Creative Kid Snacks

make fun of lunch!

READ.PLAY.EAT – Lousy Rotten Stinkin’ Grapes

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READ.

By Margie Palatini

Lousy Rotten Stinkin’ Grapes is an adorable story about a fox trying to reach grapes high up in a tree and getting all of his friends to help him.  He thinks he is the smartest of all the creatures in the forest, so he is boss and tells all of his friends how they are to help.  Even though each individual friend could have done the job itself using its own skills, the fox, in his pride, insists on telling everyone what do to.  After all of the failed attempts by the fox and his crew, the friends get the grapes on their own and the fox goes away empty handed and ashamed.  It’s a really fun read, and the kids start to predict what will happen as each animal friend comes into the picture.
PLAY.

 

Create an obstacle challenge for your kids to figure out.  


We chose to place a shoe up in a tree and tell Grace that it was her responsibility to get it down (with her own hands) and to figure out how to do it.  Just like the fox did!

 

As you move from left to right across each row, you can see the order of events for how she went about getting the shoe.  (Thanks Daddy for the shoe!)

 

Right away she asked her dad to stand near the tree so she could climb on him.

 

When asked how she would get up on dad’s shoulders, she went down to the picnic table and asked us to bring it over as a way for her to get higher.

 

She realized she had to ask Dad to sit down so she could climb on his shoulders.

 

When he stood back up with her on his shoulders and his feet on the ground, they still were not tall enough.  


Finally, she asked Jesse to stand on the picnic table seat so they could reach.  Success!

 

EAT.

You can create the story for lunch by using a slice of summer sausage cut into a triangle, 4 sticks, and two crescent shapes to make the fox.  Next, make a tree by slicing a peanut butter sandwich as shown.  Use some cut celery for the ground and a couple of the celery leaves for the tree tops.  Finally, add the grapes, and your child will be delighted to see the story come alive!

Read.Play.Eat: Blackout

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I’ve mentioned the awesome series going on at Sugar and Spice (my personal blog) on Learning and Literacy.  Each day, one of three cool bloggers share a kids story book along with an activity to go along with it.  Since I can’t resist making creative snacks, I’m also sharing those in each of my posts in this October series.

Here’s a little “teaser” for you to see the lunch I made.  Click the link below to see the great kids’ book that goes with it, along with a learning activity you and your child can try today!

Read
(Click here to see the book)
Play
(Go over to the post to see the learning activity!)
Eat
 
Re-create the rooftop scene by making a building out of a peanut butter sandwich, cutting the crusts into cubes for windows.  Next, slice 2 baby carrots in half and in half again for the main part of the bodies.  Thinly slice the remaining portions for the arms and legs.  We are seeing the people from behind, as shown in the cover of the book above, so no eyes are needed.  
I almost used a full banana for the moon, but it was way too big for the scale of the plate, so I cut a banana to shape.  
Create the stars by using your star icing tube attachment in the corner of a plastic bag.  Fill the bag with a little plain or vanilla yogurt as shown.  If you don’t have a star attachment for icing, just make little dot stars!
 
 
I hope you and your child have fun with this READ.PLAY.EAT activity.

(Did you go see the whole thing?  DO IT) 

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Winnie the Pooh

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We are in love with Costco’s strawberries.  We’ve bought them all summer and they are consistently delicious.
This week I had some strawberries in the house as well as some organic colby jack cheese, also from Costco.  I decided a Winnie the Pooh snack was in order.
Cut cheese to shape using a sharp knife.  I think I used two slices to make this snack, giving the leftover cheese to my two year old.  Next, create a shirt with strawberries sliced in half to lay flat on the plate and fit together to look like a shirt.
Add Pooh’s nose and eyes with some raisins, and draw his mouth and “Hunny” pot using the technique shown below.  Serve the rest of the yogurt on the side, and you have a fun and healthy snack!

(Linked HERE)
 

Snail

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I love the idea of using bright, colorful fruit to recreate some of the beautiful scenes we see in nature.  Although snail shells are not known to be this bright, the two colors I used contrast themselves to show the beautiful pattern that these shells naturally have.
Slice a banana in half lengthwise to make the snail’s body.  Place a ground of oatmeal beneath him.
Add a raisin eye and a sliced blueberry for a mouth.  Use a tiny bit of the other half of the banana for some antennae.
For the shell, use contrasting fruits like raspberries and grapes to form a swirly shell look as shown above.
This one is great to make after reading a book like this:
About this link
(linked HERE)

Hello Kitty

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Hello Kitty is a simple yet pretty lunch to make.  I chose to make her with a peanut butter sandwich, cut into an oval with two pointy ears, a strawberry bow, black bean eyes, and a banana nose.  For her whiskers, I thinly sliced some apples and placed them into little grooves I had cut into the sandwich.  The grooves really help the apples to stay in place.  My little girl really enjoyed this one, I hope your little one does too!
Variations:
Bow: watermelon, raspberries
Eyes: raisins, blueberries
Nose: a slice of white string cheese, a dab of yogurt

(linked HERE) 

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar

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We all love the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  
Take a morning and read the story with your child, then talk about all the foods the caterpillar ate, and perhaps talk about which of the foods he ate were nutritious and which were not. 
Then, create him yourself!  Take a large strawberry and slice to create his head.  Next, create his eyes by using little bits of pineapple cut into circles and place sliced green jelly belly candies in front.  Form his body with green grapes , carrot feet, raisin mouth, and ham antennae.  He is walking on an oatmeal ground and taking in the cheddar cheese sun! 

(linked HERE) 

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Copyright Note

Please feel free to use any of these ideas with your children at home, school, church, or anywhere you are inspired to make fun of lunch. If you would like to share a post on a blog or site, you may use one picture so long as you include a link to the original post. Please do not re-post the whole article or distribute printed-out content without written permission from the original author.

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