Eating healthy fruits and veggies helps the child grow physically and even mentally. To encourage good habits at an early age, children need to be taught what is right for them and what isn’t. Deciding to choose an apple over a slice of pizza, is vital to understand before one gets habituated to junk and then develops obesity in childhood. Healthy foods provide the correct nutrients and are a great source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, to meet the prerequisite dietary needs of growing adults. We’ve heard dieticians encourage us to eat fruits and veggies of different colors so that our plate looks colorful, just like a rainbow.

Learning about Fruits & Veggies the traditional way:

Flashcards: This is the most classic method used by most preschools in Dubai and other regions. A realistic version of the fruit or veggie is printed on the flash card and the teacher keeps repeating the name of what it is until the child finally recognizes the difference between brinjal and broccoli.

Pretend Play:

Remember your play date with tiny farm animals and a doctor’s kit? Children also love to invite friends over for dinner and have a meal together, which is made in their make-do kitchen. Teachers can set a theme of the month and convert classrooms into a veggie garden and a fruit orchard. We guarantee everyone will love to explore the thematic classroom and quickly learn the names of a variety of plants and their edible products.

Home Garden:

Backyard gardening is fun, and it teaches us the concept of ‘farm to fork’. The process of how fruits & veggies are grown gets kids excited and they realize how important it is to not waste food. This hands-on technique is an excellent starter and may even motivate students to become modern agriculturists in the future or explore food science as a career opportunity.

Foodie of Fruits and Vegetables by Matatalab

Code to your heart’s content while learning about the names of veggies and fruits. It’s simple, yet fun for children and teachers can use this game as an icebreaker in the classroom or during circle time.

Instructions: Code the MatataBot to reach the designated fruit or veggie.

For 3 to 4-year-olds

Interact with students and discuss the names of fruits such as strawberries, grapes, and bananas, alongside others vegetables such as pumpkin, carrot, and beetroot. Allow kids to choose their favorite sticker. The Matatalab trainer will now place the sticker on the map. The MatataBot is positioned 2-3 squares away from the sticker and the child is invited to code. In just 2-3 moves the Bot will be able to navigate itself to the assigned sticker and children will feel a sense of accomplishment! Kids enjoy this game to the fullest and most schools in the UAE subscribe to Matatalab as one of their teaching aid.

For 4 to 5-year-olds

Increase the difficulty of coding, as children are now geared to take up more challenging assignments. Let the child get a chance to choose a color of his or her choice and find the corresponding fruit and vegetable sticker. For example: if the child chooses a peach color, then the fruit selected will be a peach and if red color is selected, then the red color capsicum needs to be picked. The child is free to choose more than 1 fruit and vegetable. Now with the help of the teacher, place the veggie and fruit stickers on the map and position the MatataBot 2-3 squares away. Invite a group of children or an individual child to code. Group work is encouraged, as it helps build 21st-century skills such as team-building and fosters a spirit of collaboration, which is encouraged by schools and learning centers in the Middle East, including GCC regions. Children use their navigation skills to move the MatataBot left/right, to reach the first sticker and then the second sticker. This activity stimulates creativity and also deepens the thinking capacity of the child.

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