Fruits A-Plenty
Swat away the June bugs and fruit flies, and enjoy fruits in the month of June! It is the time of year when summer begins and strawberries are ready for picking! Fresh fruits are readily available for lower prices, and many are at the peak of sweetness this time of year. Sometimes referred to as “nature’s treat,” fruits are sweet to eat right from picking.
Have you ever taken the time to mindfully eat a piece of fruit, paying attention to all of your senses: sight, taste, smell, hearing, touch? What differences did you notice among the fruits? They come in all colors of the rainbow; some are sweet, others are sour, bland, or tart; fruits can carry a sweet aroma, floral, or otherwise; when you bite or cut into the fruit, you may hear a crunch or flow of juices; the peel and inside flesh is sometimes fuzzy, smooth, rough with seeds, or wet. Consider hosting a taste-testing session with the children, to explore the different sensations surrounding fruits: before, during, and after eating them.
Another activity that may challenge children’s fruit knowledge is what the inside of the fruit looks like as compared to the peel, skin, or rind. Children are generally very interested in learning where their food comes from, and this is a great start. It’s helpful to teach them that before the banana appeared in evenly-cut slices on their plates, it was a long tubular fruit with a yellow peel around it.
Below are images of whole and cut fruits:
Using mindful strategies when eating fruits is a great way to introduce a healthy way to approach all aspects of eating. Paying close attention to the qualities of the foods we eat may encourage us to choose more nutritious options overall.