Have you entered my current giveaway yet?
Sorry for getting this post out so late. It has been a bit of a crazy day and I am finally getting time to sit at the computer. Anyway, we continued our Friday Fruit Exploration with raspberries. We love raspberries and even have a few raspberry bushes in our old garden. One of Hazel's favorite summertime activities at my parents' house is to be outside with my father in the raspberries. Funny how I never seem to get any, but she always comes in with a very red, messy face.
 |
| Inside of Raspberry |
The serving size of raspberries is one cup. In that cup of raspberries there are 67 calories of which 7 are from fat. They have 15 grams of total carbohydrates if which 8 grams is dietary fiber and 5 grams is sugar. Raspberries have a good amount of vitamin C. The serving gives you 54% of the daily recommended amount. They also give you 12% of the vitamin K daily recommendation and 41% of the manganese. They also have some Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. (Source) Scientific studies have shown that the phenolic flavonoid phytochemicals in raspberries help fight cancer, aging, inflammation, and neuro-degenerative diseases. It is among the top rated ORAC fruit. They are rich in the vitamin B complex, vitamin E, potassium, copper, iron and magnesium. Therefore raspberries help with controlling heart rate and blood pressure, production of red blood cells, and metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Raspberries are very perishible and should be purchased only a day or two in advance. (Source)
There were not very many books just on raspberries. We have enjoyed Berry Magic by Teri Sloat and Betty Huffmon. It is a wonderful Yupik Eskimo folktale of how a young girl uses a bit of magic and song grow new berries since she hears the old women complain about the crowberries every year. She gets blueberries, cranberries, raspberries and salmonberries.
The other book we found is Our Raspberry Jam by David E. Marx. It is a wonderful easy reader about a young girl who enjoys some raspberry jam which her family made together.
For our raspberry exploration we used Hazel's magnifying glass to look at the outside and inside of some raspberries. We recorded what we found in Hazel's fruit journal.
Then of course we ate them!! Did I mention I can get Hazel to do almost anything if I promise to buy some raspberries?
For a craft I was inspired by this craft at Luntiks. We took some red Crayola Model Magic Clay and made a raspberry shape. Then we tried to roll them in red and pink seed beads. The beads should have been bigger and we needed stickier clay. We did discover it worked better to put the clay around your finger so you could put some pressure on it when you rolled them. Now we are leaving them out to dry.
So that is our raspberry adventure!! I will have to think about some more raspberry crafts since there are not many out there!!
For more posts on fruits and raspberries in particular check out:
