everyday scenes

Ballerina

September 30, 2013 by Amy Hudson

I have two little ballerinas in the house. Grace has taken ballet and tap classes for a couple years, and dance has been one of her favorite things to do outside of school. The recitals, where she gets to wear her costume, complete with poufy tutu, ballerina bun, and makeup – then ending with her getting a bunch of flowers and applause, are the highlight for her. When recital time came around this last spring, we decided to make a little snack to celebrate it.

Ingredients:

1 slice colby jack cheese

1 slice deli ham

1-2 cubes of watermelon

yellow bell pepper

1 dried blueberry

red grape

Directions:

Slice a piece of colby jack cheese into the shape of a ballerina’s head, arms, and torso. We put the arms in the air as the ballerina twirled on her toes. Next, lay a thin slice of watermelon cut to the shape of a top onto the ballerina’s chest area. Add the two legs made from two thin slices of cheese, then lay the deli ham over top to look like a cute tutu. Add two little toe shoes using bits of watermelon, a hair bun and top of yellow bell pepper, and a watermelon bow. Slice a dried blueberry in half for her eyes, and add a thinly sliced red grape for her mouth. So sweet!

If you love cheese, make sure to check out our other adorable snacks made with CHEESE! I’m sure you’ll find a favorite or two!

(Sharing HERE)

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

Porcupine

February 18, 2013 by Amy Hudson

Who doesn’t love peanut butter? A peanut butter porcupine is even better! Make this snack for your peanut butter-loving child and he will be delighted to dip every part of the snack into the yummy peanut butter.

My girls love to make snacks that reflect nature. Things that they see around them every day. Some examples of our nature snacks include Solar System, Flower Garden, Dragon Fly, and others found here.

This guy is super easy to make and the kids love dipping everything in the peanut butter.

First, spread a tablespoon or two of peanut butter in the center of the plate.

Next, give him some spikes using mini pretzel sticks.

Cut several slices of banana into circles and slice two of those circles in half to lay flat on the plate. Now place a head and a tail on each end of his body. Add a tiny dollop of peanut butter for his nose, and break off a small end of a pretzel stick to stick into the banana for his eye.

Finally, add some celery as the grass he’s playing in, and you are done!

When I made this snack for my girls, They loved dipping everything in the peanut butter to eat. This snack is definitely a winner!

Make sure to check out our other nature and everyday scenes snacks!

(I’ll be sharing this HERE)

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

Train

February 11, 2013 by Amy Hudson

Does your child watch Thomas the Train? Have you gone on a train ride for a fun family adventure recently? We love to ride the train just to go a few towns over, as a fun way to get to a relatively nearby destination. This past Christmas, we rode the train from our local station 3 stops down to go see a fabulous lights display in a nearby town. We had a blast!

Let’s make a choo-choo train for lunch today!

I have been loving using wraps lately as an alternative to sliced bread. I can cut it into neat, fun shapes and the girls love the texture. We like these:

These particular wraps contain more protein and fiber than many of the other brands available at my local grocery store. I’ll take any protein boost I can get out of a typically protein-lacking item like bread (or in this case tortilla wraps).

To make the train

First, I made a wrap using fresh turkey breast and some mayonnaise. I recently learned of an awesome home-made mayo recipe that I will try and implement in an upcoming snack and share here!

Once the wrap is made, I sliced in into two rectangular sections, then sliced a triangle out of the remaining portion. This triangle will be the top of the top of the train.

Arrange the train on the plate as shown below, then add some wheels. I used sliced baby carrots. For the front window, I sliced a grape in half and then slice one rounded edge off to look more like a window.

I spooned a bit of cottage cheese to look like steam coming from our little steam engine.

To complete the look, add some pretzel sticks below the train to look like tracks. A happy sun in the sky creates a happy choo-choo train.

Look how yummy this lunch looks for the kids! It’s an adorable lunch that the kids will love to eat!

(I’ll be sharing this HERE)

If you liked this lunch, check out the other lunches that reflect everyday scenes: Helicopter, Kite, Solar System, Hot-air balloon, Stoplight, and House

A Pair of Pair Snacks

October 1, 2012 by Amy Hudson

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

A Day at the Beach

September 13, 2012 by Amy Hudson

We had our last beach day of the summer this past weekend.

So sad to say goodbye to the lazy days of summer, but we can still commemorate them with a creative snack.

This snack is made by laying turkey breast along the bottom of a plate to look like sand.

