Amy Hudson

Baa Baa Black Sheep

June 11, 2013 by Amy Hudson

Baa Baa, Black Sheep is a common nursery rhyme that first appeared in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book published in 1744! This was a collection of English nursery rhymes, and Baa, Baa Black Sheep, along with Humpty Dumpty, Hey Diddle Diddle, Old King Cole, and more, have been beloved songs and verses chanted by many of us throughout the centuries. When I became a mom, I made sure to have a copy of the classic nursery rhymes in my library for my own kids to learn and appreciate these little pieces of history.

My two children had the privilege of knowing most of their great grandparents for some of the early years of their life. I always marveled at the way both great grandparent and great grandchild could recite their favorite nursery rhymes together and how great grandpa was taken back to his childhood as my children were experiencing theirs.

Baa Baa, Black Sheep

Ingredients:

handful of fresh blackberries

1 slice white cheese (mozzarella, provolone, swiss)

2 baby carrots

2 stalks celery

Directions:

Place blackberries in a large circle in the center of the plate. Add a few extra blackberries where a head would be as you will use this area as a surface on which to lay the face. Slice a large teardrop along with two small teardrop shapes out of the white cheese. Place those on the head area to define the face and ears of your sheep. Next, slice a baby carrot in half and then into 4 thin strips out of one of the halves. Arrange the 4 strips of carrot below the sheep’s body to look like legs. Take your knife and carefully slice a little smile out of your remaining half of a baby carrot. Place the smile on the face. Use two tiny blackberry fruit bits for eyes, and finish the look by adding small chunks of celery to look like the grass in which the sheep is grazing.

Nutritional Benefits of this Snack

Blackberries contain Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Manganese and fiber. They are one of the top 10 antioxidant foods, known to contain polyphenols that helps reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. They also help to reduce inflammation. Read more here.

Celery is a fantastic source of fiber, and it is said that a person burns more calories eating and digesting celery than the celery gives you. It’s a “negative calorie” food!

Carrots contain beta carotene and lots of Vitamin A which helps with eyesight. Nutrients in carrots are also linked to great skin, cleansing of the body, and lowered risk of stroke and heart disease. See more here.

If you loved today’s snack, make sure you check out our other Book-Inspired plates along with our other Super Healthy Snacks!

(Sharing HERE)

Did you enjoy today’s snack? Learn more about this blog here.

Minnie Mouse Birthday Party Ideas

June 2, 2013 by Amy Hudson

Minnie Mouse is one of the most endearing characters in Disney’s lineup. Sweet, kind, charming, and understanding, she is a great example for little girls to enjoy watching in their favorite movies and TV shows. My girls love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney channel, and today we will be sharing some finger foods for a Minnie Mouse Birthday Party.

Minnie’s Bow Bites

Use little skewers or decorative plastic toothpicks (some great ones are available at the dollar store) – to serve beautiful little bows just like you might find at Minnie’s Bow-tique. These bows are made of two strawberries and one blueberry in the middle.

Minnie Mouse Pudding Cups

Use a few drops of pink food coloring to make vanilla pudding into a pretty pink, then sprinkle some mini chocolate chips over top. Serve with little spoons decorated with Minnie’s bow. I just drew my own (they don’t have to be perfect), and used double sided tape to stick them in place. Don’t want to serve pudding? Use strawberry yogurt instead!

White Chocolate Dipped Minnie Strawberries

Melt 2 cups white chocolate chips in the microwave for 1 minute, stirring every 20 seconds, until smooth. Add a few drops of pink food coloring. Dip fresh strawberries in and lay onto parchment or wax paper. Allow to chill for 15 minutes in refridgerator. Melt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips in microwave using the same method, and pipe little polka dots onto each of your pink berries. Also try drawing some Minnie Mouse ears, or drizzle with thin lines for decorate look. The amounts of chocolate listed here will yield 16-24 strawberries.

Minnie Mouse White Chocolate Oreo Cookies

Save yourself a little time and hassle by not trying to dip these delicate Minnie faces into melted chocolate!

