Creative Kid Snacks

make fun of lunch!

Toy Story Alien Snack

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Toy Story 3 is one of the highest rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes, a movie review website my husband checks religiously before we go out to see a movie.  Kids love the excitement, adventure, and charming characters in this movie.  Even my little girls love  the Woody doll that Grandma keeps at her house, and both have stopped to play with the Buzz Lightyear in the toy aisle.

One of the funniest characters in the Toy Story movie, in my opinion, is the three-eyed alien.  I can just picture him saying, “Ooooh, the Claaaaaaw” like he does in the first movie.  I smile just thinking about it.  In case you’re not familiar with this character, he looks like this:

(image source)

We decided to make this guy for a snack the other day.  We used green grapes, white cheese, blueberries, and raisins.  Take a look.

Toy Story Alien Snack

Ingredients:

Green Grapes (approx. 20)
3 blueberries
white cheese sliced into ovals (could use string cheese, or sliced white cheese like provolone or mozaraella)
3 raisins

Directions:

Slice green grapes in half and arrange on plate in an oval shape as shown.  Slice one of the grapes into tall triangles to look like ears, and slice a small circle out of the cross-section of a grape to be the circle on top of your alien’s head.  Slice blueberries in half, and arrange on top of grapes as shown for a mouth.  Add 3 slices of cheese cut into oval shapes for eyes, and add raisins.  Enjoy!

Check Out the Rest of Our Kids Movie Snacks

Winnie the Pooh

Mickey Mouse

Lion King

Nemo

Shrek

Tangled

Monster’s Inc

Peter Pan

Up

Breakfast Made Beautiful

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Here at Creative Kid Snacks, we make a lot of funny food and plate art.  Breakfast can be made to look like Hello Kitty, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a snail, a whale, or even Mickey Mouse.

Sometimes, however, a simple yet beautiful presentation is all it takes for your children to know that they are special and that you value spending time with them in the morning.  This breakfast would be sweet to serve in the morning after a sleepover party, or as a tea party meal.  Perhaps a Saturday morning family breakfast?  It would also be a great way to simply say, I am glad we get to spend the day together.

This breakfast features healthy, vitamin-packed fruits and protein-rich eggs.  Eating a meal like this for breakfast will help the kids to have the energy they need throughout the whole morning.

Ingredients:

Fresh fruit (grapes, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries)

Eggs and country ham

Cheddar cheese (optional for the scrambled eggs)

Directions:

Scramble eggs and diced country ham.  Top with cheddar cheese if desired.  Spoon into small bowl or ramekin in the center of a plate.  Slice grapes and strawberries in half so that they will lay flat on the plate.  Arrange them in a beautiful floral pattern around the eggs – or use any design you like.  The end result will be a beautifully appealing, healthy breakfast.

Health Benefits of this Dish:

Eggs are considered to be one of the most perfect sources of protein.  Protein is vital for kids to enjoy sustained energy throughout the day and build muscle as they grow.  Some people worry about the cholesterol found in eggs.  As I learned from this Cholesterol article by The Exercise Coach (where I love to work out), cholesterol is not what causes heart disease.  I was surprised to learn that it is actually sugar, which causes inflammation, which leads towards all of the problems related to heart disease.  It is far better for you to eat an egg than to eat a bowl of sugary cereal.  SOO much better!

Raspberries are higher in fiber than even blueberries.  They are a great source of antioxidants, and can even help to regulate your mood.  Check out this article to learn more.

Blueberries are another antioxidant-rich superfood, boasting a low glycemic index, and providing an excellent source of vitamin K.  Read more here.

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

Frosty the Snowman and Friends

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My girls love the Frosty the Snowman movie.  We have a DVD of the same version that was on TV all the way back in the 80’s when I was a kid.  They love to sing the song, “Frosty the Snowman, was a jolly happy soul . . .”  The other day I decided to make them a snack inspired by their favorite snowman.  (Even though we’ve already made these snowman snacks last year, today’s snowman looks just like Frosty from the movie).

Frosty the Snowman

Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 cup cottage cheese

1-2 baby carrots

1 slice of banana

1 dried blueberry (I buy the large bag available at Costco)

1 fresh blueberry

2 small slices celery

1 dried cranberry

Directions:

Use a small spoon to scoop the cottage cheese onto the center of the plate.  Gently spread it out to make the largest part of Frosty’s body – his tummy.  Next, spoon each leg on and gently slide cottage cheese into shape if needed.  Follow the same process for his arms.  Cottage cheese is great, because it naturally falls into the shape of fingers at the end of an arm.  You won’t have to use your fine motor skills for this step!  Slice one square piece of celery, along with one thin rectangular piece, and place atop Frosty’s head.  Add a dried cranberry to look like a flower.  Slice a small dried blueberry in half and place onto Frosty’s head for eyes.  Slice your fresh blueberry in half, then slice a crescent shape out of one of the halves, and lay that flat onto Frosty’s face for his smile.

