LOL!!! Relax, the only mushrooms I eat come neatly packaged in the produce aisle of my supermarket. Good answer, though.

I'm not interested in eating them. I'm asking because they're huge, interesting looking, and on school grounds ... an elementary school at that! You never know what a 5 or 6 year old can get into while mommy's chatting with the neighbor. I'll let the headmistress know on Monday. I'll suggest they're potentially a health risk. Thanks for the suggestion.

Good point. Rip 'em out!

We occasionally get people here who are interested in eating exotic mushrooms, post a picture or two, and ask about edibility. I mean, hey, a garden forum. They oughta know, right? When you keel over and die, your family won't have anyone to blame, and the person who gave that bad advice probably has no clue. A real mushroom authority has to take responsibility for their advice.

There are some extremely toxic white parasol mushrooms, just saying.

OK, I decided to just go over there and knock them over myself with my shoe. I crushed them. and left them to dry out in the sun. Issue resolved.

Now you just have to keep the kids from chewing on your shoe. But that ought to be easier.

Gosh... now I'm gonna sound like the antagonist here lol... the mean guy who doesn't care about the kiddies...

Listen, I know people want to be cautious, and they should... However...

Knocking over those mushrooms might seem like the issue is resolved, but there's a reason those mushrooms grow there, and it's because the conditions are right for that species. Mushroom spores are everywhere. As soon as there's another rain, and the temperature is just right, they're gonna pop right back up. What you see on the surface is just the fruiting body of a large network of fungal activity.

There are an incredible number of mushroom types. You just cannot kill them all. Fortunately, the vast majority of children are somewhat 'grossed out' by mushrooms. Perhaps it's a 'hardwired' issue... I don't know. In any case, whether it be mushrooms, wild plants, wild fruits, etc... children need to be taught to be extremely cautious about eating from the wild. Generations got by with telling their children 'it's dirty, don't eat it.'

In these last few generations of humans which are so far removed from nature, it's even more important to teach children about the world around them. There's no way every toxic mushroom in existence can be kicked over and smooshed... and there's no reason they should be... but every child should be taught to be careful.

Yes, but kids don't pick and eat mushroom spores and fungal strands. This isn't about killing fungi. It's about disposing of their attractive fruit. But that's a good point that kids should be taught not to stuff anything in their mouth. Generations got by with telling their children 'it's dirty, don't eat it' and, to some extent, natural selection reinforces obedience.

Oh yes, the corollary of all this is to teach kids not to stuff their mouths full of soil.