Rainbow Fruit Salad
A delicious Rainbow Recipe kids can make – a Rainbow Fruit Salad inspired by Don Freeman’s A Rainbow of My Own.
Kid-made Rainbow Fruit Salad Recipe
Apparently, when you’re a six year old chef, everything has to be rainbows.
If we’re not making unicorn desserts or mermaid-inspired breakfasts, it’s rainbows.
Rainbow fruit salad, rainbow smoothies, rainbow fruit and yogurt parfaits, rainbow pasta salad, rainbow spaghetti… you get the drift.
Personally, I think this rainbow obsession is amazing because we know that eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables is essential to getting all of the different vitamins, antioxidants and phytochemicals we need in our diet. Those different colors represent different health benefits that each fruit provides – sticking to only red fruits misses so many essential things our bodies need to thrive.
My daughter wanted to make a rainbow salad but when we started discussing all of the vegetables that we’d have to include to make a truly rainbow salad, she quickly shifted gears into making a rainbow fruit salad.
(Jokes on her because I used that brainstorm to make our rainbow pasta salad, which she loved.)
This fruit salad recipe couldn’t be simpler – kids simply clean and chop their favourite fruits and then whip up a simple fruit juice “dressing.”
The fruit salad can then be enjoyed on it’s own or as part of a healthy breakfast or dessert. Maybe you’ll add it to a yogurt parfait or a smoothie bowl? Or maybe you’ll use it to top a decadent chocolate brownie?
The lemon-honey dressing is optional, but it helps the fruit salad stay fresh for a couple of days – so kids can enjoy multiple servings, or bring their delicious creation to school in their lunch boxes. (Keep in mind that raw honey should not be fed to children under a year old.)
The salad can be all mixed together for a confetti of colour, or prepared in stripes like we did. (Read the directions for how we easily did that.)
I think it’s the perfect option for a healthy weekend brunch, maybe served alongside some scrambled eggs, fluffy pancakes or French toast.
You can also pair this healthy rainbow fruit salad with reading a gorgeous rainbow children’s book! A couple of my favorites are:
- Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
- A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
- Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
- My Color is Rainbow by Agnes Hsu (my brilliant friend)
Rainbow Fruit Salad Ingredients
- Strawberries
- Mandarins or orange segments
- Mango chunks
- Kiwi, chopped
- Blueberries
- Red grapes, halved
- Honey – keep in mind that raw honey should not be fed to children under 1 year old
- Fruit juice of choice
- Lemon juice, optional
Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.
Tip: swap out any of the fruits above for your preferred fruit in the same color family, ie, pineapple for the mango chunks.
Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful
- Kid-safe chopping knife <– Ella now uses my knives, but when she was younger these were awesome for allowing her to actually cut through fruits without risk of cutting herself. Many “kid safe” knives don’t actually cut food well, which can actually be more dangerous as the child is pushing harder and more likely to have an accident.
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing Spoon
- Large bowl
How to Make Rainbow Fruit Salad
Wash, peel, chop up and slice the fruit in whichever way you like.
Measure out 2 cups of each type of fruit.
Make the dressing in a small bowl and if you are serving all of the fruit together in a big mix, combine the fruit and dressing in a large bowl.
If you want to do the striped bowl that we did, you will need to dress each fruit individually or just drizzle the dressing on top. (About 1 1/2 Tablespoons per type of fruit.)
To arrange the fruit, place a small plate vertically (perpendicularly) into your bowl. Visually divide the bowl into 5 even sections – that is where the plate will be held each time.
Add the strawberries to the first section, holding them in place with the plate.
Add in half of the mandarins to their section, then move the plate to “hold them in place” as you add the remaining half. A few pieces of fruit will budge and just use your fingers to fix them.
Repeat with all fruit and sections.
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Grab your free printable for our delicious Rainbow Fruit Salad with optional dressing:
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Rainbow Fruit Salad
A pretty rainbow fruit salad with a lemon-honey dressing to keep it fresh in lunch boxes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups strawberries
- 2 cups mandarins or orange segments
- 2 cups mango chunks
- 2 cups kiwi, chopped
- 2 cups blueberries
- 2 cups grapes, halved
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 1/2 cup fruit juice of choice
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, optional
Instructions
- Wash, peel, chop up and slice the fruit in whichever way you like.
- Measure out 2 cups of each type of fruit.
- Make the dressing in a small bowl and if you are serving all of the fruit together in a big mix, combine the fruit and dressing in a large bowl.
- If you want to do the striped bowl that we did, you will need to dress each fruit individually or just drizzle the dressing on top. (About 1 1/2 Tablespoons per type of fruit.)
- To arrange the fruit, place a small plate vertically (perpendicularly) into your bowl. Visually divide the bowl into 5 even sections - that is where the plate will be held each time.
- Add the strawberries to the first section, holding them in place with the plate.
- Add in half of the mandarins to their section, then move the plate to "hold them in place" as you add the remaining half. A few pieces of fruit will budge and just use your fingers to fix them.
- Repeat with all fruit and sections.
Notes
Swap out the fruits listed for your preferred fruits of the same color.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 346Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 28mgCarbohydrates: 87gFiber: 11gSugar: 68gProtein: 5g
Sugar, Spice and Glitter uses an auto-generate nutrition calculator. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate unless analyzed in a scientific lab, so these should be considered more of a guideline than medical information.
This delicious fresh fruit salad recipe is a healthy St Patrick’s Day recipe or a fun rainbow recipe kids will love any time of the year!
For more rainbow activities for kids inspired by Don Freeman’s Rainbow, check out:
Roll A Rainbow Numbers Game – School Time Snippets
Rainbow Lacing Number Bonds – Rainy Day Mum
Rainbow Texture Explorations for Toddlers – Inspiration Laboratories
An Easy Rainbow Colored Fluid Dynamics Experiment for kids – Mama Smiles
Rainbow Streamer Craft – Views From a Step Stool
Rainbow Ribbon Wand Movement Activity – To Be A Kid Again
And we also have 50+ Rainbow Activities and Snacks for Kids here.