My Vegetable Friends

Hello!

I’d like to introduce you to some of my vegetable friends.

Let’s start off with Broccoli. He is green and has a lot of fuzzy hair. When you eat him, always start at the hair. That way you can give him a haircut with your teeth.

 

Now here’s my other friend, Potato.

Potato has little freckles on her face, and not much hair at all.

 

 

She lives inside a hole with all her brothers and sisters until, one day, she’s pulled right up out of it.

Here is her home before she’s been pulled up. You can see it is nicely decorated with a green roof.

 

 

Once she’s out, her face is a little bit dirty. She usually needs a scrub-up before you can eat her!

 

 

WHAT’S THAT? you say. You eat your FRIENDS?!

Well, yes, I do. When my friends are vegetables!

Here is another one of my vegetable friends that I like very much.

 

She is called a Zucchini in some places, and a Courgette in others.

She also likes to disguise herself as lots of other fruits and vegetables…

Here is one Zucchini who wants to look like a banana!

 

And here is one who would like to pretend to be a football:

 

Zucchinis have pretty flowers on top. Sometimes we eat those too.

 

 

Like the Zucchini, Capsicums also have two names. They are sometimes also called Bell Peppers.

Bell Peppers are a vegetable that like to have fun.

You can play Traffic Lights with them, because they come in the same colours as traffic lights.

Ready?

 

STOP!

 

 

WAIT….

 

 

GO!

 

 

That’s right! Go and eat those yummy Bell Peppers up. You will find that they are really sweet.

Now this next friend I am about to introduce you to is a little bit frightened and shy. He is called an Onion.

He is delicious when you cook him in a pan. But when you chop him with a knife, he will make you cry! He really wishes you wouldn’t do it.

 

 

Don’t be afraid though, because after you cook him, he is sweet as sugar.

This lot below are so shy, they’re blushing.

 

 

Like Potato, Onion also grows in the ground, where he is snuggly and warm.

He puts flowers on the roof of his house, so you won’t notice he’s there.

 

 

Another friend of mine who looks and tastes a little bit like Onion is Garlic.

But unlike the Onion, who has a nice, round tummy, Garlic’s tummy has lots of little muscles.

How many can you count here?

 

 

When you open up a garlic, you can see them better.

We squish them in a garlic crusher and make our food delicious. Garlic really does have a yummy taste.

 

 

Now no talk about vegetables would be complete without talking about the most famous vegetable of all…. my friend, the Carrot.

Aren’t her and her brothers and sisters lovely and long?

 

 

Sometimes carrots come in funny shapes – this one looks like a lobster holding up his claws.

 

 

But the best thing about Carrots must be that EVERYBODY loves Carrots.

Rabbits love Carrots…

 

 

Goats love Carrots…

 

 

Horses love Carrots…

 

 

Marmots love Carrots…

 

 

Elephants love Carrots…. (yes, Elephants!)

 

 

And even DOGS like Carrots!

Well so it seems, anyway.

 

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting my vegetable friends.

They would love to come to your house for dinner sometime soon!

 

Short story for kids by Jade Maitre

Illustrations from Pixabay

Let’s Chat About The Stories ~ Ideas for Talking With Kids

Conversation

1. What is your favourite vegetable? Why do you like it so much?

Creativity

2. What do you think is the difference between a vegetable and a fruit?

3. Can you think of some things we make with potatoes?