This is a cute craft that celebrates cauliflower! Cauliflower comes in a rainbow of colors including white, purple, and orange. You can create your own rainbow of cauliflower plants using simple craft supplies that you most likely have at home already: coffee filters, green construction paper, brads (or pipe cleaners), safety scissors, and washable markers. And best of all- no glue;)

MATERIALS

• 9 coffee filters
• Green construction paper
• 3 brads (or pipe cleaners cut in half)
• Safety scissors
• Purple washable marker
• Orange washable marker

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Use safety scissors to cut around the circumference of 3 of the coffee filters to create a medium circle and 3 of the coffee filters to create a small circle (now you have 3 sets of large, medium, and small circles).
   
2. Leave the first set white, color the second set purple, and color the third set orange.
   
3. Run the purple and orange coffee filters under water, squeeze them out, and lay flat to dry.
   
4. Cut out cauliflower leaves from the green construction paper (following the shape seen in our example photo) and snip a small hole in the middle of each leaf.
   
5. Once coffee filters are dry, stack them in 3 piles with the largest filter on the bottom and the smallest on top.
   
6. Poke the brad (or pipe cleaner) through the middle of each coffee filter stack and then poke through the hole created in the leaf. Secure brad (or twist pipe cleaner to secure).
   
7. Scrunch the coffee filters and you made colorful cauliflower plants!

Monica Irwin, the creator of Veggie Buds Club, recently Skyped with Twin Cities Live to discuss 4 simple snacktivities (1-2 ingredients!) that are guaranteed to keep your kids entertained and well-nourished. A snacktivity is simply a snack and activity combination, they are all guaranteed to make veggies fun for your kids!

We are excited to bring you a very special guest blogger this month! Melanie Potock is a speech pathologist who specializes in picky eating. The kids that work with Melanie call her “Coach Mel” because she’s their food coach! After helping thousands of kids learn to eat a variety of healthy foods, Coach Mel decided to write her fourth book on a problem facing so many parents today – How to help kids learn to LOVE veggies. Just like Veggie Buds Club, Melanie embraces her work knowing that all kids can learn to love vegetables! 
Her latest book, Adventures in Veggieland, is based on her professional 3-step plan that takes kids from FUN to YUM! It’s based on Coach Mel's philosophy of the Three E’s: Expose, Explore, Expand. This delightful cookbook walks parents and kids through twenty different vegetables, presented according to season. Each vegetable experience starts with food play – a fun craft or a game that focuses on a new vegetable, like the activity below for exposing kids to beets before exploring simple, tasty recipes that kids make with their parents. The family then expands to fancier recipes, including some veggie-desserts, like super-moist choco-beet cupcakes.  YUM!

These Beet Tattoos are featured in this month’s issue of Parents Magazine and when we asked Coach Mel if we could share them with you too, she said “Of course, and I’ll be sure to tell you the secret to removing them too! Just take a piece of raw potato under running water and it will magically erase the beet tattoos. That is, if your kid will let you remove them. Chances are, your kid will be too proud of how s/he licked and stamped their own temporary tat! 

Beets come in a variety of colors and, fortunately, can temporarily stain your skin yellow, red, pink, and purple. Yes, it's a good thing! Kids need to explore foods in a fun way before they consider tasting them. Temporary tattoos are sure to be a hit with kids of all ages.
What you'll need:

• Fresh beets
• Kid-safe knife
• Mini cookie cutters in simple shapes, like a heart or diamond (optional)

What to do:

1. KIDS: Wash any dirt from the beets under running water.
2. PARENTS: Boil about an inch (2.5 cm) of water in a shallow pan. Place the beets upright in the water with the greens sticking upward. Boil gently on medium-high for 4 to 6 minutes, until the bottoms are fork-tender. Remove from the water and wait until the beets are cool enough for kids to handle.
3. KIDS: Press a cookie cutter into one of the beet halves and then remove it, leaving an imprint of the shape.
4. PARENTS AND OLDER KIDS: Cut away the beet around the shape to leave a raised "stamp" for the tattoo. Or create your own shape by whittling away at the beet!
5. KIDS: Lick the stamp, press onto skim, and let dry. The pattern will be faint on the skin at first, but if you hold still and let it dry (it takes about a minute) you'll have a lovely light-pink tattoo!
6. PARENTS AND KIDS: Be creative! How about putting the stamp to use for a little face painting? It all comes off in the bathtub or with the secret vegetable that magically erases beet stains that "Coach Mel" mentioned above.

Simply dip broccoli florets in washable paint and use them as "paintbrushes" and/or slice broccoli florets in half to make "tree stamps". So simple and so fun!

