Tasting Green, Red & Orange Peppers {Gardens Grow}

Not only does a vegetable taste testing fit right along with our Growing Gardens theme, it fits right in with supporting children’s wellness. I don’t know about elsewhere, but right now in WI there’s a huge push for wellness education in child care {where many children spend the most of their day}. I’m currently focusing on adding more physical activity and improving nutrition for my center. This was so easy and so fun, for the kids and for me.

Early in the day while the kids were having a.m. snack, I washed the peppers and put them on the counter. While I was doing this, the kids asked “What are those?” “What are you doing?” so it was an opportunity for me to get their interest and tell them what we were going to do with them. Throughout the morning the kids could see them on the counter and look forward to trying them.

After lunch we play outside. Then we come in and get drinks of water, read a story and get ready for naps.

This day I allowed time for the taste test after lunch and then outdoor time – after they had played a while and when they don’t usually have a snack.

I cut open the peppers and talked about the colors, the seeds, what they look like inside. Then I sliced them and gave each child a slice of red, green and orange pepper. I gave them their plate and started to read a story. We read The Surprise Garden.

The Surprise Garden

While I read, the kids started to eat their peppers. Most of them anyway. Afterwards we talked about it and which they liked best. Then we graphed our favorites and circled favorites to show the parents.  {Which, by the way, went over very well with parents!}

What a great time! This could be done with berries, potatoes, greens, etc. We will be doing this more often and then I will introduce favorites into our meals and snacks.

Here’s the printable forms if you’d like to do a pepper taste test.



Download Pepper Taste Test Forms HERE & HERE.

Personally I like them all but red peppers best. What’s your favorite? Do you serve peppers to children? Raw or in a recipe? Let me know!