Learn 3 easy ways to take children berry picking. Go wild foraging for berries, visit a berry picking farm, or, grow berries in your own garden to pick!
I have wonderful memories of wild foraging and berry picking with my brothers as a child. I can vividly remember my mother handing us a big bowl and sending us outside to gather berries to make homemade syrup or cobbler.
We would run out into the surrounding woods to one of our favorite blackberry picking spots yelping with joy. More wild berries ended up in our mouths than in the bowl, but we always had enough for syrup or some other delicious berry-filled concoction. Mmm… Mmmm! Life doesn’t get much better than that!
This post is a part of the Get Outside & Connect Series. Click on the link to learn more about it.
3 Ways to Take Children Berry Picking
There are three primary ways to take children berry picking; Wild foraging, berry picking farms, and in your own garden if you have one. Picking berries is a great spring or summer activity for a classroom field trip, a homeschool lesson, or a weekend family adventure.
Learn how to pick berries with our wild foraging tips, use our berry farm ideas to take the kids to a pick-your-own berry farm, or grow berries in your yard or garden.
Finding berries in the wild, visiting a berry farm, and growing berries are all wonderful ways to go berry picking. All three berry picking activities offer a valuable learning experience for children from toddlers to teens.
Related: Forest School and Outdoor Learning Ideas
1. Go Wild Foraging for Berries
If you don’t already know of a place you can take your children to pick wild berries, use a wild foraging guide, or call your local parks and recreation department.
What is Wild Foraging?
Wild foraging is hunting in the great outdoors for berries and other delicious wild edibles.
If you choose to try this option with children, make absolutely sure the berries you are picking are safe for consumption. When in doubt leave them out!
We recommend going to your local library to check out a book on wild foraging. Affiliate links to a few wild foraging guides that our family enjoys are listed below.
- A field Guide to Edible Wild Plants
- Foraging for Beginners: Simple Guide to Foraging Edible Mushrooms and Berries
- Wild Cards: Edible Wild Foods
There are many places near where we live that wild blackberries grow naturally, so we like to go wild foraging for them.
You can see the busy bees below pollinating the blackberries that we will soon be picking. We are waiting for them to ripen. When they do we will be ready with our free trade collection baskets!
2. Visit a Pick Your Own Berry Farm Near Me
There are farms all over the world that will allow you to pick your own berries if there is nothing wild and free in your area. There is usually a small fee and/or a purchase price for this service.
Check your local newspaper, family resource guide, or visit Pick Your Own to find a berry picking farm near you.
Before going to a Pick Your Own Farm, call the berry farm to ask:
- When the smallest crowd is expected–unless you prefer to be there when it’s busy.
- Are there wagons available, or, do they allow you to bring your own.
- If there is food and water available for purchase, or, do they have a place to sit and eat to bring a picnic.
BYOBasket
The pick your own farm may have baskets available for picking, but you can also bring your own.
We love to use free trade Bolga Baskets for nature hunts, farmers’ markets, and pick your own farms can be found at the following affiliate links.
3. Grow Berries to Pick in Your Own Garden
On the day that these photos were taken we collected raspberries, blueberries, boysenberries and goji berries in our own garden.
My daughter ate most of them right off the bushes.
Okay, I’ll admit it… I ate them right of the bushes too!
Is there any other way?
Below are photos of some of the berries that we grew and picked in our garden this year.
Yes… We grow them all!
My daughter is a lucky little girl to have so many berries to snack on during the spring and summer months.
We will be making elderberry syrup out of fresh berries at the end of the summer. I will be sharing all about it when we do. Sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss it!
Homemade jams, syrups and baked goods like pies, cobblers, and crisps are so much better when made with fresh berries that you have picked yourself.
We shared an amazing gluten-free crisp recipe that you can use once you collect your berries. It calls for peaches and raspberries but you can substitute with any berries and/or apples.
Take Your Kids Berry Picking This Spring or Summer
Get outside and go on a berry picking field trip! An outside activity the whole family will enjoy.
Do some research in your area to find out where you can go to pick berries. If there are no wild and free options available there are berry farms all over the world that will allow you to come and pick your own baskets for a small fee.
This post is a part of the Get Outside & Connect Series. Click on the link to learn more about it.
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