Using a package of Double Stuff Oreos and a package of Mini Oreos, create little Minnie faces by separating the Mini Oreos into individual chocolate cookies and gently press into the white filling of the Double Stuff Oreos.

Next, melt 1 cup of white chocolate in the microwave by heating for 1 minute, stirring at 20 second intervals, until smooth. Add a few drops of pink food coloring, and spoon into a decorating bag or, even easier, a plastic baggie with a tiny corner snipped off for an opening. Pipe the white chocolate onto each cookie, making sure to connect the large circle on the face with the smaller circles on the ears. This way, when chilled, the chocolate will hold the whole thing together.

Who wouldn’t love a nice treat like this?

More Minnie Mouse Birthday Party Ideas We Love

Source: TurtleMonogram via Amy on Pinterest

Source: Triple M Good Parties at Kara’s Party Ideas via Amy on Pinterest

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Do YOU have a kids birthday party coming up soon? Would you like some creative kid snack ideas for your party? Please let us know on Facebook! I’d love to help you come up with some unique foods to serve! Tell me the theme, and let’s get creative together!

Creative Food Ideas for your next party: Creative Kid Snacks

(Sharing HERE)

Did you enjoy today’s snack? Learn more about this blog here.

Weekly Kid’s Co-op

May 30, 2013 by Amy Hudson

It’s time for the Weekly Kids Co-op!

As moms, we are constantly on the lookout for great teaching tools and resources to use with our children. I know I always benefit from seeing the creativity of others as they share lessons, activities, crafts, food, and more in their various blogs. Mommy bloggers have become popular for a good reason: information is power. Right, ladies?

The Weekly Kids Co-op is one of my very favorite such resources. I have been linking my snacks to this link party for months now, and I am excited to be able to co-host it here at Creative Kid Snacks.

If you are a blogger, link up your kid related posts to share with all of us eager beaver mommas. If you are a mom, take some time to look through all of the great ideas for teaching and playing with our kids. Pin what you love. Like I said before, information is power!

This party will take place every Thursday at Creative Kid Snacks. You will find it hosted on several other blogs, but the days the party goes live will vary from blog to blog.

Get ready for all the great ideas! Link, share, and enjoy!

Memorial Day Craft: Make Your Own (Edible) American Flag

May 26, 2013 by Amy Hudson

Memorial day is right around the corner. It’s a time to celebrate and remember those who gave their lives fighting for our country’s freedom. We are so fortunate to have all we do in this country, and taking a few minutes out to celebrate that is a good thing. Today we are celebrating our country with an edible craft: make your own American flag.

Make Your Own American Flag

First, gather the supplies (ingredients) necessary for the kids to use to build their flag.

Ingredients:

* Whole Wheat tortilla (substitute baked crescent rolls or even a piece of toast)

* Cream Cheese Mixture (see below)

* Cut up strawberries and blueberries (watermelon or raspberries may be substituted for strawberries).

* String Cheese (sliced into strips lengthwise)

How to make your own flag:

Slice whole wheat tortillas into a rectangle. The ones shown here are too large for a single serving for a child. Think about slicing it to the size of a piece of toast. (Remember, a piece of toast would also be an option if you don’t have tortillas).

Next, make the following cream cheese mixture (stolen from the classic “fruit pizza” recipe).

Cream Cheese Spread:

1/2 block cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1 t vanilla

Combine using a hand mixer until smooth and creamy.

Spread this mixture atop your tortillas.

We pulled up a picture of the American flag and I asked the girls to describe it. What did they see? What were the patterns? How many stars did they guess were in the flag? Why?

Next, I asked them if they could create their own flag using the ingredients in front of them.

After about 5 minutes of work, this is what Grace did, (she is 5 years old):

And, with a LOT of help from me, this was Emma’s (hey, I needed a nice picture to show you, right?)

Once the flags were done, we pulled out our star sprinkles to complete the look:

So Fun!

What are you doing for memorial day?

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out our other holiday inspired snacks.

(Sharing HERE)

Did you enjoy today’s snack? Learn more about this blog here.