Slice a baby carrot in half lengthwise.  Lay one above the other next to Frosty to look like his broomstick.  Slice one banana wheel.  Carefully take your knife and slice thin sections from the wheel.  Place onto plate to be the bottom of the broom.  To make Frosty’s pipe, slice a baby carrot in half lengthwise, then slice one of those halves again (lengthwise), so you have a flat rectangular piece of carrot to work with.  Slice a pipe shape, aiming to get a thin rectangular piece with a squared piece at the end.  Place the pipe right into Frosty’s smile, and he is complete and ready to delight your little ones!

Frosty’s Wife

After I made Frosty for my oldest, I decided to make him a little friend.  She was easier and faster to make than even him.  Meet Mrs. Frosty.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup cottage cheese

2 fresh blueberries

1 red grape

1 dried blueberry

1 small section of celery

1 dried cranberry

1 baby carrot

Directions:

Use a spoon to scoop and carefully shape three cottage cheese circles onto the plate for Mrs. Snowman’s body.  Next, thinly slice a section of celery and place onto plate for her arms.  Slice a dried blueberry in half and place onto her head for eyes.  Slice a dried cranberry in half width-wise and place beneath eyes for Mrs. Snowman’s mouth.  Add two fresh blueberry buttons and a red grape bow.  To make the bow, slice a red grape in half lengthwise, then slice a triangle out of each half and add a remaining sliver of grape for tie of hair bow.  Complete her with a tiny sliver of a baby carrot (proportional to her face), and you are done!

Enjoy!

More Snowman Fun!

If you enjoyed these snowmen, check out our other snowman creations, (our snowman milk chugs are super easy and fun), along with the rest of our Winter and Christmas snacks!

(Linking up HERE)

A Pair of Pair Snacks

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Have a play date coming up?  Need a 45 second snack for a crowd?  Try one of these snacks!

Create two little flowers by peeling a clementine and arranging it as petals.  Next, slice some green grapes in half to make the stems, and finish with a ground of cereal.  I used Kix.  Easy and fun!

For something a bit more filling and nutritious, create little people out of a slice of cheese (I used organic Colby Jack from Costco), add blueberry eyes and a red grape mouth.  Place carrots on either side of the cheese to make their arms.  Use some sliced bananas for some funky hair, and finish with two little turkey legs.
There you have two fun little snacks that each take less than a minute or two to make!

More Play Date Snacks

Grover

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Blueberries are known to be a superfood, containing lots of antioxidants, fiber, and other vitamins that are so beneficial for our kids.  

Why not have a great big serving by creating Grover the monster for our snack?  
This Grover was made on a 6 inch kids plate.  Make the eyes by slicing the sides (lengthwise) off of a hardboiled egg.  Cut a blueberry in half to lay it flat over each eye.  
Next, create Grover’s mouth using raspberries running from one end of the plate to the other.  Raspberries are also full of great vitamins like C, E, and A as well as magnesium and fiber, to name a few.
Add a sliced strawberry in the center of the plate for the nose, and fill the rest of Grover’s face in with blueberries. 
Blueberries are not number one on my daughter’s list of favorite fruits, but she ate every single one in this snack!  It’s truly a snack to feel great about giving to your little one!
Variations:
Use yogurt for the whites of Grover’s eyes 

(Linked HERE) 

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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)

The Fall of Man (Genesis 3)

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This lunch is intended to teach the kids about the fall of man.  Read Genesis 3 or “The Sneaky Snake” story in the children’s bible.  Talk about how the serpent deceived Eve into thinking she would be like God by eating of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Create the tree by using a a trunk of a ham sandwich, cut into the shape of a “Y”.  Use cucumbers for the greenery on top, and any red fruit you have on hand for the fruit that Eve picked.  I used strawberries.
Next, create Eve by using four baby carrots, positioned with a torso and legs, and cut one in half or into fourths lengthwise to use for her arms.  Create her head by placing a round cracker on top of the body.  Add raisin eyes, a strawberry mouth, and shredded cheese for hair.
Finally, use blueberries to make the serpent in the tree.  I put a tiny smiley face on him using the shredded cheese, because he was very glad to cause the woman to sin against God.
This lunch was one of my daughter’s favorites yet!
Enjoy!

(linked HERE)

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The Friendly Mr. Owl

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Meet the friendly Mr. Owl.  His head/body is a peanut butter sandwich, his eyes are Ritz crackers with blueberries, wings and strawberries.  His beak and feet are carrots, and the moon is a banana.  I created those stars by placing some plain yogurt in my cake-decorating bag and using the star shaped tip.  I’m not gonna lie, that was going a little above and beyond, You could easily just dab the yogurt on with a small spoon if you want to recreate this guy!

Mike Wazowski

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Do you recognize this guy from Monsters Inc.?  Mike Wazowski is made of a honeydew melon sliced and cored.  His eye is made of yogurt, sugar snap peas, and a blueberry.  His mouth is also made of bluberries.  I sliced him up in order to make the eating part easier for my little Disney fan.

After the photo, I sliced Mike all around for Grace to enjoy.

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Mr. Peacock

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Mr. Peacock was so fun to make.  The best part is that you can make a colorful tail out of any colorful fruits or veggies you have on hand.  Mine has a body made from a peanut butter sandwich, legs and feet of carrot, and a tail made of celery, bananas, carrots, and blueberries.

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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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