Basic Food Groups

I was doing dishes yesterday and heard Gideon tinkering around with their play kitchen. He would round the corner and ask, "Mom, is corn a vegetable or a fruit?" I'd answer and he'd disappear. Then minutes later he'd pop around the corner again, "Mom, is an apple a vegetable or a fruit?" I'd answer and away he'd go. This continued on for several different items of food. Then a thought clicked into my head - "Teaching opportunity! Play opportunity! Put the dishes DOWN, girl!"

So I went into the living room, sat on the floor, and joined him in his exploration of fruits and vegetables. I'm sad to admit that it has been awhile since I've sat on the floor and played with my youngest brood. For more than a couple of minutes, anyway. Gideon was still happily sorting when I carried out the idea that had been sent into my brain.

The plastic food is stored in several plastic buckets inside the little play kitchen. It's, of course, all mixed together in quite the hodgepodge of plastic confusion. I dug out my construction paper and some scissors. I lined one bucket with green paper and said, "Hey Gideon, look! Green for vegetables." He was pleased. He proceeded to put his vegetable pile into the now green bucket.

I lined another with red for fruits and he was overjoyed to have two buckets to work with. But wait! There's more. I lined another with brown - for breads, of course. Another with pink. Can you guess? Meats! And then the last one with white, for dairy.

Then I spent twenty minutes handing him plastic food and asking which bucket he thought it went in, and the boy never tired of the game. What a fun morning. And their little play kitchen is beautifully organized in a lovely basic-food-groups sort of way. (In my day, we learned about basic food groups. Didn't have any of the fancy schmancy food-pyramid stuff.)

I'm sure it will all be disheveled soon enough, but now when they put the food away they will be learning as well! Bonus!

I found this quote a few months ago and it has become the theme for our homeschooling. "Learning sleeps and snores in libraries, but wisdom is everywhere, wide awake, on tiptoe." - Josh Billings

And yes, we love libraries. :o)