This February is the time to "Celery-brate Celery!" here at Veggie Buds Club!  Our members have received many exclusive hands-on celery activities in the mail (learn more here), and we are excited to share some additional kid-friendly recipes and hands-on activities here on Veggie Buds Blog!

We're starting the new year off with a delicious and sometimes a little suspicious (to kiddos, that is!) veggie- BROCCOLI. Veggie Buds Club members have received many exclusive hands-on broccoli activities in the mail (learn more here), and we are excited to share some additional kid-friendly recipes and hands-on activities here on the blog!
First of all, we like to start the month out with a list of recommended children's books featuring the veggie of the month so we hope you enjoy these great books featuring BROCCOLI! Reading about veggies is a great way to make veggies approachable, fun, and exciting for kids.

Our Veggie Buds Super Club members received the book, "Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli" by Barbara Jean Hicks this month:
In this rollicking picture book, monsters insist they don't like broccoli. They'd rather snack on tractors or a rocket ship of two, or tender trailer tidbits, or a wheely, steely stew. But boy do those trees they're munching on look an awful lot like broccoli. Maybe vegetables aren't so bad after all!

"Benjamin Broccoli" by Sam Bourne
"Vegetables in Underwear" by Jared Chapman
"The Boy Who Loved Broccoli" by Sarah A. Creighton
"Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli" by Barbara Jean Hicks
"Where Does Broccoli Come From? A Book of Vegetables" by Arielle Dani Lebovitz
"There's Broccoli in My Ice Cream" by Emily MacKenzie

Each month, Ludavia Harvey, creator of The Preschool Workshop, develops a simple children's song for Veggie Buds Club that celebrates the veggie of the month. This is another way to make veggies fun for kids!

It's Tomato Month at Veggie Buds Club, and we look forward to sharing some of the fun content from this month's box plus extra recipes and activities from our amazing partners! If you're not a member yet and would like to follow along with our "Kids Love Tomatoes" box as the month progresses we have some additional stock in our shop! We promise your kids will love (or at least try!) tomatoes by the end of all of the fun crafts, games, growing projects, and more! Shop items are shipped next day.

First of all, enjoy a list of our recommended children's books featuring tomatoes! Reading about veggies is a great way to make veggies approachable, fun, and exciting for kids.

• "I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato" by Lauren Child (one of my 4 year old's FAVORITE veggie books of all time!)
  
• "Strega Nona and Her Tomatoes" by Tomie dePaola
  
• "Tomatoes Grow on a Vine" by Jennifer L. Marks
  
• "Life Cycle Tomatoes" by Robin Nelson
  
• "Runaway Tomato" by Kim Cooley Reeder
  
• "Big Red and the Terrible Tomato Hornworm" by Cynthia Wylie

Each month, Ashley Smith, a pediatric dietitian and founder of Veggies and Virtue, provides dietitian-approved tips to parents that encourage their kids to try our veggie of the month. You can find her "Tips to Help Kids Eat Tomatoes" over on her blog, here's a snippet:
There are many kids who are obsessed with ketchup and will use it as a dip for nearly everything. Majority of kids will also chow down on pizza or maybe even spaghetti without any wonder of what the red sauce is made of. Offering a fresh, raw tomato to a child rarely goes over as easily as the above options however.
That's why for this month's tip, I encourage you to expose your child to tomatoes in their many forms and see which ways they might be most interested in trying them. For each, consider talking through with them if they "love,"  "like," or are "still learning to like" each type of tomato product.
Read her full post for a list tomato products to try and her suggestions on how to make the "love it, like it, learning it" approach fun!