Patriotic Food Preparation Activities
Red, White, and Blue Food for Memorial Day and July 4th Celebrations
Jul 6, 2009
Children love to help prepare food for big celebrations. Two of the biggest summer celebrations are the patriotic holidays of Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Here are some red, white, and blue foods children can help prepare!
Patriotic Side Dishes
- Use a vegetable scrubber to clean red potatoes for a potato salad.
- Add red or blue food coloring to water when boiling potatoes and pasta.
- Add food coloring to mayonnaise or salad dressing.
- Slice tomatoes to be mixed into side dishes.
- Add ingredients to a large bowl then stir them together.
4th of July Veggie Tray Ideas
- Brainstorm with the children about red, white, and blue vegetables.
- Use a vegetable scrubber to clean radishes.
- Gently wash tomatoes.
- Slice red peppers, heads of cauliflower.
- Stir red food coloring into a veggie dip.
- Make veggie skewers.
- Arrange the veggie tray.
Patriotic Fruit Tray Ideas
- Brainstorm with the children about red, white, and blue fruits.
- Rinse all fruits prior to use.
- Use a strawberry huller to remove stems and leaves from berries.
- Use an apple slicer to cut up red apples.
- Use a melon baller to serve watermelon.
- Mix a variety of fruits together for a mixed fruit salad.
- Add food coloring to the fruit dips.
- Make fruit skewers.
- Arrange the fruit tray.
Red, White and Blue Snack Tray Ideas
- Brainstorm with the children about favorite snack foods that may be red, white, or blue.
- Search for red, white, and blue potato chips and tortilla chips.
- Make a homemade salsa.
- Cut red and white cheeses into chunks.
- Place toothpicks into cheese chunks for easy serving.
- Make skewers of red meats, such as pepperoni and sausage, with white cheeses.
- Arrange white crackers on a tray.
- Add red or blue food coloring to sour cream or other dips.
Patriotic Dessert Tray Ideas
- Bake a batch of white sugar cookies together. Frost and decorate with patriotic frosting and red, white, and blue toppings.
- Allow the child to sprinkle red, white, and blue sugar on top just prior to baking.
- Divide the dough into three parts. Add red food coloring to one, blue food coloring to another, and leave the third part white.
- Top a white cake or ice cream cake with strawberries and blueberries, arranged to look like an American flag. Talk about the meaning of each stripe and star while adding it.
- Make red, white, and blue Jell-O Jigglers. Make single-colored batches using blue raspberry, cherry, strawberry, strawberry banana, strawberry kiwi, etc. Layer the colors by allowing the bottom layer to settle before adding another color. Use star-shaped cookie cutters to cut them out.
- Mix red and blue berries into the Jell-O.
When the child is finished helping make all of these delectable delights, she can also be in charge of setting up the serving area, as well as decorating with red, white, and blue streamers, balloons, and anything else she can brainstorm. She can also practice her serving skills with her guests.
Allowing children to help prepare for parties gives them a sense of confidence and aids their independence as they learn valuable practical life skills. They are proud of their participation and can be very helpful when given a little bit of guidance.
 |