Slice some watermelon squares to look like towels. Cut a baby carrot in half and lay on top of the watermelon like little people. Add little arms and legs by thinly slicing another baby carrot. Finally, add little swim shorts and waves using the following method:

Finish the snack by adding a few goldfish in the water, and you are done!

(Linked HERE)

Kite

September 3, 2012 by Amy Hudson

Do you own a kite? Last summer, we took the girls to a kite festival. They got to see professional kite flyers putting on a great air show. There was music, and even a chance for the kids to make their own kites. Granted, the kites they got to make were only out of paper, but it was a great way to introduce the kids to all that kites can do when flown right!

To create this kite lunch, take a peanut butter sandwich and cut a diamond. Next, slice a baby carrot into thin sections to create the criss cross over the kite. To make the string, slice a banana into a thin strip, and place strawberries over it to look like bows.

Show that the kite is in the sky by adding a bird made of sliced apples and a puffy cottage cheese cloud.

Variations:
Create a larger kite using a banana for the outline and fruit for the colorful filling. Use yogurt to draw a string.
Use yogurt or whipped cream for a cloud.
Make this into a dessert by making the kite out of a s’more or a brownie/bar you have on hand.

Flower garden

August 30, 2012 by Amy Hudson

Make use of wonderful seasonal fruit like peaches by creating an awesome snack of a flower garden.

Reminiscent of our famous flower pot snack, this snack is refreshing and beautiful.

Create three flowers. The first is a turkey breast rosette. Roll up a slice of turkey breast and position atop the celery stem as shown. The second will be your peach. Slice normally and position like a flower as shown. The third will be a strawberry flower. Slick a strawberry into nine sections (or so) and position on the plate to look like a flower.

Serve with some peanut butter for dipping the celery, and you have a lovely and healthy snack!

(Linked HERE)

Solar System

August 27, 2012 by Amy Hudson

A great excuse to give our kids a variety of fruits, veggies, meats, and cheeses in one snack (while educating them at the same time), is to make the Solar System with them! Teach your children about the planets in our Solar System (yes, I know Pluto is no longer considered a planet…read on), and give them a healthy snack at the same time!

Using snacks is an amazing way to teach your young child about science. Take a look at our Volcano post for a good example of this!

I found foods to use for each planet first, then I handed each to my daughter one at a time and had her repeat the names of the planets with me in order. As she repeated each one, she laid it on the plate (and I spaced them out a little more for the picture). She normally doesn’t like pepperoni but she ate it with this snack!

Below is a list of which foods I used for each planet:

Sun: mandarin orange, top sliced off and peeled but not separated

Mercury: a red grape

Venus: celery

Earth: kiwi

Mars: strawberry

Jupiter: pepperoni

Saturn: cheddar cheese

Uranus: a slice of string cheese

Neptune: ham

Pluto: (No longer technically a planet) corn

I added Pluto as a way to show my daughter that it was once a part of the solar system but is no longer.

And this one is another solar system I made last week showing the lines of orbit that each planet has.

I prefer the first version, which do you prefer?

The solar system above was made to show how each planet orbits the sun in our galaxy, the milky way.

I made the lines in the photo below as well as the stars in the photos above using this technique:

Variations:

Make your planets out of anything you have in the house that you can cut into circular shapes. Use your own creativity for this one!

If you enjoyed this post, check out our other educational snacks

Volcano

Egyptian Pyramids

Alphabet Lunch (practice your ABC’s)

Stoplight (to learn about traffic rules)

The Flood

Jonah in the Big Fish

David and Goliath

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? (Includes a lunch and learning activity)

Joshua and the Battle of Jericho

Snowflake Pancakes (plus 25 great educational activities for the snow)

Hot air balloon

August 13, 2012 by Amy Hudson

Have you spotted a hot air balloon in the air with your child this summer? Why not make one for lunch today?

Hot air balloon: The basket is a graham cracker, ropes are string cheese thinly cut, balloon circle is made from a banana cut in half lengthwise and made to look like a circle, interior is strawberries and celery. The clouds are cottage cheese and the people are carrots with raisins cut into fourths!

This snack really allows the fruits and veggies to be the star!

Variations:
Basket: cheese, peanut butter sandwich, ham,
Balloon interior: grapes, raspberries, blueberries, orange slices, any fruit or veggie that fits!

(linked HERE)

Helicopter

July 26, 2012 by Amy Hudson

We saw a helicopter in the sky this morning, so that was today’s creative lunch. A helicopter body is made of a peanut butter sandwich, then baby carrots were positioned for the blades atop the helicopter as well as the feet. Windows are sliced string cheese and clouds are made of cottage cheese.

(linked HERE)