Download this FREE letter "B" tracing sheet from Veggie Buds Club.

Download these FREE letter "B" coloring pages from Veggie Buds Club.

Materials Needed

• 1 small red beet
• Salt
• White vinegar
• Paper
• Paintbrush

Instructions

1. Peel beet and cut into cubes​
2. Place the cubed beet and 1 cup of water in a pot
3. Bring the pot of water to a boil on the stove top and boil until the beet cubes are soft and the water is a rich red color (approximately 15-20 minutes); remove beet cubes and set aside to eat at a later time
4. Mix a pinch of salt and splash of vinegar into the hot water (the salt will act as a preservative and the vinegar will brighten the color)
5. Pour the beet watercolor into a bowl and let cool
6. Now have fun painting pictures with your homemade beet watercolor!

Have fun with these Broccoli activity sheets! Create the letter "B" by using dot stickers or dot paint with Activity Sheet #1. Fill in the letter "B" with broccoli florets with Activity Sheet #2 (bonus if you have a laminator!).

Make a Tic Tac Toe board out of green beans and use two different types of dry beans as the X's and O's! You can also go a step further and create the letter "B" with dry beans and greens beans. Be sure to eat some green beans as a snack while you play!

We're having fun featuring a new letter each week in our house, and since this is Veggie Buds Club plenty of our activities feature healthy veggies and fruit! Below find 7 activities that teach your preschool-aged kids about the letter "A" (and that veggies and fruit are fun!).

Here are some of our recommended books featuring veggies & fruit and the letter "A":

• "Eating the Alphabet" by Lois Ehlert
• "The Apple Pie Tree" by Zoe Hall
• "Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship" by Edward Hemingway
• "Curious George: Apple Harvest" by H. A. Rey
• "Ten Apples on Top" by Dr. Seuss
• "Up, Up, Up! It's Apple Picking Time" by Jody Fickes Shapire

Both my 2 and 4 year old had fun with this craft! I cut out some apple seed shapes and drew the lower case letter "a" and apple stem on construction paper. My 4 year old was able to trace the word "Apple", cut out the "a" and stem and use a glue stick to put the picture together. I assisted my 2 year old through the whole craft, he particularly enjoyed using the glue stick!

Download this FREE Letter "A" Tracing Sheet below:

Enjoy this simple kid-friendly recipe for Applesauce (we added a carrot because this is Veggie Buds Club!). Your kids can help peel and chop the apples and carrot. Have them measure and add the apple juice and then observe the rest of the process.

Ingredients:

• 4 apples
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 cup apple juice

Instructions:

1. Peel and chop apples and carrot
2. Add apple juice, chopped apples, and chopped carrot to a large pot
3. Simmer for about 20 minutes over medium heat until the carrots are tender
4. Place softened apples and carrots into a food processor or blender and process/blend until smooth

Download these FREE Letter "A" Coloring Pages!

Here is a simple and fun "snacktivity" that is great for fine motor skills, problem solving, and encourages healthy eating. My 2 year old is not an apple fan (he's more of a berries and grapes guy) and he totally ate up these apple chunks on toothpicks!

This is a simple science experiment for young kids! Even if they're too young to process why oxidation happens, it is still great to expose them to the idea of a "science experiment" and "observation". Make sure they observe what the apple halves look like at the beginning of the experiment vs. the end!

Materials Needed:

• Apple 
• Lemon Wedge
• Knife

Instructions:

1. Cut the apple in half
2. Rub the lemon wedge on the cut side of one of the apple slices
3. Place both apple halves on a plate with the cut side exposed to air
4. Check on your apple halves in about 3 hours and observe the differences

The apple half that was not rubbed with lemon juice should have browned a bit and the apple half with lemon juice on it should still look fresh.
There are compounds in apples that turn brown when they are exposed to air which contain oxygen. This process is called oxidation. If you add an acid to the apple this prevents oxidation, and lemons are very acidic. 

We made this fun veggie-filled holiday card! We hope you enjoy this free printable and spread some veggie cheer!

Simply download the above PDF and print: to align properly print double-sided and "flip on long edge".

Back to school season is in full swing and here is a fun and simple way to decorate those boring ol' paper lunch bags! This is also a cute way to decorate goody bags for a fall-themed gathering or birthday party. 

This pea necklace activity is so simple yet so effective when it comes to getting your kids to eat veggies. We recommend using sugar snap peas as these tend to be a veggie that children are more likely to enjoy (they are super sweet and crunchy), another option are flat snow peas. 
This is a great activity to do during your child's morning or afternoon snack time, encourage them to eat peas while they string their pea necklace!