The core of our educator program is a rich and beautiful Educator Toolkit with background information, content and lots of curriculum-aligned activities designed to be simple to implement and easily adaptable for any setting or community. The Toolkit was designed for early years and primary settings (up to grade 3.) The contents and approach can be easily adapted and used with older grades!
Our complementary Educator Workshops help to highlight the importance and powerful lifelong impact of food literacy for young children. We dive into the sensory-based approach and explore the underlying evidence and “key ingredients” that make it so impactful. We’ll generate excitement and help educators to strategically plan how they can implement the program to achieve maximum impact in their own setting.
The Rainbow Food Explorers program engages children’s natural curiosity about the world around them. We spark imaginations and get kids excited about exploring and learning about FOOD using their senses.
Why? Because it works!
Skip the nutrition lectures and the pressure. Relax. Have fun. This is what makes kids more comfortable trying and eating new foods.
Being a Rainbow Food Explorer means:
Using all your senses to explore and experience different foods, including lots of colourful fruits and vegetables.
Being food neutral and using descriptive language to express the way foods look, smell, feel, sound and taste.
Getting lots of exposures to different foods in a relaxed and pressure-free way.
Discovering all the ways in which food connects everything in the world around us. Helping to foster belonging and inspiring children to become ambassadors for a healthy and sustainable future.
A flexible and adaptable resource
This toolkit has been designed like a “pantry” of ingredients that you can draw from, to create your ideal “recipe” for success. You can use it in the way that best suits your unique setting, and the ages, cultural background, needs and interests of your children and your community.
What You’ll find inside
Background and Supporting Information:
• The Rainbow Plate Approach - a peek into our colourful world and the principles behind our innovative approach to food education.
• Sensory-Based Food Education in the Early Years: What the Research Says - a summary and some academic references highlighting the evidence behind this approach and program.
• A Mindful Approach Towards Food - our philosophy regarding the use of food in the classroom, food insecurity and food waste.
Implementation Tools and Resources:
Food Safety and Practical Tips - information about classroom set up, food preparation, safety and other considerations.
Introducing the Rainbow Food Explorer Concept and Program - some creative ideas to support you in introducing the concepts to children and creating a Rainbow Food Explorer environment in your setting.
Tips for Promoting Positive Food Experiences - practical tips and techniques to help keep adult interactions with children positive and pressure-free.
Parent & Caregiver Resources - templates that you can customize, copy and share, to make it easy for you to connect with and engage parents, caregivers and community members.
Fruit and Vegetable Activity Cards:
There’s a rainbow of 30 fruit and vegetable sensory activity cards for you! Each one supports the exploration of one type of fruit or vegetable. The cards can be removed from the binder and are printed on durable, synthetic material that you can wipe off, so you can feel relaxed about using them during food experiences! Each card contains the following sections:
Possible Discoveries - some possible takeaway points for this fruit or vegetable
Materials Required - estimated amounts for a group of 10 children
Sensory Exploration Activities - suggested activities designed to facilitate exploration of the fruit
or vegetable, sorted into two categories: exploring the whole fruit or vegetable and taking it apart.
Questions to Support Exploration -prompts and questions to help you support your Rainbow
Food Explorers in playful inquiry, discovery and reflection. We’ve grouped these questions by the
senses: look, feel, smell, taste, hear
Building Vocabulary -a list of descriptive words specific to that fruit or vegetable. Again,
these are organized under the different sensory categories: look, feel, smell, taste, hear
Fun Facts - a few interesting tidbits of information about each fruit or vegetable!
Extend the Exploration - suggested activities that are unique to that fruit or vegetable.
They’re different on each card and typically fall into one or more of the cross-curricular categories.
Cross-Curricular and Supplementary Materials:
Lots of ideas and activities to inspire you to use fruits and vegetables throughout all areas of your curriculum, to build exposure, spark enthusiasm and cultivate connections with food!
These activities are organized under the following categories:
Literacy/Language
Numeracy
Science
Real World Experiences (Including local food, food waste)
Music/Dramatic Play/Movement
Art
Edible Exploration
How to Explore Anything: Basic Sensory Exploration Techniques
Resources
Canadian and US orders can be processed simply by clicking the “Buy Now” button above. For other countries or large bulk orders, please email us at hello@rainbowplate.com and we’ll be happy to help you! Reach out at hello@rainbowplate.com to find out more about our educator workshops.