The Department of Agriculture on Monday encouraged parents to “bring some fun” into healthy eating by making springtime scenes out of food on their kids’ plates.
One suggestion from USDA is to make a scene of spring flowers using cucumbers for grass, strawberries for the flowers, an orange slice for the sun, and a cloud out of popcorn.
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“Feel free to incorporate some foods you have at home to personalize your spring scene,” USDA wrote. “You’ll also need a cutting board, a knife for cutting up fruits and veggies, and a plate for your canvas. Remember to wash your hands and produce before you start chopping!”
The blog post tells kids to “get creative” and create their own spring scene out of food.
“Create flowers using cheese sticks (or celery sticks!) for stems, and additional cucumber slices as leaves,” it said. “You can make the flower buds and petals out of any number of tasty fruits or vegetables. Not a fan of strawberries? Slice up an orange, peach, or red bell pepper.”
“Want to enjoy a sunny day instead? One option is to make a sun out of an orange slice and use slices of carrot, quartered, for rays of sunlight,” it added.
USDA tweeted out the link to the blog post on Monday as part of its effort to “bring some fun into healthy eating.”
A tweet from earlier this month made a different suggestion for how to make a flower: by using peeled orange slices for the flower, and other fruits and vegetables to make a butterfly.
USDA’s MyPlate tweeted out similar messages throughout President Obama’s tenure, but it’s not clear if those sorts of messages would be curtailed under President Trump.
Monday evening, the Senate is expected to confirm former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to be Trump’s first agriculture secretary.
