Fungi and Kids

What is a good way to introduce kids to the wonderful world of fungi?

There is so much potential for broadening of our knowledge of these organisms. As a father of homeschoolers, I'd love to get my kids interested early and I think it would be really neat to have ways to incorporate experiments/learning/eating of various forms of fungi into our education. Learning about fungi identification, strengths, uses, and how different species grow in different conditions seems like it could be really valuable. Even learning how kids can apply their knowledge at a microlevel in our home seems fun and do-able.

Are there good resources, both literature and physical (like spores or inoculated substrate) that a family could use to learn together? Are there any ideas on experiments or other practical applications of knowledge of fungi?

Hi Byran
Here are some good links:
http://www.namyco.org/basic_lesson.php
http://www.fungi4schools.org/

There are also proposed activities for teaching fungi to kids in my book, Radical Mycology.

Cheers
Peter

Thanks Peter, I will take a look!

Thank you for sharing your expertise!