Fun With Food!

When a child plays with food or helps with dinner, it is more likely that they will eat it. If you have a picky eater on you hands which most of use do. It's always great when you can find a way to get your child to eat veggies.

You can learn lots of things with food.

Learning colors with food: What color is the strawberry? What color is the bananas? What color is the Apple??

Learning shapes with food: What shape is the blueberry? What shape is the box of noodles? What shape is the watermelon when you cute it like this?

Learning senses with food: What does it smell like? What does it look like? What does it feel like? What does it taste like? What does it sound like? (if there is a sound)

Books and food.
Here's a list of great food books and activities you can do with preschoolers!

-Blueberries for sal by Robert McCloskey Activities: Discuss blueberries (color, shape, senses) and eat them for a snack. Have your child help you make blueberry pie.

-Bananas by Jacqueline Farmer Activities: Discuss Bananas. Make bananas splits, or bananas bread. Cut bananas into circles and count the circles.

-How do apples grow by Betsy Maestro Activities: Discuss apples. Go to an apple orchard, Make apple juice or cedar, bob for apples, Cut up apples and have them as a snack, Make apple pie, apple crisp, Apple strudel, plant an apple tree. Cut the apples in half and play with paint and stamp the apples onto paper.

-The little mouse, the red ripe strawberry, and the Big hungry bear by Don wood. Activities: Discuss strawberries, Make strawberry pie, strawberry jello, Strawberry pancakes, Strawberry Jam, Strawberry short cakes, Plant strawberries or go strawberry picking. Talk about how unique it is that the seeds are so small and on the outside of the strawberry

-The Giant Carrot by Jane Peck Activities: Discuss carrots. Make carrot cake. Feed rabbits with carrots. Cut carrots into circles and count them. Add carrots to soup or hot dishes.

-Green as a bean by Karla Kuskin Activities: Discuss green beans. Make green beans for dinner, let them help you mix up green bean casserole. Go green bean picking or buy them at a farmers market fresh so they can see the difference.

-The Enormous Potato by Aubrey Davis. Activities: Discuss Potato, and the skin. Make mash potatoes, potato chips, fries, baked potatoes! Discuss the difference between a regular potato and a sweet potato. Cut a potato in half and show them that the inside is white while the out side is brown. Cut the potatoes into little squares and thread them onto string necklaces. And let dry. After a few days the potatoes harden and shrink. And turn into beads.

-Pete's a pizza by william steig Activities: Make a pizza together by hand. Discuss all the ingredients. Count the ingredients as you place them on the pizza!

After a while it easy to come up with different activities to do with food while learning at the same time. And preschoolers love to help out and experiment with new things.


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