- About
- Environmental Standards
- Getting Other Staff on Board
- Articles, Emails, and Handouts
- Unit 1: Fruits and Vegetables
- Unit 2: Get Moving
- Unit 3: Be Sugar Smart
- Unit 4: Go for Good Fat
- Unit 5: Go for Whole Grains
- Unit 6: Super Snacks
- Unit 7: Fruits and Veggies Mix it Up
- Unit 8: Tune Out TV
- Unit 9: Play Hard
- Unit 10: Hydration
- Unit 11: Finale
- Recipe Packet
- Complete Curriculum
Build a Rainbow
Objective:
Children discover a "rainbow" of fruits and vegetables to eat.
Preparation and Materials:
- 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
Instructions:
- 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.
Extension Activities:
- 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!