Creative Kid Snacks

make fun of lunch!

Thanksgiving PB Apple Turkey

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Thanksgiving is coming up quickly.  Holidays are such a fun time to make a creative, healthy snack for kids to celebrate the season.  There are tons of amazing ideas out there for Thanksgiving food for kids, and today I’ll add one more to the mix.

Thanksgiving PB Apple Turkey

Kids Thanksgiving Turkey Snack

Ingredients

2 T creamy peanut butter

1 stick celery

1 small apple

1 almond

Directions

Place the peanut butter into a zip top baggie and snip a piece off of the corner of the bag.  Pipe the peanut butter onto the plate as shown for the turkey’s body and legs.  Slice an apple and arrange slices around the turkey’s body to look like feathers.  Add some celery “grass” below the turkey by placing some cut up celery there.  Finally, slice the two ends off of an almond and place into peanut butter for turkey’s eyes.  Use remaining almond to slice a triangle shape and place beneath eyes to look like a beak.

Simple and fun.  The best part is that the kids can dip the celery and apples into the peanut butter to eat.  My girls cleaned their plate!

Alternative serving suggestions:

Almond butter in place of peanut butter

Raisins for eyes and beak

After you serve this guy to your kiddos as a snack, try this turkey for lunch.  Your little turkeys will love it!

Read the preparation instructions for this lunch.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Paleo Kid Friendly Flower Power Snack

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Flowers are one of the easiest ways to present whole food in a way that children will love.  Today’s Flower Power snack contains protein-packed egg and raw almond butter, as well as fresh red bell pepper, avocado, and apples for fiber.

You may have noticed the little bit of blue color on our egg – we used up our Easter Eggs to make this snack.  (I know it’s August now, this photo was taken several months ago!)  Use eggs as a healthy and colorful center to any flower.  Then, add sliced veggies all around to build a beautiful plate!

Raw almond butter tastes great!  We buy either Trader Joe’s or Maranatha brand, which are both made of only raw almonds!  No hydrogenated vegetable oils or added sugars like regular peanut butter!

What is Paleo?

A paleo diet refers to consuming the following kinds of whole foods: lean proteins, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and healthy fats from sources like fresh fish, olive oil, avocado, etc.  The word “paleo” is short for “paleolithic“, which refers to early prehistoric time when our ancient ancestors had access to certain foods available in nature as opposed to the Standard American Diet full of food options with lots of ingredients, additives, etc.  Consuming these “basic” foods and avoiding highly processed stuff has been proven to lower blood sugar, increase an individual’s energy level, and provide anti-inflamatory benefits.  Learn all about the paleo diet here.  Although we do not live exclusively by this type of diet in our home, the more meals and snacks I can prepare for my kids using the best kinds of foods available for us, the better!

Fruit and Veggie Ingredient Substitutions for Flowers

celery

sugar snap peas

peaches

strawberries

nectarines

bananas

clementine orange slices

grapes

. . . and the list goes on.  Be creative!

If you liked this snack, check out our other flower snacks, and then take a look at some of our other paleo friendly kid snacks:

Mr. Peacock

Breakfast Made Beautiful (would be paleo sans the cheese in the eggs) 🙂

Halloween Apples

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We are into leaves and colors, pumpkin patches, apple orchards, and everything fall.  The girls are looking forward to dressing up in their costumes (they are going to be flamenco dancers this year) and trick-or-treating.  We don’t really get into the scary parts of Halloween because that’s just not our thing, (although we’ve made a spider web and friendly ghost snacks for this season), but we love to combine awesome foods available in autumn with the holiday spirit.  Meet our Halloween apples!
These apples are a great treat for the kids.  Apples are in full harvest in fall and taste great, and adding just a little bit of white chocolate (as opposed to the option of dousing an apple with caramel, then chocolate, then nuts, then sprinkles) makes this a fun and appropriately portion controlled option for kids.

Ingredients:

(to make 3-4 apples, or 6-8 apple halves to serve)
3-4 apples (we used honeycrisp, but granny smith would taste awesome as well)
6-8 oz white chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil (just a tiny bit)
orange and green food coloring, as desired.

Directions:

Place white chocolate chips in a glass bowl in microwave along with oil.  Heat 1 minute on full power, stirring at 20 second intervals with a plastic spatula.  Avoid using any metal spoons or dishes when working with melted chocolate, as metal conducts heat and can raise the temperature of the chocolate too much, causing it to harden.  Divide chocolate into two small bowls, and color one green and one orange (or desired colors).

We used a real piping bag and small round tip, but you can also use a zip baggie and snip a tiny corner off to use as a piping bag.  Pipe your designs onto your apples.  Allow the small kids to make their own while an adult or older child makes the jack-o-lantern faces, as desired.

