April 3, 2020
See what FoodPrints teachers have been up to since school closed, engage students in learning about “Eating the Rainbow,” take the great salad dressing ratio challenge, take a tour of a school garden and make your own seed cups, and team up on food waste at home.
What We’ve Been Up To
Your FoodPrints teachers say hello from afar! Watch a video of what our team has been up to at home since school has been closed.
Nutrition: Eat the Rainbow!
Do you know that there are many health benefits to eating fruits and vegetables in a variety of colors? We call this “Eating the Rainbow”!
> For younger students, find out the health benefits of fruits and vegetables of each color of the rainbow and then create a rainbow poster with your favorite fruits and veggies using this worksheet!
> For older students and adults, try out making a Rainbow Food Diary! At the end of every day for one week, write or draw all of the fruits and vegetables that you ate. Check out this template for you to make your own Food Diary. At the end of the week, tally up how many different colors of the rainbow you enjoyed!
> Rainbow Recipe Idea – Roasted Rainbow Bowl
Adding cooked grains to the bottom of this bowl, or even a fried egg on top turns it into a filling, nutritious meal. The Tahini dressing is delicious if you have Tahini at home. Otherwise, you can season this with almost any dressing you have or choose to make based on the Salad Dressing Challenge below.
You can even make a colorful Rainbow Bowl with raw veggies you have that need to be eaten! Send us a photo of the unique Rainbow Bowl that you create!
> Quick Nutrition Tip – Is everyone at home saying they are hungry and need a snack? Chop up raw vegetables you have on hand and leave them on the kitchen table during the day. As your family members pass by, they will likely pick up a handful of veggies to snack on and enjoy!
Math: The Salad Dressing Challenge and recipe and tips on how to make salad dressing at home!
> Learn about ratios, ingredients, measurement conversions, and cooking techniques. Then take the challenge (view on the web or download a PDF)
Garden: Virtual Springtime Garden Tour
> We can’t spend time in our gardens together right now, but here’s a video tour of one of our gardens so you can see what a school garden looks like during late March, early April!
While watching this video try to find: 2 blueberry bushes, 1 rosemary bush, a plant that has been chomped on by rabbits, collard greens, weeds that we thought were radishes, and grapes!
> Indoor Garden Activity – Making Seed Cups
Here is a simple, at home activity that uses materials that you can find in your recycle bin to plant seeds and watch them grow! (If you don’t have seeds, don’t worry! Dry beans that have soaked in water overnight work just as well. Or, you could try planting seeds from vegetables, such as bell peppers or tomatoes to see if they will germinate.)
Environment: Team Up on Food Waste @ Home
> A fun remote competition that provides a structured way for individuals, students, and families in the DMV area to participate in reducing food waste at home together, guided by the EPA’s Food: Too Good to Waste Toolkit. During the 4-week competition starting April 6, each participating team will collect seven days of baseline data on PREVENTABLE food waste, take action, collect “after” data, and report their results. The procedures are designed for easy participation without any special supplies. Learn more about Team Up on Food Waste @ Home!
FoodPrints Anywhere helps build nutrition knowledge, extend science and math education, and helps families cook and eat FoodPrints recipes together at home.