Dinner from Dirt:
Ten Meals Kids Can Grow and Cook

This book tells kids how to make their own soup garden, pizza garden, spud garden and so on.  And not only does it give them instructions for growing the necessary plants, but it also provides them with simple recipes and cooking instructions.  Delights include sugar n spice pumpkin bars and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Eating the Alphabet (Board book)
by Lois Ehlert

This appetizing alphabet book shows fruits and vegetables so juicy and alive, you'll wish they could jump off the page and into your mouth. Even vegetable haters will find it hard to resist the vibrantly colored collage illustrations, which make each item look fascinating and appealing. Long a favorite picture book, this title is now available in a smaller board book edition, just right for introducing toddlers to the mysteries of endive, kiwifruit and papaya. Booklist called the original "bright, bold... well designed."

From Publishers Weekly
"Apple to Zucchini, / come take a look. / Start eating your way / through this alphabet book." So begins this delectable feast of fruits and vegetables, in a diverse and plentiful array. Each turn of the page reveals a mouth-watering arrangement of foods: Indian corn, jalapeno, jicama, kumquat, kiwifruit and kohlrabi. The words are shown in capital and lowercase letters set in bold type for easy reading. At the end of the book, Ehlert provides a detailed glossary that includes pronunciation, botanical information, the origin and history of the particular plant and occasional mythological references, with a small watercolor picture to remind the reader of what the plant looks like. Ehlert's glorious watercolor collages are lively and enticing; as in her Growing Vegetable Soup , she presents the plant world in an appealing and easily accessible manner. Both parents and children will be encouraged to sample exotic new foods at mealtime.

Ages 1-5.

Activity Ideas

More Activity Ideas

Nutrition Related Lesson Plan

Printable Checklist for Produce Tasting

Game for Playing in the Car

Growing Vegetable Soup (Paperback)
by Lois Ehlert

Using her characteristically vibrant palette, Ehlert details the raising of a vegetable garden to make "the best soup ever." A recipe is included in this book which PW termed a "zesty introduction to vivid abstract art." Ages 2-7.


From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1 This is the boldest, brassiest garden book to hit the market, and what a delight. Intensely colored graphics capture the complete growing process from seed to cooking pot, with the focus on the plants. The unseen narrator describes the process of growing vegetable soup, from preparing the tools and digging holes for the seeds to weeding plants; picking vegetables; washing, chopping, and cooking them and finally enjoying the homemade soup while planning to grow more next year. It's a fresh presentation of the gardening cycle with a joyful conclusion, and the added attraction of an easy and tasty recipe for vegetable soup on the flyleaf. A book to help nourish healthy readers. Barbara Peklo Serling, Oneida City Schools, N.Y.

Reading Rainbow Review

LESSON PLAN

From Wheat to Pasta
by Robert Egan

Describes, in text and photographs, the steps in making various kinds of pasta from growing and harvesting the wheat through the grinding of the flour to making the dough and shaping the final product.