“Fruit, Fruit What do You See?”

Yellow banana, yellow banana

What do you see?

I see a red cherry next to me.

Red cherry, red cherry

What do you see?

I see a purple plum next to me.

Purple plum, purple plum

What do you see?

I see a green avocado next to me.

Green avocado, green avocado

What do you see?

I see an orange peach next to me.

Orange peach, orange peach

What do you see?

I see a blue fig next to me.

Blue fig, blue fig

What do you see?

I see a red apple next to me.

Red apple, red apple

What do you see?

I see a yellow lemon next to me.

Yellow lemon, yellow lemon

What do you see?

I see a purple grape next to me.

Purple grape, purple grape,

What do you see?

I see an orange mango next to me.

Orange mango, orange mango,

What do you see?

I see a person going to eat me!

“The Lemon is Lost”

Hide the lemon behind a piece of fruit.   Ask for volunteers to look behind a piece of fruit until it is found.   The finder may re-hide the lemon.   Veggies can play, “The Radish is Hiding.”

======================================

A Visit to the Grocery Store

One day, I went to the grocery story.

I saw many fruits and vegetables.

The largest fruit I saw was ___________ .

The smallest fruit I saw was ____________ .

I saw a red ___________ , ___________ and ____________.

I saw a green ____________ .

I saw a purple ____________ ,   __________ and ___________.

I saw a yellow ______________ .

The funniest looking fruit I saw was a ______________ .

My favorite fruits are   ____________ and ___________ .

On the way home I ate some ________ and ________ and ______ .

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  Math Activities

Place 5-7 (3 or 4 for a 2 year old class) pieces of fruit or vegetables on the flannelboard.   Ask the children which is the largest.   As they come to a consensus, remove the largest fruit or veggie.   Then say, “Now...which one is the largest?”   Repeat until only one item remains.  

***********************

Grouping - Place all the vegetables and fruit on a flannelboard.   It will be crowded.   Ask them to find all the red items and make a pile on the floor or table   follow with the green items, orangish items, purple items, white items, brown items and yellow items.   

What am I?

by Robin Suitt

I am long and slender.

I have a peal.

I am yellow.

Monkey’s love to eat me.                    (banana)

**********

I am round.

I grow on a tree.

I am fun to peal.

I make good breakfast juice.                (orange)

**********

I am very big.

I am red only on the inside.

I am green on the outside.

I have black seeds.                               (watermelon)

**********

I am yellow.

I taste very sour.

I go well in ice tea.

I make lemonade.                   (lemon)

**********

I am red.

I am small.

I make good jam.

I can be found in a basket.                  (strawberry)

**********

I grow underground.

I am orange.

I am crunchy if eaten uncooked.

Rabbits love to eat me.                         (carrot)

**********

I am big and round.

I am orange.

I make good pie.

Sometimes I am a jack-o-lantern.        (pumpkin)

**********

I grow on a stalk.

I am yellow.

I can be eaten on a cob.

Some people even pop me!

Taste and Choose

by Robin Suitt

As always, when working with food and children make sure no children are allergic to the foods you will be tasting.

Introduce children to different foods, by allowing them to taste the fruit or vegetable.   Gather your tasting items together.   Place the coordination food felts on the flannelboard.   As the children taste the mystery food they must guess what food on the flannelboard they are eating.   Such as:

Banana = Banana Pudding

Pineapple = Canned Pineapple Chunks

Carrots = Baby carrot cake muffins

Pumpkin = Pie or cookies

Orange = OJ

Grapes = Grape Jelly on a cracker

Apple = Applesauce

Lemon = Lemonade

Beets = Canned shredded pickled beets

                (careful they can stain)

Potato = Potato chips,   mashed potatoes or French fries

======================================

Find the Food

by Robin Suitt

Ages 4-6

Find a vegetable or fruit that starts with the letter...“P”

                (pineapple, pumpkin, peas, pepper, plum,                                        potato, pear)

A = avocado, apricot, apple

B = beet, beans, bell pepper, banana

C = celery, corn, carrots, cherry

E = eggplant

F = fig

G = grapefruit, grapes,

L = lettuce, lemon

M = mushrooms, mango

N = nuts

O = orange, onion

R = radish

S = strawberry

T = tomato, turnip

W = watermelon

======================================

Juice it Up!

