Make Vegetable LEGO Bricks
Do you have a hard time getting kids to eat their vegetables? Here is a great way to encourage them to enjoy doing what is good for them: transform their vegetables into neat little LEGO bricks!
Steps
- Pick the right vegetables. Many vegetables are suitable, including carrots, potatoes, squash, and rutabagas. You could also use firm tofu and add a food color to the water, which the tofu will soak up. You can do this with the vegetables, too. Be bold!
- Prepare your vegetables. Boil or steam the vegetables so they are soft but not mushy. Soak them for a couple minutes in salt water. This will make them a little firmer by drawing out some of the moisture.
- Cut the vegetables into cube shapes. As with real LEGO pieces, you will need to decide what bricks you would like to make: a single stud square brick, the four stud square, or the six stud rectangle. ("Stud" refers to the little bumps on top of real LEGO bricks).
- Poke a straw all the way through the vegetable. This will create a round hole and will push out the inside the vegetable brick. Be sure to match holes with the LEGO stud arrangement you're creating.
- Using a toothpick, push the stud from the bottom of the vegetable brick until it sticks out of the top. This ensures that it looks like a LEGO brick, complete with studs!
- Check the studs are evenly positioned across the top by looking at the brick sideways. If it's not, carefully press a stud back in, or poke one farther out.
- Serve with a smile on a colorful plate. Your kids will be delighted!
Tips
- The time required for boiling vegetables is different for each type––use your own cooking knowledge to judge, or check in a vegetable cookbook.
- You can also use other foods such as broccoli, sausage and cheese, Japanese omelets, fruits, and firm jellies or Jell-O.
- If the straw is stuck when you insert it in the vegetable cube, cut off a small slit as shown in the photo and this should correct the problem.
Things You'll Need
- Vegetables you'd like your kids to eat and that can be cut into cubes or rectangles (carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, squash, turnips, rutabagas, beets, pumpkin, etc.
- Plastic straw
- Pot, or microwave with bowl (heat resistant) for boiling
- Salt
- Toothpick, bamboo skewer, or chopstick for poking studs
- Knife and cutting board
- Food coloring
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