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Tag Archives: fruits and veggies

Fruit & Veggie Sorting {Using Flyer Clippings}

4 / 18 / 134 / 20 / 13

Fruit  Veggie Sorting Using Flyer Clippings | Mama Papa BubbaEvery few days, a newspaper bound in a long rubber band makes its way onto our porch.  If it’s not already soaked through with early morning rain, I half-heartedly flip through the stories and flyers {that make up the majority of the paper} so I feel a tiny bit less guilty about recycling it almost immediately.  This morning, however, when we found a bone dry paper on our porch, we decided to put it to use.

Fruit and Vegetable Sorting | Mama Papa BubbaGracen’s been helping me wash our produce and sort it into the different refrigerator sections for a long while now and often asks if things are fruits or vegetables, so I decided we’d use our grocery store flyers to play a little fruit and veggie sorting game.  

We gathered up a small piece of poster board, a ruler, some glue, and some scissors to start.  I drew a quick T chart while explaining that one ‘box’ would be for all the fruit pictures we found and the other would be for the veggies.  Grae shared with me one thing that she was certain was a fruit (an apple) and one thing she was certain was a vegetable (a potato) and we added little picture clues at the top next to the column headings.

IMG 8190Next we had a little chat about how we know if something is a fruit or vegetable…  While it’s kind of a complex subject filled with talk of flowers, ovaries, and plant accessory parts, I subscribe to the fruits have seeds theory when teaching kids (true story – avocados, peppers, and cucumbers are all fruits!)  It’s not a perfect rule because wee ones often don’t realize that things like bananas and blueberries have seeds, but it works for most things.

IMG 8196After adding a few little seeds next to our fruit heading, I began cutting pictures out of the flyers.  I’d pass one to Grae, ask her what it was, whether or not it had seeds, and if she thought it was a fruit or veggie, and she’d paste it in the correct box.

IMG 8197After a couple of times, she took things into her own hands… I’d pass her a picture and she’d say, “Dis is lettuce.  It no have seeds, so it’s a vegetable!”

IMG 8201When we’d used up all of the flyer photos, she took a minute to admire her project.  She was a very proud girl and immediately went to hang her poster on the fridge.

IMG 8213Later on in the day, after a big produce shop, Grae was helping me lay all of the freshly washed produce on the butcher block to dry.  Right away, I could see that she was putting all of the fruits on one side and the veggies on the other, so I grabbed a wooden spoon to act as a divider {and she grabbed her poster to add to the display}.  Instantly we had a real life sorting game.

Fruits vs Veggies | Mama Papa BubbaThese are her piles when she decided she was done playing.  The Chinese eggplant on the right is what she chose this time for our weekly fruit/veggie investigation, and though she’s not sure, her prediction is that it is a vegetable.  We’ll have to see when we open it up!  ☺

♥ 

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Weekly Fruit/Veggie Investigation: Dragon Fruit

4 / 10 / 134 / 18 / 13

Weekly Fruit Investigation | Mama Papa BubbaAfter our last fruit investigation, it was amazing to see what Gracen came up with all on her own this week.  She’d picked a dragon fruit (one of my personal favourites) from the store a couple of days back and when she sat down with it today, I simply asked, “What can you tell me about this dragon fruit?”  Her observations about the outside of the fruit included that it was cold, pink and green, both smooth and prickly, and squishy when poked.  She also told me that it smelled like strawberries (hah!)

IMG 7838Once we cut it in half, she told me that it was ‘veeeeeeery’ seedy, that the seeds could be eaten just like those of the kiwi, and that it felt wet.  

IMG 7841We peeled the skin off and Miss G got straight to the taste test portion of her investigation.  The conclusion?  It tasted like strawberries (though I think she often uses “strawberries” because she associates them with tasting and smelling good…she also tells me that her toes smell like strawberries!)

IMG 7842It’s amazing how quickly kids pick things up, isn’t it?  We’ve only done this once before and she is already using her sense of sight, smell, taste, and touch to make conclusions about a new fruit.  I love this little weekly tradition we have going on and I’m excited to see what she chooses next week.

♥

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iPhoneography // But Not a DRAGON!!

4 / 5 / 134 / 10 / 13

PhotoOne of the fun little things I’ve tried to keep up is having Gracen pick a new fruit or vegetable to take home and investigate during our weekly shopping trips.  Though she seriously contemplated a papaya, she ended up selecting this particular dragon fruit today.  This is the conversation that ensued while browsing the other aisles…

Gracen:  What’s dis one called again, Mama?

Mama:  It’s a dragon fuit.  We’ll cut it open when we get home and see what’s inside.

Gracen: NOT a DRAGON though, right Mama?!

Hah!  Silly little goose.

♥ 

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Weekly Fruit Investigation

3 / 7 / 133 / 9 / 13

Weekly Fruit InvestigationYesterday, while shopping for fresh produce, Miss G asked if we could take home a starfruit. It got me thinking.  I didn’t know if Grae had ever even seen a starfruit, let alone tasted one.  I said sure, let her select the one she wanted, and carry it throughout the store for the remainder of our trip.

IMG 6351Today, after nap time, we pulled it out to investigate.  We started by smelling it…

IMG 6355Then moved on to running our fingers over it to feel its texture…

IMG 6356And then to gently pinching it to see how soft or hard it was.

IMG 6357When we were done investigating the outside of the fruit, we decided to cut it open.

IMG 6365Of course the first thing Miss G wanted to do was taste it.  This particular starfruit was still a little too green, but you can’t investigate a fun new fruit without tasting it!

IMG 6370Starfruit got her seal of approval, and while munching away, Grae was pleased to discover seeds inside the fruit.

IMG 6369This was such a fun and easy little activity that I think I’m going to let Grae choose one new item during our produce shopping trip each week.  While we eat a TON of produce, there are still many fruits and veggies we haven’t tried (especially in our local market’s extensive Asian section).  It’ll be fun to branch out a little bit and try new things, and I truly believe that when kids are involved in the shopping and cooking aspects of food, they’re much more open-minded about tasting their selections and creations.

Yay!  A new shopping tradition for us.

♥

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