Creative Kid Snacks on TV

May 23, 2013 by Amy Hudson

The girls and I were thrilled to see some of our snacks featured on The Dr. Oz Show yesterday.

They did a small segment at the end of the show about how some moms are using “food art” or “healthy plate art” to encourage their kids to eat healthy foods.

These were the snacks created by us seen on the segment:

Butterfly Quesadillas

We also created two plates just for Dr. Oz as a thank you for sharing our snacks on the show:

The girls were really excited to put these together with me. We got an official photo of Dr. Oz that we were working from. We used his face for one plate and his logo for another.

Logo Snack:

Spread Greek Yogurt (2x the protein than regular yogurt and free from all that excess sugar) onto a plate. Next, we sliced blueberries in half to allow them to lay flat in the yogurt and arranged them in the shape of the letters and the box that goes around them. Finally, we used baby carrots thinly sliced to create the other words in the logo.

Dr. Oz’s Face:

We laid a slice of provolone cheese onto the plate and added another piece on top of that for his nose. Next, we used some leftover beef from last night’s french dip sandwiches for his hair and his eyebrows. To make his eyes, we used some Greek yogurt and blueberries. For his mouth, we used watermelon and Greek yogurt. The stethoscope is made out of blueberries (sliced in half to lay flat), carrots, watermelon, and an apple.

A nice, balanced plate for Dr. Oz!

Note: Dr. Oz does not endorse anything, and no one is allowed to use his name or likeness to sell anything. We are not selling anything or claiming that Dr. Oz endorses all of our snacks. We are simply sharing our experience with being a part of the show.

Tune in to The Dr. Oz Show next Wednesday morning to see the healthy plate segment. If you missed it yesterday!

I’m going to share a little clip of Grace (my 5 year old) reacting when she saw our clip on TV on our FACEBOOK page. It’s so cute!

It’s time for the Weekly Kids Co-op!

This party will take place every Thursday at Creative Kid Snacks. You will find it hosted on several other blogs, but the days the party goes live will vary from blog to blog.

Get ready for all the great ideas! Link, share, and enjoy!

Weekly Kid’s Co-op

May 16, 2013 by Amy Hudson

It’s time for the Weekly Kids Co-op!

This party will take place every Thursday at Creative Kid Snacks. You will find it hosted on several other blogs, but the days the party goes live will vary from blog to blog.

Get ready for all the great ideas! Link, share, and enjoy!

Learning about Cells

May 14, 2013 by Amy Hudson

I remember learning about cells when I was in 7th grade. For extra credit, I made a cell cake. My mom helped me decorate a round cake and create all of the cell components on top using different colored icing and piping instruments.

The cake turned out so well that my teacher decided to place it in a display case in a prominent area of the school. I laugh thinking back at that because the cake sat in there for so long that it started to decompose, and we were never able to eat any of that delicious cell cake!

Aside from earning me those extra credit points, that cake helped me to remember and love learning about the cell.

Today’s snack is a healthy version of that same experience, and it could be done in a science classroom as a test on the parts of a cell, or at home as part of a home school curriculum. You could also make it for your younger kids just to teach them about the cell and how it all works, like we did!

As I was creating this snack for my 5 year-old, I pulled up this great site which gives clear explanations of each part of the cell, along with easy-to-understand drawings and diagrams. I modeled today’s plate after this diagram on the site:

Click photo to be taken to source

Cells have lots of different components, and can be made using just about anything you have on hand in the kitchen. Since we were going for a healthy snack today, here is the list of ingredients we used:

Ingredients

celery (1 stalk)

turkey breast (2 slices)

yellow pepper

strawberry (1 small slice)

orange (1 slice)

carrots (2)

green grapes (1)

yogurt (1 tablespoon)

hot dog slices (3 thin slices)

string cheese (2-3 small slices)

Create your cell by arranging each element on the plate as shown.

The carrots are sliced in half so that they lay flat on the plate.

To create the shape of the centrioles (green grapes), slice a green grape into wheels, then slice tiny triangles out of the edges.

