Springtime means fresh vegetables. Vegetables are a tough sell. No matter how we try, it is hard to interest grandchildren in vegetables. Unless we play with the vegetables! Who, but grandma, would say it is okay to play with food! Not only that, we can teach our grandchildren that some vegetables come in many colors.
Carrots. Carrots are actually a relative of parsley and come in orange, white, and reddish purple.
Peppers. Peppers come in green, red, purple and yellow.
Cabbage. Cabbage comes in green, white, and purple.
Potatoes. Potatoes come in brown, purple, red, and orange and are white inside.
Onions. Onions come in purple, white and yellow.
This Grandma loves to do a targeted supermarket or farmers’ market hunt and we can do a hunt for vegetables that come in different colors. This not only a learning experience. We can collect enough of each vegetable to make vegetable soup and for the art projects below:
And, of course, when we get home, we first cover the kitchen with old towels for easy cleanup. Then, we clean and peel and chop and dice and set aside a portion of each type of vegetable. Now we have a measuring experience:
1 medium onion, diced
½ cup mixed colored carrots, peeled and chopped
½ cup mixed colored peppers, diced
½ cup mixed colored cabbage, chopped
2 cups mixed colored potatoes, scrubbed and diced
½ cup of any other vegetables that the children find in different colors, diced or chopped
Why? For vegetable soup of course:
Remainder of Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes (if you have your own canned tomatoes, GREAT!)
3 cups prepared stock (vegetable, chicken, or beef)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Grandma boils the potatoes. Then Grandma heats the oil in a large saucepan. Tasks can be divided up among the grandchildren: add the onions and cook for about 2 minutes, until translucent. Then add the carrots, peppers and cabbage. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes. Pour in the canned tomatoes and add the potatoes. Bring the liquid to a simmer. Pour in the stock. Bring it to a simmer. Add the salt and pepper and continue cooking for about 30 minutes. Continue cooking until all the vegetables are tender (check the potatoes).
While we are waiting for the soup to cook, we play with the rest of the vegetables.
We can take cut up vegetables and make a vegetable collage! Cut up the vegetables and glue onto paper.
We can cut up vegetables and do ink designs with some thick washable paint on paper. Cut some in half, like the onion and see the designs you get. For potatoes and cabbage, use a coring device and dig out some patterns. Apply or dip into paint and press onto paper.
Now, that we must try to get our grandchildren try the vegetable soup they made!
Joy,
Mema
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