Eat a Rainbow: Virtual Book Club for Kids featuring Denise Fleming

This month the Virtual Book Club for Kids is featuring author/illustrator, Denise Fleming. Her books were new to the kids and I … and we had a ton of fun exploring them.

One book, however, really fit into another activity we were doing this month. As part of teaching kids about healthy eating, my son’s school has a one week event that challenges the kids to “eat a rainbow” everyday. (And, we’re not talking Skittles!) The kids are encouraged to eat a fruit or vegetable from each color category each day for a full week. Color categories included Red, Yellow & Orange, White & Brown, Green, and Blue & Purple. Students that accomplish this goal receive a small reward.

So, Denise Fleming’s book, “Lunch” where a cute little mouse eats his way through a bunch of COLORFUL fruits and vegetables was PERFECT to accompany our challenge! Our family has found this to be a great way to talk about healthy eating, trying new foods, and paying greater attention to what we are eating. I’ve noticed that when we are focused on “eating a rainbow” we get filled up on healthier food … rather than gravitating toward less healthy options.

The school uses this WONDERFUL chart and info page to keep track of what colors the kids eat. And here is an image that shows why it’s important to eat a rainbow of veggies …

Here are some fun ways we came up with to eat a rainbow …

A Fruit Rainbow with Cool Whip Clouds … strawberries/rasberries, cantaloupe/oranges, pineapple/banana, kiwi/green grapes, blueberries, & purple grapes
A Veggie Rainbow with Ranch Dressing Clouds … red peppers/tomatoes (although, I know it’s technically a fruit), carrots, yellow peppers, & green peppers/green beans/snap peas/broccoli
Pepper Rainbow in Guacamole Dip … fun idea from JDaniel4’s Mom on Kids Activity Blog
Make your own pizza … see how many different colored veggies you can add to your own pizza. We found that red, yellow, & green peppers … plus some onion tasted GREAT!.
Use fruits as toppings … on cereal, yogurt, ice cream, or sponge cake
Grab & Go … have fruits and veggies washed and ready to go in a bowl or a special place in the fridge for a quick snack. Apples, bananas, grapes, oranges, pears, carrots, snap peas, celery are perfect options.
Ants on a Log … a classic favorite that includes both green (celery) and brown (raisin)!
Prep some Snack Mix … My kids love cheerios, raisins, dried cranberries or cherries, mini marshmallows, & chocolate chips
Sip on some soup … many soups are veggie-packed and a excellent way to get all the colors in one bite! Vegetable, Bean, and Minestrone are great choices.
Make a Salad … pretty obvious way to eat veggies … and remember fruit salads are great too!
Stack ’em up … on sandwiches and burgers.
Super Smoothies … making a fruit &/or veggie smoothie can be another yummy way to cover the colors of the rainbow!
Kabob it! … There’s something about putting food on a stick that makes it more fun! It’s another fun way to make the food in rainbow order too!

So .. grab a rainbow snack and check out these other terrific ideas to go along with books by Denise Fleming!

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Laura Hutchison

Laura Hutchison (aka PlayDrMom) is a chubby kid turned competitive figure skater tween turned high school pom pon girl turned MSU Spartan turned grad student turned Mrs. HutcH turned Dr. turned Mom. She adores living in the Mitten, is addicted to Diet Coke, and firmly believes that ice cream is a main food group.