Rainbows for Lunch!
Hi Happy Pad Scrappers!
Polly Liana here, with a quick fun summer treat for kids (and fun adults like you!). Last week, when my daughters asked what we were having for lunch, I told them RAINBOWS! They got this funny look of disbelief mixed with joy–like when kids deal with Mary Poppins.
When we arrived home, I had prepared small bits of fruits, veggies and protein for them, along with wooden skewers. The six-year-old was eager to get started because she knew the order of rainbow colors but the three-year-old needed some reminders about the names for the colors of each item. After we went over all the different colors of the foods, we sorted them by color. Then, starting with the purple grape, we carefully slid each food on to the skewer.
It was fun to watch them create a reverse rainbow (for it to be red on the top, things need to be skewered in reverse order). It was also a terrific fine motor exercise for my three-year-old. In the end, they had great “rainbows” and enjoyed devouring them for lunch!
Here are some ideas of what you could use for your own rainbow:
red: strawberries, cherries, raspberries, red pepper, watermelon
orange: cantaloupe, orange/clementine/tangerine, peach
yellow: mango, banana slice with skin, cheddar cheese, pineapple
green: honeydew, kiwi
dark green- cucumber, green pepper
blue: blueberries!
purple: grape
We were in such a creative frenzy, that my daughter wanted to add turkey clouds (you can use yogurt, too) and sunflower seed raindrops!
It’s an easy way to get your kids to eat foods they might sometimes shy away from. Also, if you use little fresh fruit cups from the market, you can save money and time because you don’t have to buy & cut up the whole fruit.
Have a great week, everyone! Please hop on over to our Pad forums, where Summer School week 3 is in session. I hear they have a pretty awesome challenge there this week (wink, wink) as well as some great tutorials. 😉
