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By Kim Vij

Cooking Up Knowledge: The Vegetable Group for Kids

The Vegetable Group for Kids Lesson Plan for Kids

Teach kids about the vegetable group through fun cooking activities and children’s books! ‘Little Hands That Cook with Books’ makes learning about healthy eating hands-on and engaging.

The Vegetable Group for Kids Lesson Plan for Kids
Learning About the Vegetable Group
  • We Like Vegetables Song
  • Vegetable Activities for Kids
  • Vegetable Books for Kids
  • Vegetable Pizza Snack Recipe
  • Vegetable and Fruit Food Tracker for 5 a Day
  • Set up a Vegetable Stand for Playtime
  • What Does Five a Day Look Like?
  • Vegetable Servings Sizes for Kids

Let’s Eat the Vegetable Group

Discover a fun and educational way to teach kids about the vegetable food group through cooking and reading. Perfect for little hands eager to explore healthy eating!

We’re learning about Vegetables this week and how important they are for our bodies.  Did you know that you should fill half your plate with vegetables every time you eat?  What are your favorite vegetables?  Do you know how they grow.?  All questions you should be asking your children as they shop with you, cook with you and eat with you.

We Like Vegetables Song

(sing to the tune of “Are You Sleeping?”)

Do you like veggies? Do you like veggies?
Yes, we do ! Yes, we do !
Tomato and spinach
Potato and carrot.
Yum, yum, yum, yum
Yum, yum, yum, yum

After singing you can substitute different vegetables into the song ie. broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, cucumbers, radish, peas, corn, anything works.

Vegetable Activities for Kids

We started out our lesson asking these very same questions and by reading these books. Once we were done we made a list of all the vegetables we read about. We talked about our favorites and also new ones that we want to check out at the grocery store and farmer’s market. 

We took out a variety of real and plastic vegetables from our Play Kitchen and sorted them with the word cards too. I’m always trying to encourage literacy in everything we do. 

We even made a list of what we want to grow in our garden when it’s time to start planting. Here are our tips for the best vegetables to grow with kids.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Vegetable Books for Kids

  • Oliver’s Vegetables by Vivian French
  • From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
  • Up, Down, Around by Katherine Ayers
  • The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons
  • Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
  • Mrs. Peanuckle’s Vegetable Alphabet by Mrs. Peanuckle
  • The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin
  • The Curious Case of the Vanishing Veggies by Jack Gimm
  • Too Many Carrots by Katy Hudson

We had fun making our very own vegetable soup and posted about it.  Make sure to try it out with your children!  Here’s the link… Little  Hands that Cook: Alphabet Soup

We made  a modified  version of Veggie Pizza from Pillsbury for our Cooking Class Recipe

Vegetable Pizza Snack Recipe

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 – Pillsbury® Big & Buttery Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls 12 oz (8 ct)
  • 1 (8-ounce) package fat-free cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup fat-free sour cream
  • 1 package dry Ranch Dressing Mix
  • Finely chopped fresh vegetables of choice: zucchini, mushrooms, green peppers, green onions, tomato

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a lightly greased 9×13-inch pan or 13-inch round pizza stone, arrange the crescent roll dough in a single layer. Pinch together the edges of the dough.
  3. Bake for 12 minutes, or until it becomes a golden brown crust.
  4. Remove the crust from the oven and allow it to cool.
  5. In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sour cream and dressing mix.
  6. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture on the crust.
  7. Sprinkle veggies on top of the cream cheese spread.
  8. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the spread to thicken.
  9. Cut the chilled pizza into wedges or squares with a pizza cutter to serve.

Directions  for Kids

1. Spread the dough onto the greased pan (Let the grown-ups bake the crust)
2. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, and ranch dressing
3. Cut vegetables up using a butter knife (remember safety first)
4. Then spread the ranch mixture onto the cooked crust
5. Sprinkle on the vegetables

Do you eat 5 a Day?

Vegetable and Fruit Food Tracker for 5 a Day

We’ve been tracking our fruits and vegetables on our fridge this week. It’s really a challenge to get 5 Portions a day into my little ones unless I really plan it out.  Below I listed how much a portion really is.  I’m the first to admit I didn’t know any of these and researched them online.  I thought maybe I might not be the only one, so I saved you the time in looking it up.  This list came from http://www.healthy-eating-made-easy.com/

Vegetable Coloring Page

Vegetable and Fruit Matching Game from Crayola

Set up a Vegetable Stand for Playtime

Provide the children plastic fruits, a cash register, play money and bags. Create name cards “seller”, “buyer” and “cashier“ for children to wear around their neck. Encourage the children for buy, sell and pack the vegetables. The children can take turns being a buyer, seller or cashier. 

