One of the most important lessons about food I want my kids to learn is the importance of variety. Eating fresh, whole foods is important, but your body doesn’t benefit nearly as much unless you are eating a wide variety of foods. Since for kids St. Patrick’s Day is all about leprechauns and rainbows, I thought March was the perfect month to teach my little ones about the concept of “eating the rainbow.”
Sometimes the teacher in me spills out at home and I went into all-out teacher mode for this Rainbow Smoothie Tasting Activity. And you know what? They LOVED it.
I started out by setting up a small table with 5 colorful smoothies and the whole foods that went into them. I told Meghan and Luke about the phrase “eating the rainbow” and explained what it meant. I went over the importance of eating all the colors and gave them a very basic description of what each color is especially good for.
Red: Great for our heart and blood.
Orange: Great for our skin and eyes.
Yellow: Helps our digestive system.
Green: Great for the whole body and especially our immune system.
Purple/Blue: Helps our brains and good for our bones.
I asked them if they wanted just one or two parts of their bodies to be healthy or if they wanted their whole bodies to be healthy. I helped them to see why eating different colored foods every day was good for them. Then it was tasting time! 
Luke started on one side and Meghan started on the other and they made their way through the rainbow of smoothies. 
The whole time they were tasting, I heard, “Mmmmm!” 
After they finished the smoothies, they asked if they could eat the food on display! Of course I said yes. 
Please excuse Luke’s crusty nose. He screams “Oooooowww!” every time I try to clean it. My pre-kids self would be horrified that I have a kid with a dirty nose, but I literally have to pin him down and endure his screaming to get it clean. Not worth it. 
When they finished sampling the rest of foods, they were so excited and shouting, “We ate the rainbow! We ate the rainbow!”
I plan to extend this activity and let it help me as I encourage them to eat a variety of colors everyday. It has already motivated them to continue eating a variety of foods. As I was making Meghan’s lunch this morning she said, “I’m eating orange, blue, and yellow at school today, I better eat some red and green when I get home!” This tasting activity could be used for a lot of different ages. My 6 and 3 year old both understood the main points, although Meghan’s understanding was deeper than Luke’s. Toddlers and older kids can all benefit from learning about eating a colorful array of foods for our health.
Here’s what went into the smoothies so you can try this with your kids! I used coconut water as the liquid because I wanted to keep the colors as vibrant as possible and milk tends to dilute the colors a little. You can substitute plain water or any clear juice if you prefer. Each one makes enough for one small smoothie.
I use my Vita-Mix blender for our smoothies and it makes the orange pulp or any spinach leaf pieces totally disappear. It’s definitely the best blender money can buy!
Red Smoothie
1 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup coconut water
Orange Smoothie
1 orange
1/2 cup baby carrots, steamed
1/4 cup coconut water
a few ice cubes
Yellow Smoothie
1 banana
1/4 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1/2 cup coconut water
Green Smoothie
1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks
small handful baby spinach
1/2 cup coconut water
Blue/Purple Smoothie
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup coconut water
If you try this activity with your kids, please take a picture and share it on my Facebook page or tag me on Instagram so I can see! Have a great week, friends!
I teach a 5th grade class with our homeschool co-op group. I only have the kids for an hour so for our last class I decided to go with your smoothie recipes as a lesson in simplicity, health, and food appreciation. I had the kids guess what would be in each colored smoothie before I brought out the ingredients. As 5th graders I thought I would have some kids hesitant to try the orange and green but they were all excited about each one! It was such a fun and simple class day with them and I think they’ll be asking their moms to pick up some coconut water at the grocery store next time! (they all agreed that the blue/purple was their favorite!)
I’m so glad you were able to use this activity for your group!
Great idea thanks. We are looking for ideas for our Active Week in school and this looks really inviting for children.
Can i ask how much roughly does each recipe make as we’ll need to feed about 350 children!!
Looks great! What could I use instead of coconut milk? We are allergic to ALL nuts and seeds and also coconut ….?
You can use plain, cold water!
It’s a great idea for my kids.iam going to try this link. Thank you
You’re welcome!
This is such a wonderful idea!! I am a girl scout troop leader and I will be making these with my girls. Thanks for such an amazing idea!!
You’re welcome! I hope your girls enjoy the activity!
This is good and healthy for the whole family! Yummy!!!! Perfect article for this time of year with all the fruits in season…
your kids are precious and so healthy! love it! i need to try these for my nieces, they need more veggies and fruits anyway. haha
Most kids do. 🙂 Thanks so much, Lindsay!
i like how you actually made a rainbow of colors out of the different smoothies! smart and delicious. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you!
Same to you, Kelsey! 🙂
Aw, this is such a cute idea!! I love that you’re inspiring them to enjoy healthy, whole foods while also teaching them why they’re so good fir us. Awesome job!
This is SUCH an awesome activity for kids! I wish all kids were able to learn this at school. Your children are so lucky to have you teaching them these lessons at home. 🙂
I agree! Nutrition should be required curriculum at every school. Unfortunately even medical doctors get very little education in nutrition. 🙁
I know! That is super scary to me, especially since so many health problems can be fixed with nutrition and without the use of prescription drugs.
LOVE this idea!!!!
Thanks, Kristin!
This is awesome! I bet my son would love to try these. Thank you for the recipes!
You’re welcome! 🙂
Love, love, love this! And your photos tell the story perfectly! BTW… did not notice his nose till I read what you wrote 🙂
Haha! Of course that was the first thing I noticed when I was editing the pictures for this post. 🙂
That is so awesome!! I just might have to try this for my 16 & 18yr olds. 🙂
I don’t see why not! 🙂