Salad with Dino-mite Dressing

Be sure to share the tasty dressings with families to encourage salad eating at home.
A salad bar at snack time or lunch with dino-mite dressings is a great way to encourage children to eat healthy vegetables just as the plant-eating dinosaurs did. Try fresh vegetables in season and talk with children about where the vegetables are grown and which ones can be grown locally. Use our Vegetable Cutouts Activity to show children how vegetables grow. Two kinds of dino-mite dressings can be prepared by children, with the pride of, "We made it ourselves." Show measuring cups, teaspoons and tablespoons to children. At circle time, have children share how they made each dressing using the recipe sequence. You could add some store-bought dressings to the salad bar and then create a taste testing chart.

Salad Bar Recipe:

• Shredded lettuce
• Shredded carrot
• Chopped olives
• Sliced cucumber
• Cherry tomatoes (chopped)
• Grated cheese

If you are short on supplies or time, invite families to donate one salad ingredient (washed and cut up) for Salad Bar Day. Post a sign-up sheet in advance to avoid duplicate items.

For children to do: Assemble their own salad! Go through the salad bar and choose the items for their salad.

Encourage children to put a little of everything in their bowl, however, it is their choice on what to take and how much.

Have small paper cups containing a few tablespoons of dressing for each child. Whether children dip or pour, dino-mite dressings are sure to be a hit!

Guard Against Choking!
    Watch children while they eat.