|
Want your child to eat more veggies? Veggie Buds Club has a solution! Our "Veggie Play" interactive placemats encourage your child to "play with veggies" which, research shows, will make them more likely to try them!
1 Comment
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!
"Learn to Love Veggies" Tip
Doing veggie crafts is a great way to "make veggies fun for kids" (our motto!). We recommend pairing this cauliflower craft with a cauliflower snack during or after the craft.
 Colorful Cauliflower PlantsIngredients
Craft Materials
Instructions
Step-by-Step Photos
Check out our shop for products that teach kids to learn to love veggies! This includes veggie activity boxes, kid-safe knives, interactive placemats, and more.
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! Carrot Tower: Slice 1-2 carrots into “coin” shapes. Place them on a plate with some of your child’s favorite dip (i.e. nut/seed butter, ranch, or hummus). Encourage your child to stack the carrot “coins” as high as they can to make a Carrot Tower while they snack on carrots and dip at the same time. They can also use the dip as “glue” to help hold the tower together! Bean Tic Tac Toe: Create a “Tic Tac Toe” board with 4 green beans. Use any type of veggie, snack food, or dry beans for the “X’s” and “O’s” and play Bean Tic Tac Toe with your child! Place some extra green beans on the side and encourage your child to snack on these while you play. Peas & Cheese Necklace: Twist 2 pipe cleaners together. Place a plate of sugar snap peas and cubed cheese in front of your child and have them poke them on the pipe cleaners to make a “Peas & Cheese Necklace”. Have fun with patterns and counting as you do this activity with your child. They can eat their necklace when complete! Popcorn Garland: Pop some popcorn, preferably unsalted and unbuttered. Prepare a needle and thread for your child (you know your child best, only have them do this activity if you’re comfortable letting them use a real needle!). Have them poke popcorn on the needle and create a garland while snacking on popcorn at the same time. Check out our shop for products that teach kids to learn to love veggies! This includes veggie activity boxes, kid-safe knives, interactive placemats, and more.  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!  Beet TattoosThese 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!"  Photo Credit Eric Harvey Brown What you'll need
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.  We hope your enjoy these 9 fun and interactive activities and recipes that teach your preschool-aged kids about the letter "B" (and that veggies are fun and tasty!).  1. Read Books!Enjoy our recommended "B" books featuring veggies and fruit (and honey!):
 2. Paint with BroccoliSimply 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!  3. Letter "B" TracingDownload this FREE letter "B" tracing sheet from Veggie Buds Club. 
 4. Bake Some Beet Brownies! 5. Letter "B" Coloring PagesDownload these FREE letter "B" coloring pages from Veggie Buds Club. 
   6. Bake Some Broccoli NuggetsEnjoy this delicious kid-approved recipe from Veggie Buds Club and Happy Kids Kitchen. You can find the recipe here!  7. Make Beet WatercolorMaterials Needed
 8. Broccoli Activity SheetsHave 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!). 
9. Play Bean Tic Tac ToeMake 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!  Want your kids to eat more veggies?We hope you enjoy these 7 activities that teach your preschool-aged kids about the letter "A" (and that veggies and fruit are fun!).  1. Read Books!Here are some of our recommended books featuring veggies & fruit and the letter "A":
 2. "A" is for Apple CraftBoth 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!    3. Letter "A" TracingDownload this FREE Letter "A" Tracing Sheet below: 
 4. Make Applesauce!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
5. Letter "A" Coloring PagesDownload these FREE Letter "A" Coloring Pages! 
   6. Apple-Toothpick BuildingHere 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! 7. Apple Oxidation Science ExperimentThis 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
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.  Want your kids to eat more veggies?
This craft is a great "snacktivity" (snack + activity) to do during your child's morning or afternoon snack! 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).
"Learn to Love Veggies" Tip
This pea necklace activity is so simple yet so effective when it comes to getting your kids to eat veggies! Encourage your child to snack on some peas while they make their necklace.
 Pea Necklace Craft
This craft is a great "snacktivity" (snack + activity) to do during your child's morning or afternoon snack! 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).
Ingredients
Instructions
Check out our shop for products that teach kids to learn to love veggies! This includes veggie activity boxes, kid-safe knives, interactive placemats, and more.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
