With the autumn comes the harvest, and lots of fresh vegetables are readily available for low prices. What can you do with a pile of vegetables, to make your kids want to eat them with gusto? I’ve seen lots of pictures of vegetable creatures and smiling children wanting to eat their vegetables with more enthusiasm. I decided to have my kids make insects, since that’s what we were studying. My older two sons made the main part of the body out of a half a bell pepper. They used a cut tomato for the head. Eyes were made from cut raisins on top of either radish or carrot slices. Antennae were made out of thin celery or carrots. Legs were made out of carrots. One of my sons made spots with cut (and therefore sticky) raisins.
My third son wanted a ladybug, so he used half a tomato for the body, with raisin spots. Antennae and eyes were made out of carrots, with the eyeballs being raisins. My daughter made a caterpillar out of a cucumber, with lots of carrot feet poked in. I think I poked the holes with an ice pick. (An adult should obviously poke the holes, unless you have a teenager who is making a vegetable creature.) Raisins formed the eyes, with celery for the antennae.
After going to the fair a couple of weeks ago, our family saw lots more vegetable creatures, and some fruit creatures, too. We saw a puppy made out of bananas, a spider made out of a coconut and a kiwi, a pumpkin creature with hot peppers for a smile and carrots for legs, and a melon head with a purple cabbage scarf and prune eyes. We saw squash creatures with lemon slice eyes, a radish nose, and potato feet. We also saw a potato crab with snow peas for legs and blackberries for eyes. Apparently you are allowed to use toothpicks to attach these creatures together when you are entering them at the fair. I even saw sticks and pine needles used, so the category must be to use things that grow out of the ground. An interesting scene displayed what looked like a woman next to a pole. Lots of cabbage was used, and many raisins dotted the ground. These fair entries sure looked like great fun to make!