Bring in a juicer and make your own juices!   See how creative you can get!   Apple juice base works best.   Place items on the juicer on the flannelboard.   Enjoy!

Let’s Make a Salad!

Place either the fruit or the vegetables on the flannelboard and ask the children, “What would you add to our salad?”   The student may go to the board and pull off one ingredient and place it in the bowl, which you have provided at the base of the flannelboard.   Follow with making you own real salad to eat !  

======================================

Poem

What Color do I See?

See, see, see,

What color do I see?

Purple plums, red tomatoes,

Yellow corn, big brown potatoes,

Bright green lettuce!   Yum, yum, good!

I see colors in my food.

======================================

Out in the Garden

by Jean Warren

adapted by Robin Suitt

Sung to:   “Down by the Station”

Out in the garden early in the morning,

See the red tomatoes all in a row.

See the happy farmer coming out to pick them.

Pick, pick, pick, pick, off (he/she) goes.

Each verse the same except replace “red tomatoes”

...“little green peas”

...”orange carrots”

...”yellow corn cobs”

...”purple beets”

======================================

I’m a Big Red Tomato

Sung to:   “Little White Duck”

I’m a big red tomato

Growing on the vine’

A big red tomato

Looking oh, so fine.

Now you can make good things with me -

Soup, juice, pizza, to name just three.

I’m a big red tomato

Growing on the vine.

Grow, grow, grow.

I like to Eat Apples and Bananas!

by Raffi

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas,

                I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas,

I like to Ate, Ate, Ate Apples and banAnAs,

                I like to Ate, Ate, Ate Apples and banAnAs,

I like to Eat, Eat, Eat Epples and banEnEs,

                I like to Eat, Eat, Eat Epples and banEnEs,

I like to Ite, Ite, Ite Ipples and banInIs,

                I like to Ite, Ite, Ite Ipples and banInIs,

I like to Ote, Ote, Ote Opples and banOnOs,

                I like to Ote, Ote, Ote Opples and banOnOs,

I like to Ute, Ute, Ute Upples and banUnUs,

                I like to Ute, Ute, Ute Upples and banUnUs,

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas,

                I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas,

======================================

My Favorite Is...

Use this as a discussion starter.   Ask the children what is there favorite fruit or vegetable, hopefully it is one of your felts.   Place that item on the flannelboard and have ask the child to explain to the class why they like it so much.   What does it taste like?   What does it smell like?    How often do you eat it?   Where to you eat it most often?   Who do you eat it with?

================================= =

Additional Activities

Books:

                Stone Soup

                Eating the Alphabet

Art:

                Beet dying

                Corn cob painting

                Potato printing

Science:

                Celery stick in blue or red water

Cooking:

                Make peanut butter,   applesauce

                Apple corer-slicer if you can get one

Stories

The Watermelon Swimming Pool

                by Robin Suitt

The Ole Stubborn Turnip

                author unknown

======================================

Rhymes

by Robin Suitt

Bananas for monkeys

Bananas for me,

Bananas for everyone

Hee, hee, hee.

Cherries are sweet

Cherries are Yummy,

Cherries are good

Right in my tummy!

Apples, apples hanging in the tree

Apples, apples I’d like to eat.

Apples, apples way up high

Apples, apples... wish I could fly!

Squish, Squish oranges

What do you think?

Squish, Squish oranges

Drink, drink, drink!

Big red tomato hanging on the vine

Plum and juicy it’s almost time.

Mash you, stir you and put you in a can

Just in time for the pizza man.

I am celery big and tall

Grown for soup, but that’s not all

Cut me, clean me and then you’ll see

Ants on a log for you and me!

I love eating carrots

Crunching in my teeth

I love eating carrots

That rabbit’s looking at me!

Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground

Pumpkin, pumpkin orange and round

Pumpkin, pumpkin soon you’ll be

Pumpkin pie just for me!

Which Fruit is Missing

by Robin Suitt

Place felt pieces onto the flannelboard.   Try 3-4 pieces   for 2-3 year olds, and 5-6 items for 3-4 year olds.   Ask children to close their eyes.   Remove one item, and ask if they can guess which item if missing.   You can play this game with fruit, veggies, phonics items, farm pieces or counting set.   When finished with the activity, try leaving out the flannelboard for free play.   The children will enjoy playing the game their own way.  

======================================

How Many do You See?

by Robin Suitt

Red Apple, Red Apple

Growing in the tree,

How many red things