Use the vegetable labels that you used during the lesson for your child to incorporate literacy.

For more Food Resources
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/food.shtml
http://preschoolalphabet.blogspot.com/search/label/Vegetables

Food Portions for Children

Last week I posted about the Fruit Group and My Plate with Little Hands that Cook.   We also learned about how “My Plate” should look with each food group.  Here’s another site.

WebMD is a great site for health resources.  Here’s what WebMd had to say about portions with children and how they vary from Ages.

  • School Ages
  • For Preschoolers
  • For Babies and Toddlers

Are you trying to get more Vegetables into your Little ones and let’s face it the whole family?  Here are some great books I’ve used over the year to help you out.

The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine

Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfield

Healthy Eating Made Easy  recommends the following…

What Does Five a Day Look Like?

For pre-schoolers and younger children, be guided by your child’s appetite. You’ll be doing well if they have four or five servings a day. A typical portion for a young child might be:

  • 1 small whole fruit, like a plum
  • ½ a larger fruit, like an apple or orange, chopped or sliced if necessary
  • 2 tbsp (1/2 cup) strawberries or other berries
  • 8 grapes or cherries (remove stones)
  • 1-2 heaped (1/2 cup) tbsp cooked vegetables
  • small handful carrots or other vegetable sticks.

Serving Sizes for Kids Ages 2-6
http://www.healthy-eating-made-easy.com/fruit-and-vegetable-servings.html

Vegetable Servings Sizes for Kids

  • Asparagus, canned 7 spears
  • Asparagus, fresh 5 spears
  • Avocado Half
  • Aubergine One-third of a large one
  • Baby sweetcorn 6
  • Baked beans 3 tbsp (1/2 cup)
  • Broad beans 3 heaped tbsp (1/2 cup)
  • Broccoli 2 large florets
  • Brussels sprouts 8
  • Cabbage 3 heaped tbsp shredded, (1/2 cup)
  • Carrots 1 large
  • Celery 3 sticks
  • Cherry tomatoes 7
  • Chickpeas See Pulses
  • Courgette Half a large one
  • Curly kale 4 tbsp (1/2 cup)
  • Eggplant One-third of a large one
  • French beans 4 heaped tbsp (1/2 cup)
  • Kidney beans See Pulses
  • Lentils See pulses
  • Mixed salad Cereal bowl full (1 cup)
  • Mushrooms, button 14
  • Onion 1 medium
  • Parsnip 1 large
  • Peas, fresh, frozen or canned 3 heaped tbsp (1/2 cup)
  • Potatoes Never count towards your daily vegetable servings, in any form
  • Pulses, cooked: kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils etc 3 heaped tbsp (1/2 cup)
  • Salad leaves, lettuce etc Cereal bowl full (1 cup)
  • Scallions 8
  • Snowpeas Handful
  • Spinach, cooked 2 heaped tbsp (1/2 cup)
  • Spring onions 8
  • Sugarsnap peas Handful
  • Sweetcorn, fresh, frozen or canned 3 heaped tbsp (1/2 cup)
  • Tomato 1 medium
  • Vegetable soup 1 serving of fresh or canned soup
  • Vegetable sticks Handful of mixed – celery, pepper, carrot etc
  • Zucchini Half a large one

Hope your little ones enjoy learning about Vegetables!  One of the best ways to teach your children about vegetables is by creating your own garden. Here are some helpful tips about creating a Learning Garden with your Kids.

Gardening with Kids! Fun and easy ideas for growing and learning in your garden.

Explore our Balanced Eating Fun Series with Little Hands that Cook with Books!

  • Vegetable Group
  • Protein Group
  • Grains Group
  • Dairy Group
  • Heart Healthy Foods
Alphabet Soup Recipe for Kids to Make. Includes cooking lesson plan for kids with books and activities too.
70+ Recipes for Kids to Cook
Yogurt Parfait Recipe for Kids

Like this idea? Pin for later or share now with a friend!

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Filed Under: Gardening, Kids Activities Tagged With: Kids in the Garden, Kim, Literacy Connections, Little Hands That Cook, Nutrition, Vegetable

About Kim Vij

Early childhood teacher, author, speaker and mom of 3. Kim shares ways to make learning fun and parenting an adventure by sharing developmentally appropriate activities.

« Why Outdoor Play Matters: Boosting Kids’ Learning, Health & Happiness After School
Giant Pattern Blocks – Teaching Math to Tots with Movement »

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    February 1, 2013 at 3:02 pm

    What a wonderful post with great ideas! Thanks!

  2. Raising a Happy Child says

    January 18, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    I have to print out your post for a reference, there is great information there. I am on a mission to add more veggies to our plate here too.

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