Rainbow Smoothie (Grades K-5)

Use a variety of fresh and frozen fruits to make a nutritious, rainbow-inspired smoothie.

A rainbow is one of water’s most magical tricks! Caused by water droplets, rainbows appear when light — most often sunlight — is reflected and refracted through those droplets. (“Refraction” means that when light passes through something, like water or a window, it will bend or change direction.)

Rainbows can appear in the sky after a rain shower, near a lawn sprinkler or in the spray of a waterfall.

Our rainbow smoothie gets its name from the vibrant, layered colors. Rainbows have every color of the light spectrum — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Pick a few of your favorites and get blending!

What You Need

• A blender
• Plenty of fruit in different colors and a handful of fresh spinach. Here’s a suggestion for each color of the rainbow:
  • Red: Strawberries and raspberries
  • Orange: Mango, peaches and orange slices
  • Yellow: Bananas and pineapple
  • Green: Bananas and/or pineapple, plus a handful of spinach (trust us, it will be delish!)
  • Blue: We know, it’s hard to find blue food. For this one, use bananas or pineapple and add a couple of drops of blue food coloring.
  • Indigo/Violet: Blueberries and blackberries
• Plain or vanilla yogurt
• Ice, if needed (Frozen fruit will help thicken your smoothie. If you’re using fresh fruit, add a couple of ice cubes.)
• Most fruit is already sweet, but you can add some honey, sugar or another sweetener if your smoothie is too tart
• A clear glass in which to serve your Rainbow Smoothie so you can see all of the beautiful colors

For each layer, use:

• 1 cup of fruit. You can use just one kind of fruit in each layer, or a combination to get the color you want.
• 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
• A splash of liquid (water, dairy or non-dairy milk or apple juice, for example)
• A couple of ice cubes if the fruit is fresh

What To Do

1. Decide what colors you want to make and gather your ingredients. Gather up the ingredients to make several colors, or just pick your favorite color in the rainbow and make a smoothie to match!
2. Make your layers. Fill the blender with the ingredients for one color, blend until smooth, then pour the smoothie into a glass. Put the glass in the refrigerator so it stays cold while you make your other colors.
3. Rinse out the blender and make your next color.
4. Keep making your layers until you have all the ones you want.
5. Make sure each layer isn’t too liquidy. If they are too thin, the smoothies will blend together instead of appearing as separate layers. Blending ice with the fruit can help thicken it.
6. Once you have prepared all of the layers, carefully spoon each layer, in color order, into your glass. Using a spoon is best; if you pour the layer in too fast the colors might get all mixed up.
7. Add a straw and enjoy your Rainbow Smoothie!