🔍 Exploring Mushrooms 🕵️

Celebrate National Mushroom Month with the new Mushrooms In Schools classroom education resources! Keep reading to dive into engaging activities, lesson plans, and fun facts that bring the fascinating world of fungi to life for kids of all ages.

National Mushroom Month

When students explore and taste mushrooms in school, they’ll be excited to share their new knowledge with you at home. Dive into the Mushroom Council website for a treasure trove of resources that parents and kids can enjoy together, making National Mushroom Month a fun learning experience for the whole family! 

Free Mushroom Resources:

• How-to Videos – learn all about mushroom selection, storage, preparation, and beyond 
• Mushroom varieties – nutritional information, preparation tips, and recipes for nine different types of mushrooms
• Health benefits – learn about how mushrooms offer a nutritional boost
• Sustainability facts – the mighty mushroom is healthy on the plate and gentle on the planet
• Recipes – put your chef hat on and get ready to cook mushrooms
• Youtube Channel – fun, hands-on mushroom-focused videos featuring recipes, mushroom facts, and more.  

CACFP Recipe Contest Winners

Kids Eat Mushrooms, Too! Recipe Contest is proud to announce the winners of the CACFP recipe contest. 

We have many great submissions, but these winners stood out because of the use of fresh mushrooms, the innovation in including students in the recipe development process, and of course – the taste!

Check out the winning recipes and add them to your program!

First Place: 

The Nature Explorers Nutritious Egg Cake from Browns Family Childcare, LLC

Second Place: 

Crispy Oyster Mushroom Sliders from Brockton Public Schools, MA

Third Place: 

Crispy Avocado and Mushroom Quesadilla from Quitman ISD, TX

There’s still time to enter your winning recipe into the K12 recipe contest. The K12 Recipe Contest ends on September 30, 2024. Submit your favorite recipe that utilizes fresh mushrooms deliciously and innovatively! 

Prizes for both contests include:

1. First Place Grand Prize: Registration for the National Child Nutrition Conference, National Head Start Conference, or School Nutrition Association’s Annual National Conference (winner’s choice) in 2025
2. Second Place Prize: Two Mushroom Grow Kits and Five Mushroom T-Shirts 
3. Third Place Prize: Three Mushroom T-Shirts and Three Mushroom Sunglasses

For more information, head over to our website here. Be sure to sign up for the School Nutrition newsletter or CACFP newsletter to stay updated with the latest!

Farm to School Resources 🧑‍🌾

The mighty mushroom is ideal for hands-on demonstrations, classroom growing experiments, and tasty scratch-made meals that support your Farm to School Program! Our Farm to School toolkit provides ready-to-go materials for the classroom and cafeteria to promote local mushrooms and their environmental benefits. We also provide free:

• Graphics
• Sample Tweets
• Handouts
• Stickers
• And more!

Weeknight Dinner Recipes 🍽️

Discover easy and delicious mushroom recipes that are perfect for weeknight dinners! From hearty mains to savory sides, these dishes will inspire you to bring more flavor and nutrition to your family meals.

Want even more recipes? Click here.

Celebrate in Style

We’d love to see your National School Lunch Week, Farm to School, and National Mushroom Month celebrations! Snap a pic and tag us to share the fun and inspire others to join in the mushroom magic! 📸

Tag us on your Facebook and/or X (Twitter) post to win a Mushrooms in Schools T-shirt. 

Every time you share your recipes, we will feature you in our “Mushrooms on the Menu” newsletter (want to subscribe? Click here). We want to celebrate all the hard work you do!