The Pirates’ “Great Banana” Fruit Salad

Make the treasure chest. Clean out yogurt cups or small plastic containers. Measure the height of the container on the long edge of the white paper. Cut out the strip and decorate your treasure chest with markers or crayons. Draw the wooden boards that make up the chest, and don’t forget a large lock on the front so Big Mouth doesn’t swipe your banana slices! Once you’ve colored your chest, wrap the paper strip around the top of your plastic container and tape it in place.

Before you make the fruit salad, ask your child to name some different fruits. Then ask her what her favorite fruit is. Explain to your child that you are going to make a fruit salad together. Ask, “Do you know what a fruit salad is?” Talk about it and tell her how colorful it will be. Then, ask your child, “Arrr you ready to begin?!”

Wash the fruit and pat dry with a paper towel. Ask your child to count along as you:

• Cut each banana into 16 pieces.
• Cut each strawberry into 4 pieces.
• Cut the peaches into bite size pieces.

If your child is young and/or the grapes are large, cut the grapes in half lengthwise.

Have your child put each group of fruit into its own bowl. Ask her how many bowls there are. Also, have her say the color of each fruit.

Now it’s time to for your child to fill her treasure chest! Ask her to choose several pieces of fruit from each group and put them into her treasure chest. Have her count each piece as she puts it in her cup.

As she tastes the fruit, ask her to describe its texture. Is it soft, firm, squishy, or mushy? Then ask, “Which fruits are sweet?” “Are any of them sour?”