Materials
- Variety of different-colored foods and drinks (see below)
What to do
1. In conjunction with a unit on colors, ask the children to help prepare and cook foods to go with the corresponding color of the day or week.
2. Some examples include:
- RED to fruit punch, strawberry smoothies (strawberries, milk, vanilla ice cream)
- ORANGE to fresh-squeezed orange juice, carrot slices, orange sherbet
- YELLOW to banana milk shakes (bananas, milk, vanilla ice cream), lemonade
- GREEN to lime Jell-O, pistachio pudding (from a mix), green eggs (mix green food coloring into a bit of milk and use it to scramble the eggs)
- BLUE to blueberry muffins (from a mix), sugar cookies with blue icing (white icing and food coloring)
- PURPLE to toast with grape jelly, grape Popsicles
More to do
Serve the Rainbow of Foods for snack or have a Rainbow Picnic on a special day. To involve families, send a note home suggesting that parents and children brainstorm color food ideas to bring in and share with the class.
- Art: Make playdough to go along with the corresponding color of the day or week. A simple recipe is: 1 cup (125 g) white flour, 1/2 cup (125 g) salt, 1 cup (240 ml) water, 1 tablespoon (15 g) cream of tartar, 2 tablespoons (30 ml) oil, and food coloring. Mix together all the ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it forms a ball. Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool.
-Suzanne Pearson, Winchester, VA
