Kids in the Kitchen – Strawberry Octopus

This post was contributed by Stephanie of Spaceships and Laser Beams.

Some Simple & Healthy Kids in the Kitchen Fun:

My son, Sam, and I were doing our kitchen thing together last week. We picked up fresh berries at market and I had already purchased Wilton’s candy eyes; I knew they would be useful in our play-with-food adventures. You can make lots of silly monsters and all kinds of characters if you just have candy eyes! I had recently seen Dacil’s cute idea for a strawberry octopus on her Little Cook Food and Fun blog. It seemed like a good summer-beachy treat for us to make. Sam and I were ready to create our own version! It’s so simple.

Kids in the Kitchen – Strawberry Octopus

1. Wash 2 strawberries
2. Cut off the green stems
3. Set one berry on a plate, cut side down
4. Slice one berry into eight pieces for “legs” and arrange them
5. Press the candy eyes onto the berry

When Sam and I are working on things in the kitchen, I always try to teach him something about the food we’re playing with. This time I looked up strawberries in advance so I would be somewhat prepared for his questions (experience is a wonderful teacher). There are about 200 tiny seeds on each average sized berry (tuck that tidbit away in case you end up on Jeopardy)! Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside…except I learned they aren’t technically a fruit. They are actually the enlarged receptacles of the plant’s flowers so they aren’t even classified as berries. Strawberries are a member of the rose family. That calls to mind Shakespeare’s phrase, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”…as a strawberry?

I think it would have been easier to talk about octopuses. Or is it octopi? The world can be a confusing place!

More Kids in the Kitchen Fun from B-Inspired Mama:

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