Week 3 of Nutrition Expedition: Giuseppe Arcimboldo Portrait Study/Fruit and Veggie Faces!

Giuseppe Arcimboldo Portrait Study:

Fruit and Veggie Faces!

This week in Nutrition Expedition, we made our own portraits out of fruits and vegetables!

I introduced the 2, 3, and 4-year-olds to a man named Giuseppe Arcimboldo, a famous Italian painter from the 1500’s. Giuseppe was well known for his unique portrait paintings; they were composed entirely of fruits, vegetables, fish, etc. I showed them some examples of his work (which they found hilarious J), and then passed around a large box filled with an assortment of fruits and veggies for them to choose from. After they had selected a handful of produce from the box, they were then instructed to make their own face, just like Giuseppe! The results were quite amusing!

For the infants and toddlers, I read the book Funny Food Faces, an adorable board book whose pages are filled with beloved Sesame Street characters made out of food! They loved the colorful portraits! I brought in a box of fruits and veggies for them to explore (squash, corn on the cob, carrots, bananas, peaches, apples, sweet peppers, etc.) and we all took turns making funny faces with the items! So cute :)

For a special tasting adventure today (Friday), I decided to cook up some of the squash from our fruit and veggie box for the older children, and corn (off the cob) for the toddlers. I brought each squash (acorn, butternut, and spaghetti) around to the classrooms to allow them to explore it first. The 2's class chose the acorn squash, which I baked with a little brown sugar (for flavor :)). They were excited to try it, but the verdict is still out on whether they liked it! I gave the butternut squash to the 3's class, which I also baked with brown sugar. A few of the children liked it. The big hit, though, was the spaghetti squash, which I gave to the 4's class. I baked it for about 45 min. at 350 degrees, then scooped it out and mixed it with a little tomato-basil spaghetti sauce. They absolutely loved it! It was a great healthy alternative to a traditional spaghetti dish.

Check out the entertainment below, as well as a little history about Giuseppe Arcimboldo:

Who is Giuseppe Arcimboldo?