Whether you want to educate your elementary-school-age students about the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables or simply use the foods in creative craft projects, develop an assortment of activities featuring the versatile items. Turn produce into ingredients for simple classroom recipes, unusual painting supplies or objects to teach educational concepts. The activities can have the added bonus of turning picky eaters into fruit and vegetable lovers.
Consider the Age Group
Use the kids' grade level to organize fruit and vegetable classroom activities to keep them informed and entertained. Preschool and kindergarten students can complete coloring pages featuring different types of produce or use halves of potatoes, cucumbers or lemons to make stamp art with washable paints. First-, second- and third-graders can learn about nutrition by sampling different fruits and vegetables and researching topics such as, "What's the difference between a fruit and a vegetable?" and "Is a tomato a fruit for a vegetable?" Keep fourth- through sixth-grade kids engaged with agricultural activities like planting seeds or seedlings to grow different types of produce.
Gather Materials
Save money when organizing fruit and vegetable projects by purchasing fresh produce when it's on sale at the grocery store or by asking parents to donate items for their children to use. If you've got a local farm or produce market near the school, consider arranging a field trip that will not only allow the students to learn more about growing, harvesting and preparing fruits and vegetables from farmers or produce managers, but also give you the opportunity to gather inexpensive produce for the classroom activities. Shop at a dollar store for seeds, plastic pots, soil, craft supplies or kitchen utensils needed to complete easy recipes.
Organize Activities
Help the students become familiar with the tastes and nutritional value of different fruits and vegetables with easy cooking activities. Ask the students to bring in two fruits or vegetables to make salads to enjoy at lunch. Ensure a variety of items by assigning each student a letter of the alphabet that their fruit or vegetable must begin with or a specific fruit or vegetable color. Before eating the items, you can also hold classroom contests like fruit relays to see which student can peel an orange the fastest or be the first to remove the stems from 10 strawberries.
Use Produce for Additional Subjects
Let the kids practice other school subjects using fruits and vegetables as manipulatives or experiment subjects. Allow kindergarten students to practice counting or simple addition and subtraction with blueberries, while fourth-graders can learn fractions with orange or apple slices, for example. Organize a seasonal produce lesson like "pumpkin math" that teaches kids estimate the size and weight of the gourd or count and multiply the seeds.
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