Fruit smoothies

Fruit smoothies. 

Today we spent the morning with friends at the park. As always I went a bit crazy with the picnic lunch and was left with a bowl of blueberries and bananas. I thought I would use them up as a nutritious afternoon snack and turn them into a smoothie. 

Smoothies are a great way to encourage healthy eating and consumption of fruit and vegetables.  

Allowing your child to help participate in making the smoothie is also a great activity to encourage healthy eating, knowledge of science and self esteem.

The internet is full of great smoothie recipes. Below are some sites that I think have some great ideas:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/basic-fruit-smoothie/ 

http://www.healthysmoothiehq.com/category/fun-smoothies

http://www.joyofsmoothies.com

Who can play?

Children aged three years and above. All activities depend on the child's age and stage of development

Safety

If allowing your child to cut up the bananas, ensure the knife they have is not sharp enough to cut their skin. There should be constant supervision during this time.

When using the blender, do not allow 

children to plug it in (chance of electrocution) or put their hand into the blender (cut their fingers) Please read the instructions on the blenders manual.

Check for food allergies if this activity is being carried out in a child are setting or with your child's friends. 

What do we need?

Blender

Glasses and straws

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup of milk

1 tbsp of honey

1 cup of bananas

1 cup of blueberries

1/3 cup of raw beetroot

What did we do?

Firstly, Isabella cut up the banana with a blunt knife. This was then placed into a bowl along with the blueberries and raw beetroot that had been cut up into chunks. When preparing the beetroot, be careful not to stain surfaces, clothing or hands. If you do stain your hands, a top tip I have learnt is to rub a fresh lemon on your hands.

The websites mentioned above, say it is best to add liquids first and then solids. So that is what we did. We added the coconut and regular milk and honey to the blender. Next we added the fruit and veg and watched how the liquid turned a bright pink colour. Isabella commented on the liquid changing.

Once we were happy with its consistency we carefully poured it into some glasses. All that was left for us to do then was...

...enjoy.

I kept the rest of my smoothie in a glass bottle in the fridge. We plan to have some with a light breakfast in the morning.

What did we learn?

Communication, language and literacy- Describing what is happening and what they are doing.

Creative-Designing your own smoothie. Learning colours of fruit and vegetables. 

Physical- using tools to cut up the fruit.

Mathematical- Counting fruit etc when putting it into the blender, measuring the liquid and learning about capacity. Counting how long it is in the blender.

Personal, social and emotional- Learning about safety, for example when near electricity and using utensils to cut.

Knowledge and understanding of the world- The different types of fruit and vegetables. Learning about technology, such as what a blender does and electricity. Change of state of the vegetables and fruit once blended. 

What could be done next?

Why not make this smoothie for a Halloween treat? Whilst making it, I couldn't help but think that this would be a great Halloween drink. 

Experiment with different fruits and vegetable combinations and enjoy!