The Crunchy Munchy Salad Activity for Teachers

By Abby Connors from Shake, Rattle, and Roll | Posted 10/5/10 | Updated 5/17/24

You will not find too many children’s songs about healthy foods. I always hope this activity will inspire interest in eating salad. At least it inspires interest in pretending to be salad!

Learning Benefits

This activity benefits children in auditory memory, cognitive development, fine and gross motor skills, imagination and curiosity.

Download Crunchy Munchy Salad Activity PDF

Auditory memory (remembering musical cues to jump and clap)
Cognitive development (colors)
Curiosity
Fine-motor skills (clapping)
Gross-motor skills (jumping)
Imagination (pretending to be vegetables)
Listening skills (waiting for their colors to be called)
Vocabulary (lettuce, onion, tomato, carrot)

1. In this activity, you will match the colors children are wearing to various salad vegetables. First tell the children that this game is about salad. The space in the middle of the circle is the salad bowl, and they are going to be the vegetables in the salad. Ask the children to look at their clothes and think about what colors they are wearing. Then tell them that you are going to sing a song about a color. If they are wearing that color, they can be the vegetable you mention and come to the “salad bowl.”

2. Sing slowly and clearly to the tune of “A-Hunting We Will Go”:

Oh, if you are wearing red,
If you are wearing red,
You can be a tomato,
And jump in the salad bowl!

3. When all the “tomatoes” are in the salad bowl, ask them to jump while you and the other children clap to the beat and sing to the same tune:

Oh, the crunchy munchy salad,
The crunchy munchy salad,
It’s fun to crunch, it’s fun to munch,
The crunchy munchy salad!

4. Continue with other vegetables:

Green…lettuce
White…onion
Orange…carrot
Brown…potato (or mushroom)

5. You may need some fruit, too.

Blue…blueberry
Pink…watermelon
Purple…grape

6. Last but not least…

Yellow…cheese

7. By now, everyone should be in the salad bowl. Have them stay there while you pretend to pour salad dressing on them. (They love this part.)

8. To maintain order after the game, you may want to ask the tomatoes to return to their seats, then the lettuce, and so on.

Next: The Secret (and Very Creative) Life of Puppets

Abby Connors is an early-childhood music teacher and author of Shake, Rattle and Roll: Rhythm Instruments and More for Active Learning. …

Shake, Rattle, and Roll: Rhythm Instruments and More for Active Learning by Abigail Flesch Connors (pages 103-108 and 164-165), ISBN 978-0-87659-349-3, is reprinted with permission from Gryphon House, Inc., P O Box 10, 6848 Leon’s Way, Lewisville, NC 27023. (800) 638-0928. www.gryphonhouse.com