Complete the look of your apple-o-lanterns by adding a green pipe cleaner cut in half then twisted to look like stems from a real pumpkin.  We just placed them in the top of the apple, wrapped loosely around the existing stem.

The easiest way to enjoy these guys is to slice them not through the core but just outside of it so they maintain their shape.  You can even make the apples this way in the first place as opposed to decorating them as whole apples standing up, and lying the apples flat on the plate will really allow you to decorate them in any way you wish!

Time to enjoy!  One half slice was the perfect amount for this happy little girl!Did you like these Halloween Apples?  Don’t miss our other Halloween snacks, as the other creative snacks we’ve made with apples:

Valentine’s Day Apples

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Apples

Shrek

 

(Sharing HERE)

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

 

Shrek

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Today, I’m sharing a new snack over at Housing a Forest.  Meet Shrek!  I did not realize this, but Shrek, Shrek 2, and Shrek 3 were some of the top grossing movie sales of all animated movies throughout the last 15 years.  Shrek is much beloved, so we made him into a healthy snack.

Creative Kid Snacks | Shrek

Click HERE to be taken to our Shrek post at Housing a Forest.

Have a great day!

Oscar the Grouch

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We are all about teaching kids to LOVE eating healthy foods here at Creative Kid Snacks, and one way we do that is by presenting them in fun ways.  I can’t tell you how many new foods my daughters have tried (and eaten all up), because it was included in one of their “creative lunches”.  These are foods that they would never choose to eat on their own.

Oscar the Grouch is the perfect character to turn into a super healthy lunch for the kids.  He’s green, brown, and white, and lots of nutrient packed foods can be used here to make him.

I’d like to show you the version we made the other day, and then offer other suggestions for you to try.

Create an Oscar the Grouch snack to serve the kids super healthy foods like peas, meat, olives, or broccoli, beans, or other greens you want them to eat! | CreativeKidSnacks.com

We used the following ingredients for the Oscar shown here:

peas – canned or frozen (thawed, heated)

cheese – any white cheese cut into circles for Oscar’s eyes

black olives – approximately 6 sliced

pulled pork – leftover from sandwiches served the night before

Arrange all ingredients on a small plate as shown to make Oscar’s face.  Super simple!

Variations:

Perhaps you are looking for a way to serve some of the following foods to your kids.  Try these in an Oscar!

Face:

Broccoli

String beans

Edamame

Softened avocado

Green grapes

Green apple slices

Eyebrows:

Rotisserie Chicken

Grilled Chicken breast sliced

Ground Beef

Pulled Beef

Ham

Mouth/Eyeballs:

Raisins

Blueberries

Eyes – Whites:

Hard boiled egg sliced

Cottage Cheese

Yogurt

Hopefully you can make your own super healthy Oscar soon!  Next time I try this, I’m going to use this:

(Sharing HERE)

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

And now 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

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!


Easter Morning

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The resurrection of Jesus Christ is, in my eyes, one of the singe most important events of all time.  On Easter, we celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, conquering sin and death, and paving the way for all who believe in him to have forgiveness and everlasting life.

After Jesus’ death, his body was placed in a garden tomb by a couple of his disciples.  Three days later, Mary Magdelene went to the tomb to anoint the body with spices and oil, and saw the stone rolled away from the tomb entrance.  As they entered the tomb, they saw an angel who said to them, “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” (Mark 16:6 NIV).

Resurrection day proved that Jesus was who he said he was.  The son of the most high God, able to defeat even death, so that we who believe may live!  Amen!

This Easter snack will help you to teach the story of Jesus’ resurrection to your children.  Read the story from Mark 16 or John 20, (or read it from the Children’s Bible – here’s the one we use), and then make this snack together.

Teach the story of Jesus' resurrection and the true meaning of Easter with this snack by creativekidsnacks.com
To make this snack, start with the tomb.  Slice an apple near the core on one side so you have a nice large chunk of apple.  Then slice that in half so that there is one round “stone” piece and another that looks like an empty tomb.  Easy!  Next, thinly slice a baby carrot and place the strips around the tomb to look like beams of light.  Add some celery grass underneath the tomb.  (After all, the tomb was in a garden)!

Next, slice a hard boiled egg in half to use as the angel’s body.  Carefully pop out the yolk of one of the halves and place it on top as the angel’s head.  Slice two small traingles off of the half of boiled egg you didn’t use for the body, and place those next to the body as arms (well, sleeves).  Add some pretzels as wings, and use a small almond for his smile and tiny brown sprinkles for his two eyes.  I normally use raisins for eyes, but this guy’s face was too small for that!

You now have a delicious, nutritious, and educational bible story for lunch.  Enjoy!

Teach the story of Jesus' resurrection and the true meaning of Easter with this snack by creativekidsnacks.com

If you enjoyed this Easter snack, check out our other biblical snacks like Jesus’ birth, Jesus on the cross, Jonah in the big fish, and more.

