered with multiple partners including Denver Public Schools’ CareerConnect program, Jefferson County School to Work Alliance, Goodwill, Access Gallery, and more to employ summer interns in vocational training.

• Summer Camp at Mountair Park: we began partnering with the City of Lakewood in 2015 to host a summer camp on the farm. During two 3-week sessions in June and July, which are free to students of nearby Molholm and Deane Elementary Schools (where 95-98% of students receive Free and Reduced Lunch), campers enjoy art, farm and outdoor education activities at Mountair Park, with breakfast, snacks, and lunch included as part of the Summer Meal Program.

• Summer Camp at Denver Green School: we piloted a summer program for elementary-aged students of DGS and surrounding neighborhoods from 2013-2014, and are working towards greater staff capacity to bring the program back!