Materials
Small paper plates, one per child
Yellow and black paint
Paintbrushes
Black and orange paper
Glue
Instructions
1. Read Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert. Talk about the different
ingredients that go into vegetable soup.
2. Explain to the children that everybody will bring in a different vegetable and
they will make vegetable soup together.
3. Assign a soup ingredient to each child in the class. Send a note home to
parents asking them to send in the ingredient with the child on a designated
day.
4. On the day of the activity, help each child rinse the vegetable he brought in.
5. Help the children cut up the various vegetables. The children should be able
to cut most of the vegetables with a small plastic serrated knife. Closely
supervise the children during this stage of the activity. (Make sure you observe
health rules by having everyone wash their hands thoroughly).
6. When all of the ingredients have been cut, begin to put the soup together in
the crock-pot. You can follow the recipe provided in the book or use one of
your own. Ask each child to add his ingredient.
7. Add the remaining ingredients according to your recipe.
8. Let the children take turns stirring the soup. At this point the soup is not hot,
so it is safe for them to stir.
9. Put the crock-pot in a safe area and turn it on high. Let the children know
that it will take several hours for the soup to cook. Do not leave the crock-pot
unattended and remember to stir it occasionally throughout the day.
10. Several times during the day, ask the children to sniff the air and see if they
can smell the soup.
11. After the soup is done, sit down and enjoy it together.
12. As you are eating, make sure you talk about how everyone contributed
something to make the soup. Mention the children by name and let them tell
what they brought in.
More to do
Invite parents in for a Friendship Soup Lunch or Snack. This is a good way for
them to get to know each other.
Share the soup with another class in your school. Deliver the soup to them or
invite them to your room for snack.
More Books: Take lots of photos as the children work together to make soup.
Use the photos to make a book entitled "How to Make Friendship Soup". Let the
children take turns taking the book home to share with their parents.
Social Development: A few days before this activity, take photos of the children
in small groups of two or three friends. Try to catch them as they are working or
playing cooperatively together. Hang these photos on the wall underneath the
heading "Good Friends Work Together."