Hello Kitty Lunch

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Hello Kitty is a beloved character that I used to watch when I was a young girl, and who has now made a comeback.  My four year old daughter carries a bright pink Hello Kitty backpack to school with her every day.

With Hello Kitty‘s recent surge of popularity, we had a request by a Facebook friend to share some Hello Kitty inspired food.

Hello Kitty Lunch

Hello Kitty Lunch

Ingredients: 1 half bagel, 2 T whipped cream cheese, 2 blueberries, 1 slice banana, 6 thin slices apple, 1 strawberry, and 1 raspberry.

To create this easy and cute Hello Kitty, I used a half bagel spread with a thin layer of whipped cream cheese.  I cut a small section from the top to create her ears.  Next I added two blueberry eyes, a small banana nose, and thinly sliced apple whiskers.  For her bow, I sliced one strawberry in half for the two sides of the bow, and used a raspberry for the center.

That’s it.  A delicious and fun lunch with a great variety of wonderful fruit.

Here is another Hello Kitty Lunch we’ve created in the past.

hello kitty lunch

See the blog post about this Hello Kitty here.

And coming up soon I have a Hello Kitty Breakfast!  WooHoo!

(Sharing HERE)

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

Valentines Day Apples

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Valentines Day is coming up!  Last year I showed you a cute way to make use of your heart shaped cookie cutter in this Valentines Day Snack.  This year, I have more cute little treats coming up for you soon, but first I’d like to show you a healthy Valentines Day snack.

Valentines Day Apples - Sweet, healthy afternoon snack for Valentines Day

Apples are perfect for cutting into hearts with the cookie cutter!

Slice an apple so that you have a surface area large enough for your cookie cutter to go through.

vday apples 3

Next, spread some peanut butter and sprinkle some Rice Krispies over each slice.  The cereal adds a little crunch.

Valentines Day Apples - Sweet, healthy afternoon snack for Valentines Day

You can serve them open faced like this, or you can put them together for a Valentines Day apple sandwich!

Valentines Day Apples - Sweet, healthy afternoon snack for Valentines Day

Stay tuned for several more Valentines Day treats to make for your little ones this year!

(Sharing HERE)

Creative Birthday Party Food: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

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Today’s party ideas are for Amber’s upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Party.

 
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!
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One of our Facebook friends, Amber, asked for some cute food ideas for her son’s upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles birthday party.  I hadn’t realized that the beloved Ninjas had made a comeback and have lately become popular for the kids!

In case you need a refresher, here they are!

 
 
 (source) 
 

Following are some ideas for this Cowabunga-mazing party!
1)  Serve PIZZA 
You have to have the turtles’ favorite dish as one of your main courses!
2)  Donny’s drink
Super easy to make and more festive than regular drinks, these turtle beverages are sure to get a comment or two from your guests.  There’s even a cute little tie in the back.  The best part?  You can write the kids’ names on the construction paper mask once they are handed out!
See how they are made HERE.
3) Ninja Turtle Party Apples
These guys would be adorable to either serve along with all of the party food, or even to wrap up in cellophane and send home as little favors.  See how they are made HERE.

4) Leonardo’s Sword

Option 1:  plain celery
Option 2: peanut butter swords
I found these tiny skewers at the dollar store.  Slice celery, making some small and some long pieces.  Slide a small piece horizontally down the skewer.  Next, slide the long piece on vertically.  They hold up and look just like a little sword!
5) Donatello’s Bo
Pretzel rods look just like Donatello’s bo.

If you wanted to jazz these up a bit, you could buy some peel-able Twizzlers and wrap some around the middle for the grip.

6) Turtle Shell cake (or Rice Krispy) pops
A friend of mine got the above cake pan on amazon and made adorable cake-sickles for her girl’s birthday.  We’ve all seen the round cake pops that look like a ball, but I had never seen one like this.
For the TMNT party, make cake, rice krispy treats, brownies, or cookies in the pan and frost with buttercream frosting to look like a turtle shell.  Use brown and green and make something like the following pattern:
(source)
Spread the brown frosting all over the surface first, then pipe the green frosting on in this pattern.  Practice on a piece of wax paper first.  You can even add some green or chocolate sprinkles over the top for some texture!

 

 

Columbus Day Snack

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Columbus Day is celebrated the second Monday in October across the United States.

 

Teach the kiddos about why we celebrate Columbus Day with this easy snack!  Take one apple and slice to make the bases of each ship.  Next, slice a stick of celery to make the pole for the sail.  Finally, add a sail by using a cracker (I used Wheat Thins) and add a little sun made of cheese.
To create the waves as well as the names on the ships, use the following method with some yogurt:

 

Variations:
Use cheese for the sails (those square slices of cheese would work great)
Use little sandwich cut-outs for the boats
Make the pole out of a carrot stick
Use your imagination!

(Linking up 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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