Build a Rainbow

Objective:

Children discover a "rainbow" of fruits and vegetables to eat.

Construction paper (optional)
Magazines and grocery circulars from a variety of types of stores
Paint, crayons and/or markers
Mural paper (butcher roll or poster board paper)
Scissors and paste or glue sticks
- Draw an outline of a rainbow on the mural paper (include red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
- Note: This activity can be used with all ages, and children may work on the mural over several days

Tell the children that they will build a rainbow with fruits and vegetables.
Invite children to look through magazines and grocery circulars for pictures of fruits and vegetables - encourage them to look for foods of different colors.
Allow the children to color or paint the rainbow background before pasting or drawing pictures on the rainbow.
Options for adding fruit and vegetable colors: Children may use the cut-out pictures to paste on the rainbow, or they may use crayons or markers to draw the pictures. They may also trace/draw foods on the construction paper to cut out.

Use the rainbow to start a discussion. Ask children if they had any fruit or vegetables today-what did they have? What colors did they eat? How can they add more color today?
Make a "seasonal" mural by making a fruit/veggie rainbow with fruits/veggies that are available locally in winter, spring, summer and fall.
Use the discussion as a "language lesson"-name pictures in languages the children in your program speak at home; discuss what foods the pictures are found in/contain; share stories/family traditions about foods.
Create a rainbow to show the diversity of your program that includes pictures of different cultures and flags along with food.

Note: You may want to select the snacks with common or user-friendly ingredients!