Outdoor Picnic

A great way to celebrate summer is to host an outdoor picnic with your children. There has never been a better time to take advantage of being outdoors. Eating outdoors has the benefits of fresh air as well as being beneficial for mental status. Moods can be boosted, and everyone will get their daily dose of vitamin D.

Farmer’s Market

An outing to the farmer’s market can be fun and a great outdoor learning opportunity for your children. You can use this opportunity to do taste testing and teach them about different fruits or vegetables. Programs like Power of Produce have had incredible success in teaching children where food grows by collaborating with their local farmer’s market.

Smoothies

Smoothies! It’s such a fabulous way to get powerful nutrition into little ones. Quick tip—keep them simple but switch up the frozen fruit and greens to offer them diversity. Think kale, spinach, microgreens, frozen bananas, mangos, strawberries, and blueberries. You can add some plain yogurt for the added gut health benefit. Most of all, have fun with smoothies

National Fruit & Vegetable Month

Let’s put the spotlight on National Fruit and Vegetable Month! Instead of having fruit, vegetable, or salad on the menu, you can rename them or even have the children name them. We’ll go first. How about these names: Berry Salad Bowl, Asparagus Rex, Wonder Watermelon? Catchy new names for fruits and vegetables will add some fun along with flavor-packed nutrients!

Home Grown Food

One last hoorah for National Fruit and Vegetable Month. Did you know that you can re-grow vegetables from their scraps? You can grow a carrot from a carrot by following these simple steps:

  • Reserve the top of a carrot once you’ve used it.
  • Place it in water.
  • Watch green leaves sprout at the top.
  • Plant the sprouts in soil once roots develop (or display it for your children to learn and discover how carrots can grow).

Children will love to see the carrot grow and sprout roots. You can do this with other vegetables too, like celery, potatoes, sweet potatoes, lettuce, and more! Have fun watching the amazing life cycle of a plant with your children!