The ribosomes (yogurt) are made using the following technique (which we absolutely love!):

The finished product:

How to use this snack / activity

Challenge your (older) student to create a cell at home for a snack using some of the ingredients pictured here. Your student can see if he can name each part of the cell and what its function is when he is done.

Teach your younger children about the human body using this snack. You could draw the different parts on index cards, and write the function of the part on the back. Your children can pick up one card at a time to learn what that part of the cell does. They can even eat that part as you explain what its job is.

Science teachers could use this as an assessment activity. Provide foods such as those pictured here, and assign students to create a plate of the animal cell, and be prepared to explain what each part is and its function.

Use resources like this to dig deeper and learn even more together with your child!

More Science Related Snacks

Solar System

Volcano

Under the Sea ecosystem

(Sharing HERE)

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ViveVita Everyday Elegance Chair Covers: Review and GIVEAWAY!

May 10, 2013 by Amy Hudson

We Love Kids. Kids Make Messes.

So, most of us reading this blog are parents. Parents who have kids. Kids who love to eat delicious and creative food like we make here. We love thinking up new ways we can make meal time healthy and FUN for our kids.

Sometimes, however, meal time isn’t that fun for our poor furniture.

I don’t know about you, but the chairs we use at my kitchen table have been through a lot. Since we transitioned our youngest out of her booster seat with tray attached, there has been more and more “decoration” of the seats of our kitchen chairs.

A couple of weeks ago, I realized that, if I have a prayer of keeping clean seats on my kitchen chairs, I needed something waterproof, washable, and yet comfortable (non-plastic) to sit on.

After a lot of googling, I finally found ViveVita: a company started by Robyn, a mom of 9 children who invented some awesome products out of necessity. No one knows what kinds of products moms need better than moms who are in the trenches, right?

One of the fantastic items Robyn has created are the Everyday Elegance Chair Covers. I quickly realized that these chair covers were exactly what I was looking for! I contacted Robyn, thrilled to have found her product, and she offered to GIVE AWAY a set of chair covers to one of my readers! Yay!

Everyday Elegance Chair Covers

I was so excited to receive and start using my chair covers. They come in packs of 2, so I ordered 2 packs for my 4 dining chairs.

Immediately, I opened up the packages and put those puppies on!

The Simply Linen color from the Everyday Elegance line looks great on my chairs in my kitchen and dining area because of the colors we have on the walls, cabinets, and counter. Also available in this line are the following color options:

-Ebony Black

-Richly Red

-Sagey Green

-Creamy Brown

All that is necessary to put the chair covers on is to lay the top panel flat on your chair, Velcro the two connecting fabric strips in the back, and fold the panel down over the back section once you’ve attached the two strips. No ties, pulling, stretching, tucking, or any other sweat-inducing activities needed!

Notice how nice the covers look from the back. The Velcro strips are attached beneath that top panel that comes down over them for a seamless look.

The chair covers measure approximately 19x18x7. They fit most dining chairs, including those with plenty of stuffing in the seats! Depending upon the type of chairs you have, the fabric could also be tucked beneath your existing cushion, if it’s removable.

The cushions on my kitchen chairs are not very thick, so I actually used the inside pad from our old chair covers from IKEA (which were completely shot), and the fit and look was great. The length of the fabric that falls down each side of the chair is about 7 inches.

The Test

When I was googling waterproof chair covers, (ultimately leading me to ViveVita), I saw this photo in another blogger’s post reviewing the Everyday Elegance Chair Covers:(source)

She poured cola on her chair covers, and showed how the waterproof material prevented the cola from absorbing, and then wiped clean.

I decided to conduct my own test using orange juice. Check out my results!

It looks like the liquid is absorbing, but wait!

Even though it looked like some of the juice was making it’s way into the fabric, when wiped with a damp cloth and allowed to dry, not a trace of liquid (orange or clear) was visible on the chair cover.

After spot cleaning, washing, and using these chair covers for over a week, I can say that they are still looking like new and working fabulously!

This is exactly what I’ve been looking for!

Love These?

Meet Robyn: Follow Vive Vita on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and her blog.

