Rainbow Fruit Skewers

What you need

• Berries, 1 handful of strawberries
• Berries, 1 handful of blueberries
• Plate or tray, 1 plate, instead of skewers for little ones (optional)
• Orange, 1
• Pineapple, a few chunks
• Grapes, 1 handful
• Bowl, 1, of cool water
• Water, 1 bowlful, for washing fruit
• Towel, 2
• Knife, 1 sharp, for a grown-up
• Skewers, a few blunt ones, for kids 5 and up

How to do it

Grown-up prep: Wash your hands and grab the fruit. You do all the cutting with a sharp knife. Cut strawberries, orange slices and pineapple into bite-size pieces. For kids under 5, slice every grape lengthwise and halve the blueberries, because whole grapes and blueberries are a choking risk. Use blunt skewers, or skip skewers and use a plate for little ones, since pointed tips can poke. Check for fruit allergies first, especially strawberries and pineapple. Stay close while everyone eats, and have kids sit down to munch.

1. Wash all the fruit in a bowl of cool water and pat it dry.
2. A grown-up cuts the strawberries, orange and pineapple into bite-size pieces. A grown-up does this
3. For kids under 5, a grown-up slices every grape lengthwise and halves the blueberries. A grown-up does this
4. Sort the fruit into color piles: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
5. Thread the fruit onto a skewer in rainbow order, starting with red at the bottom. Ask for help if you need it
   Ask: What color comes after green? Can you say the rainbow order out loud?
6. Little rainbow builders can lay the fruit in rainbow stripes on a plate instead.
7. Sit down together and eat your rainbow one color at a time.
8. Share your rainbow with a friend, or build another one!
   Ask: What new fruit pattern will you try on your next rainbow?

Play it again

• Pattern skewer: repeat a pattern like red, red, orange, or build the rainbow forwards then backwards.
• Draw first: sketch a rainbow on paper, then match each fruit to a stripe.
• Mystery color: a friend picks a color and you find a fruit that matches.