food activities

Zucca, Zucchini, Veggie Bambini!

10 FUN FACTS ABOUT ZUCCHINI

The title of this post is a bit of a misnomer. (See #10 below.) Your kids will enjoy learning these fun facts about zucchini and trying them out on their favorite grownup:

1. The world’s largest zucchini on record was 69-1/2 inches long and weighed 65 pounds! It probably didn’t taste that great–if anyone even tried to eat it–because…

2. When it comes to zucchinis, biggest is not best. The most flavorful zucchinis are small- to medium-sized.

USING A BELOVED BOOK TO ENCOURAGE HEALTHY EATING

It’s hard to find a kid, a mom and dad or even a grandma and grandpa who don’t know Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

In fact, 2019 will mark the 50^th anniversary of the publication of this beloved picture book, in which a little egg hatches into a tiny (and very hungry!) caterpillar.

After eating his way through five days of delicious fruits, our intrepid caterpillar eats so many things on the sixth day—most of them decidedly not healthy—that he develops a stomachache. He is no longer a little caterpillar, either. He is a big, fat caterpillar. And he won’t be that for long….

10 FUN FACTS ABOUT WATERMELON

What’s more refreshing on a hot summer day than a slice of juicy watermelon? Yum!

Here’s a list of fun facts about watermelon to share with your kids:

1. Watermelon is well named–it’s 92% water!

2. This watery fruit is thought to have originated in Africa’s Kalahari Desert. (The desert would be a good place to stumble across a watermelon, no?)

“FOOD COP”: A GAME TO MAKE HEALTHY EATING FUN FOR KIDS

Kids are like the rest of us: we all like to think we’re in charge. If not all the time, at least once in a while.

One day a week, have your kids take turns acting as “food cop” at the dinner table. Let the chosen one have fun with it. Find a cap with a badge at a costume shop and let him wear it at the table. Pin a star to her shirt. Give him a whistle. (Or not. Personally, I’d rather not have a whistle interrupt my dining experience!)

Remind your kids that good policemen are polite and respectful, that they are examples for the community, and that their job is to serve and protect.

FUN WITH VEGGIES: ART, BOOKS, ACTIVITIES, SONGS

Does your child turn up his nose at vegetables? Would she rather miss out on dessert than finish her greens?

Children often do not like trying new foods. Sometimes we have to talk them into taking just one bite of something new–and do it every day for a couple of weeks, months, maybe even longer–before they decide that maybe it isn’t so bad after all. And might actually be delicious! (It doesn’t hurt to dream….)