Buy Your Own: You can purchase your very own Everyday Elegance Chair Covers from Vive Vita on Amazon.

Win Your Own: Enter below for a chance to win your very own package of Vive Vita Chair Covers in one of the following beautiful colors: richly red, sagey green, or ebony black.

*Note* – one entry choice will be to PIN the following image to one of your Pinterest boards. You will need to leave a comment on today’s post letting us know your Pinterest URL and the name of the board you pinned to. This entry is worth 3 points! Woo Hoo!

Pinnable Image:

Giveaway is open to US residents until Friday, May 17 at 11:59 pm. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Weekly Kid’s Co-op

May 9, 2013 by Amy Hudson

It’s time for the Weekly Kids Co-op!

This party will take place every Thursday at Creative Kid Snacks. You will find it hosted on several other blogs, but the days the party goes live will vary from blog to blog.

Get ready for all the great ideas! Link, share, and enjoy!

Finding Nemo Snack

May 6, 2013 by Amy Hudson

Finding Nemo is one of Disney’s most beloved movies. Even my two year old, who is scared of some of the other Disney movies at her age, likes Finding Nemo (although she does hold her sister’s hand during the shark part when we watch it at home). We love all of the characters, including Dory, Marlin, Squirt, Crush, Mr. Ray, and, of course, Nemo.

Finding Nemo Snack

Ingredients:

2 baby carrots

1 green grape

1 slice of cheddar cheese

1 T of yogurt (plain, Greek, etc.)

1 raisin or currant

Slice a baby carrot in half lengthwise, and lay each half on the plate. This will be Marlin and Nemo’s bodies. Take another baby carrot, slice in half lengthwise, and slice two triangles out of one of the halves. Place these triangles onto the back of each body for tails. Next, spoon a tablespoon of yogurt (I love to use plain Greek yogurt here, it’s got the most protein, and it’s actually better that it’s not sweetened, because it’s being served atop a carrot!). Snip a tiny corner off of the bag, and pipe yogurt onto the fish’s bodies, making two stripes on the body, one on the tail, then an eye and a smile for each fish. Finish the look by using the remainder of the yogurt to pipe little waves across the top of the plate to look like the fish are under water.

Slice a green grape in half lengthwise. Next, slice each half into thin sections, and arrange on the plate to look like sea plants. So simple, yet so adorable!

More Fun and Healthy Disney Snacks

Check out the other Disney snacks we’ve made. Making your child’s favorite Disney characters using healthy foods is a great way to delight them as they eat, and encourage them to gobble up all of that healthy stuff you’ve used to make them! Here are some examples:

Did you enjoy today’s snack? Learn more about this blog here.

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Baa Baa, Black Sheep

Ingredients:

Directions:

Nutritional Benefits of this Snack

Minnie’s Bow Bites

Minnie Mouse Pudding Cups

White Chocolate Dipped Minnie Strawberries

Minnie Mouse White Chocolate Oreo Cookies

More Minnie Mouse Birthday Party Ideas We Love

It’s time for the Weekly Kids Co-op!

Make Your Own American Flag

Ingredients:

How to make your own flag:

Cream Cheese Spread:

Logo Snack:

Dr. Oz’s Face:

*Note: Dr. Oz does not endorse anything, and no one is allowed to use his name or likeness to sell anything. We are not selling anything or claiming that Dr. Oz endorses all of our snacks. We are simply sharing our experience with being a part of the show.*

It’s time for the Weekly Kids Co-op!

It’s time for the Weekly Kids Co-op!

Ingredients

How to use this snack / activity

More Science Related Snacks

We Love Kids. Kids Make Messes.

Everyday Elegance Chair Covers

The Test

Love These?

It’s time for the Weekly Kids Co-op!

Finding Nemo Snack

Ingredients:

More Fun and Healthy Disney Snacks

Best of

Copyright Note

Grab our button!

Note: Dr. Oz does not endorse anything, and no one is allowed to use his name or likeness to sell anything. We are not selling anything or claiming that Dr. Oz endorses all of our snacks. We are simply sharing our experience with being a part of the show.