Peas, corn, red cabbage, and carrots were the craft materials of the preschool children at the Fowler Library on September 8th, after our “Fit for Life” Vegetable Story Time! We started off the story time with a magical tale about a girl who grows giant onions, carrots, and other vegetables that are so BIG they have to be cut down with a forklift in Scarlette Beane by Karen Wallace. Then we stretched, rhymed, sang and stirred some “Stone Soup” with our flannel board. Next, we cautiously went into the Night of the Veggie Monster by George McClements, where a little boy squirms, wiggles, and curls his toes until he turns into a horrible vegetable monster when he eats a…gulp…PEA! But he discovers after actually eating one that maybe they aren’t SO bad. Next, we danced “In My Garden,” a fun song where we all dug, hoed, planted, picked, and ate peas along with Raffi from his album, “One Light, One Sun.” Finally, we ate the ENTIRE alphabet when we read Eating the Alphabet: Fruits& Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert.
All of these vegetables made us so hungry that we decided to play with our food and make silly faces, flowers, and designs together! As you can see from Keizo Fleuridor’s amazing vegetable face! At the end, we passed out “Fit for Life” fun, educational learning kits with balls, colorings books, puzzles, and nutritional information for parents. “Fit for Life is a new countywide bilingual initiative focusing on brain health for kids and teens which highlights nutrition, physical activity, socialization, mental stimulation – complexity, and mental stimulation – novelty.” Check out Fresno County Public Library’s event calendar for more “Fit for Life” activities at www.fresnolibrary.org!
