Strawberry picking in Maryland is such a fun activity for families. As a group, you can probably pick strawberries pretty quickly and fill your basket in just a short time. But it is so fun to watch your children participate and learn about how fruit grows and which strawberries are ripe. When your basket is filled, you may want to add on to your “strawberry picking day” with more strawberry themed activities at home.
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Since I was a child, strawberries have always been a family favorite of ours. My parents, sisters, and I went strawberry picking in Maryland every year. The strawberry farm in Howard County that we used to go to is no longer there, so now I take my kids to Larriland Farm most years.
The strawberry picking season in Maryland isn’t a long one so it’s best to go within a couple of weeks of opening day. This is usually in the end of May and early June.
Throughout the year we buy strawberries at the grocery store. But they aren’t quite as amazing as the fresh local strawberries we pick once a year. The strawberries at Larriland Farm are soft, juicy, and naturally sweet.
1. Make a Strawberry Shortcake
When we get home from picking we wash off a bunch to eat and do that for a couple of days. Our favorite thing to make with fresh strawberries is homemade strawberry shortcakes. I make homemade whipped cream to add on top of either homemade pound cake, or angel food cake. Both are delicious! Top that with fresh strawberries and you have a wonderful dessert.
2. Create Artwork with Strawberries as the Subject Matter
I love to photograph pretty things. And I also love to draw and paint from observation. I was excited to assemble my strawberry shortcake to photograph before I ate it. Well, it looked so good that evening, I couldn’t wait, and just ate it instead. I decided to construct my next one after I devoured the first and photographed that one. I figured I could save the photo as inspiration for a drawing, since I’ve been wanting to make a watercolor painting of a strawberry shortcake for awhile. Maybe we’ll draw or paint one in my upcoming art lessons this year.
If you love an art activity, set up a still life with your strawberries in a basket or make a strawberry shortcake and draw it with your kids. I recommend applying this to any fruit season. There’s plenty of resources on apple picking too. For families with little kids, a sensory bin is so much fun. I made one five years ago for my youngest child. We filled a clear bin with oatmeal and fake little apples. Not only was it fun to play with, I also made it educational by including some math objectives with the bin.
The sensory bin had a little foil pie tin and some tan cut strips of felt so my son could make a pretend apple pie too. So this idea could be applied to strawberries as well. You could use plastic strawberries from your child’s play kitchen or make your own out of felt.
3. Read books about Strawberry Picking in Maryland and Listen to Music
The teacher in me is always thinking about how to make fun activities even more enriching once we return home. The first idea that popped into my head during our car ride home this year was to listen to strawberry themed music. So I asked my 10 year old son to find some songs with the word strawberry, on Spotify, to play during the ride home.
You could also check out a library book on strawberry picking to read with your kids. Life experience is fun, and then reading about it either before or after the activity reinforces what they’ve learned. I really enjoy doing this in the fall season as well.
4. Freeze Fresh Strawberries for Smoothies Later
If you decide to pick more strawberries than your family can eat fresh within a few days, then it is good to have a plan on what you will do with the remainder.
After a few days, before the strawberries start to get mushy, I will hull the rest and rinse them off, and dry them gently with a paper towel. Then I place them in rows, spread apart just enough so they don’t touch, on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Then I add the cookie sheet to the freezer for a few hours. Once the strawberries are frozen, I put all of them into a gallon sized freezer bag, and store them in the freezer.
If you skip the step of freezing the separated strawberries on the parchment lined cookie sheet, and put them right into a bag to freeze, they will all stick together. So if you want to be able to take out individual strawberries from the bag later, freeze them on the tray first, as I mentioned. This process works for sliced peaches and other fruits as well.
We are still enjoying our frozen strawberries picked weeks ago, in smoothies that we make with our blender. Once those strawberries are gone, we will miss them, and look forward to picking more next year!
Other Fruits and Vegetables to Pick At the Farm
If you are looking for a great pick your own strawberry farm in Maryland, I highly recommend Larriland Farm. We also go other times of year for raspberries, blueberries, peaches, apples, and more. They have vegetables too. As a parent, this is such a great activity to do with your children. Not only do you get to take home some yummy food, it teaches kids where their food comes from. And I think most children really enjoy spying the ripe strawberries and adding them to the basket.
I am not affiliated with the farm; I just enjoy going there every year to pick fruit!
Rebecca Leigh Photography is a newborn, baby, and family photographer located in Ellicott City, Maryland.
