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What's Inside? Fruit & Veg Cards
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What's Inside? Fruit & Veg Cards

Guess what a fruit looks like inside, draw your guess on the printable card, then cut the real one open and compare. Kitchen science that ends in a tasting plate.

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Ages 2-710 min prep

My daughter refused to try a kiwi for two years. Then we cut one open as an experiment rather than a meal, and she ate three.

That is the whole trick of this basket: the food is a puzzle first and a snack second. Guessing what is inside makes children curious rather than suspicious.

We do it with whatever is in the fruit bowl, and the drawings go on the fridge.

The real half laid next to the guess — the moment of truth.
The real half laid next to the guess — the moment of truth.
The experiment becomes the snack plate.
The experiment becomes the snack plate.

What you'll need

  • The printable What's Inside? cards (download below)
  • Coloured pencils or crayons
  • A selection of real fruit and vegetables: apple, orange, kiwi, pepper, mushroom, tomato, avocado, cucumber
  • A chopping board and a knife (grown-up job)
  • A plate for the tasting board
  • Optional: a magnifying glass for looking at seeds

How to make it

  1. 1

    Print the card sheet and cut it into eight cards, or keep it whole as one guessing page.

  2. 2

    Put one whole fruit or vegetable on the table. Ask your child what they think is inside — the colour, the seeds, the pattern.

  3. 3

    Let them draw their guess inside the dotted circle on the matching card, before anything is cut.

  4. 4

    Now cut the real one open, place the halves next to the card, and compare. Was there a star inside the apple? How many seeds in the pepper?

  5. 5

    Count the seeds together, look at them with a magnifying glass, and talk about which ones we eat and which we do not.

  6. 6

    Repeat with the next item. Four or five is plenty for one session.

  7. 7

    Arrange all the halves and slices on a plate as a tasting board with the cards tucked beside them, and eat the experiment.

Tip

Cut an apple across its middle instead of top to bottom to reveal the star of seeds — it gets a gasp every time. Keep a card for anything unusual you bring home: star fruit, pomegranate, fennel, passion fruit.