Gamification connects education and agriculture
National Networks collaborate with schools and educational institutions to create playful experiences and board games that grow students’ understanding of agriculture, food and the role of the CAP.
As any smartphone user knows, gamification – the use of game design elements in non-gaming contexts – can boost learning and understanding, making it fun(ner) and more natural. Some National Networks (NNs) are using this approach to help schools and educational institutions develop more informed citizens and consumers and better prepare future farmers.
From hands-on activities for school children to ‘serious games’ for agricultural students, we explore three gamification experiences by NNs in Lithuania, Portugal and Italy that are cultivating the connection between education and agriculture.
Lithuania: encouraging ‘Little farmers’
‘Little farmers’ is an educational project initiated by the Lithuanian National Network and targeting primary school pupils in rural areas. The project introduces children to the world of modern, innovative and sustainable agriculture through activities both in the schoolroom and on farms.
Based on the principle that direct experience makes for better understanding, ‘Little farmers’ has a strong hands-on approach: children sow seeds, observe and explore nature, and engage in creative activities, getting acquainted with modern agriculture, its value and its technological progress.
The project creates a positive emotional connection that makes the kids more aware of where their food comes from – and may even foster their future engagement in the agricultural sector.
“When we started organising the ‘Little Farmers’ project, we hoped to show children a real, lively and modern Lithuanian countryside”, says Jurgita Pugačiauskaitė-Butrimienė, Team Leader of the Lithuanian NN. “We wanted pupils to experience and understand where food comes from and how much love, care and effort are needed for it to reach our table.”
‘Little Farmers’ raised the interest of 40 school classes across the country. Eventually, 11 classes were selected to participate – including one class of pupils with special educational needs – engaging a total of 205 children.
The project achieved more than expected: visits and educational activities proved to be “a true marathon of discoveries, filled with the purest emotions” (as visible in the pictures on the NN’s Facebook page) and changed children’s attitude towards food, while also equipping them with important soft skills and boosting teachers’ motivation to adopt more engaging, experiential learning methods.
During the project, the pupils not only gained knowledge about farming, nature, and the journey of food from farm to table, but also learned how to cooperate, work as a team and carry out tasks responsibly. As a teacher, the ‘Little Farmers’ project gave me an opportunity to organise the educational process creatively and to connect learning with real life.
Portugal: from the field to the classroom
Eating seasonally is one of the pillars of the Mediterranean diet. It goes hand in hand with the understanding of food seasonality and the importance of farming, agriculture and local producers, as well as considerations on the food’s origin and carbon footprint. Understanding these relationships can help consumers make responsible food choices.
To build this awareness among younger audiences, in spring 2026 the Portuguese National CAP Network organised a special awareness-raising event for primary school pupils (aged 11-12) at the Dr Ruy D’Andrade Primary and Secondary School in Entrocamento, Portugal.
The event began with interactive presentations and discussions that reinforced children's understanding of the links among food production, the environment and the adoption of more sustainable consumption habits.
Kids then played an educational game in which they matched fruits and vegetables to their respective seasons. The game, conceived, designed and printed by the NN’s team for a relatively low budget (€760), proved to be an effective, practical and enjoyable way to consolidate the students’ knowledge, as well as to promote teamwork and critical thinking.
The pupils’ interest and enthusiasm throughout the session boosted the NN's motivation to organise more activities targeting young people to educate (young) citizens to adopt healthy and sustainable eating habits and raise their awareness of the importance and responsibility of food choices.
Italy: regenerating agricultural education through a board game
Forget Monopoly: the board game of the future is about running a farm, sustainably and successfully. Welcome to PAC_GAME, the board game by the Italian NN that helps students in the last year of vocational training in agriculture to learn about the support of the CAP (PAC is the Italian acronym) to start, consolidate and transform an agricultural holding, while sitting at their school desks.
The PAC-GAME was designed by CREA's Research Centre in Policy and the Bioeconomy, one of the governing bodies of the Italian NN, and forms part of its contribution to the ‘ReGeneration School Plan’ of the Italian Ministry for Education, which supports schools towards an ecological and cultural transition in line with the UN’s 2030 Agenda.
The idea of a gamified approach came from previous discussions between CREA’s researchers and representatives of an agricultural school, Istituto Agrario e Professionale Dalmasso in Pianezza (Piedmont). Teachers were looking for a way to explain the CAP to students in a practical, straightforward, yet comprehensive way, while overcoming obstacles such as a lack of specific resources and time, the complexity of the topic, and students’ perception of the policy as highly abstract.
Aware of these challenges, CREA’s team came up with the idea of an educational activity dedicated to students in the final year of vocational training in agriculture. The educational activity starts with a teamwork session where students are asked to brainstorm on three keywords related to the CAP: sustainability, multifunctionality, and networking. Then, the board game PAC_GAME makes those conversations more concrete, showing how the CAP can transform those keywords into a practical reality ‘in the field’.
The game requires students to manage an agricultural holding sustainably, using various CAP interventions to carry out their daily activities and to address market and environmental challenges.
Through this gamified approach, students take an active role in the learning process and enjoy smoother exchanges and knowledge transfer with the facilitators. The game generates active discussions which often continue well beyond the end of the formal session.
The CREA team has recently released a simplified version of the game called ‘PAC GAME easy’.
The board game and instructions are available for free download and printing, and some of the elements (including the challenges and the CAP interventions) can be customised to fit local and regional realities, in Italy and – why not? - elsewhere.
Learn more about the work of the National Networks on the dedicated webpage and subscribe to our monthly newsletter for regular updates.
