grapes

Toy Story Alien Snack

March 19, 2014 by Amy Hudson

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

Breakfast Made Beautiful

February 25, 2014 by Amy Hudson

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.

A Whale of a Breakfast: Moby Dick

June 30, 2013 by Amy Hudson

The other day we were feeling creative at breakfast time, and, since we were having oatmeal that morning, we decided to make a friendly whale!

We love to do sea and ocean inspired food, like our “Under the sea“, “Fi nding Nemo“, “Tropical island“, “A day at the beach“, and “Jonah” snacks.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup instant oatmeal (plain) cooked according to directions

1 raisin

1 small section of banana

1 small section of strawberry (or cherry, red grape)

Directions:

Spread cooked oatmeal onto plate in the shape of a whale as shown. Next, thinly slice a small section of banana, and place above whale to look like a spout. Add a raisin for an eye, and a small bit of strawberry for a happy little smile.

. . . . . . .

We just finished reading a children’s version of Moby Dick. I read the chapters aloud each night to Grace (my now 5 year old). I discovered an awesome collection of a bunch of classics in adapted versions perfect for reading aloud. Since it was a used book store, I snatched up a ton of different books, including Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Secret Garden, Little Women, and more. It has been so fun for us to read these chapters aloud each night, and introduce the classic literature at a young age!

I suppose that, in honor of our recent read, we should name this breakfast “Moby Dick”.

(Sharing HERE)

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

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)

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

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:

Winnie the Pooh

Mickey Mouse Breakfast

Tangled

Lion King Lunch

“Up!”

Mike Wazowski

Peter Pan Veggie Tray

“Under the Sea” Snack

Thanks for checking out our Disney-inspired snacks!

(Sharing HERE)

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

Under the Sea

April 8, 2013 by Amy Hudson

“Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid is one of our all-time favorite movie songs. It just gets stuck in our head every time we listen to it!

We’ve been in a bit of a whirlwind in life lately, so Sunday night we decided to veg and have a family movie night. Our movie of choice was The Little Mermaid.

Today’s snack is inspired by Sebastain’s famous song “Under the Sea”.

Create these fun little sea creatures using the following ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked oatmeal

1/4 avocado, sliced

1 strawberry

1/2 slick string cheese

3 grapes

goldfish crackers

1 teaspoon yogurt

Assemble:

Spoon your oatmeal onto the bottom of the plate for the ocean floor.

Next, arrange your avocado slices to look like a beautiful ocean plant.

Slice your strawberry in half so it lies flat on the plate and slice again into 6-8 thin strips to use as the crab’s arms and legs.

Slice 1/2 of your string cheese from the bottom into several small sections. I think this little guy looks like one of Nemo’s little classmates. (Now we are cross-referencing Disney movies!).

Slice grapes in half to lay flat onto the plate, and create little tails by slicing remaining portion of grape in half.

Add goldfish crackers.

**Optional: add little eyes to some of the creatures using a food marker

You are now ready to draw your waves at the top of the plate to complete the “Under the Sea” look. I love to use the following technique:

If you enjoyed today’s snack, you’d also probably like our other Disney inspired snacks as well as our Nature themed plates!

(Sharing HERE)

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

Butterfly Quesadilla + Weekly Kids Co-op

March 21, 2013 by Amy Hudson

Butterflies are a sign of new life. Spring always gets me motivated to get outside, enjoy nature, and celebrate it with our food, too! My daughter has been very in to butterflies lately, and she has even requested a rainbow butterfly birthday party! We’ve already made delicious fruit butterfly for a snack, and today’s butterfly will be a lunchtime butterfly treat.

Butterfly Quesadillas

I have two daughters. I made one quesadilla with a 8-inch tortillas, (I love to use the whole wheat or multi-grain tortilla wraps), and cut it into 4 equal portions. Place two quesadilla “wings” on your plate.

Create the body by slicing the end off of some beautiful green grapes and laying them on your plate to look like a body.

Thinly slice a baby carrot into strips to use for antennae, and place two blueberries on top of the carrots to complete the look.

If you feel so inclined, you could even use a food marker to draw a happy face on the top grape for your butterfly.

That’s it! Super easy and so fun for the kids.

If you enjoyed this, check out our other animal snacks, as well as our nature themed snacks. The kids will love them! I know mine did!

By the way, I found another blogger who has another take on the butterfly quesadillas. Check her version out here!

(Sharing HERE)

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

Tangled

March 11, 2013 by Amy Hudson

My kids love Disney’s Tangled. If you’ve seen our Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Lion King, Monster’s Inc, “Up” and Peter Pan snacks, you can tell that we are big Disney fans. Tangled is no exception.

To create Rapunzel, I sliced 12-14 red grapes in half lengthwise. I arranged them on the plate to look like her dress. Making the dress first helps to scale the head, feet, and arms. Next, cut a slice of white cheese (I used mozzarella) into shape for a neck, feet, arms and head. I wasn’t ambitious enough to create hands with tiny little fingers using cheese, so I hid her arms behind her hair. For her lips I used a tiny slice of a grape, two tiny currants for eyes, and a small slice of cheese for her nose.

Next, boil a small handful of thin spaghetti noodles until cooked. You can make a quick cheese sauce for it if desired, or just use a little olive oil or butter and place it right onto the plate.

Finish the scene with some celery grass and a couple orange tulips made from carrots.

I loved the scene in the movie where Rapunzel feels the grass and the earth for the first time. This lunch was pattered after that.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to check out our other Disney snacks: Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Lion King, Monster’s Inc, “Up” and Peter Pan

(Sharing HERE)

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

Butterfly

March 4, 2013 by Amy Hudson

When Spring starts to peek around the corner after Winter finally ends, it’s fun to embrace the feeling of new life, warmth, brightness, and outdoor fun. Nothing says new life to me like a butterfly! The butterfly snack we have for you today is refreshing, super healthy, and beautiful for the kids to enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 piece string cheese. (You can also use just half of one, sliced lengthwise).

8-10 green grapes, sliced in half

3 strawberries

1 baby carrot

Directions:

To make this guy, simply place a piece of string cheese in the center of the plate. Next, slice your green grapes in half and lie them on the plate as the outline of the butterfly’s two wings. Slice strawberries and fill in the outline formed by the grapes. Next, slice two round slices from the end of a baby carrot. Slice two thin sticks, and slice a tiny bit off each stick. Arrange antennae as shown, place two tiny carrot bits on the string cheese for eyes. Enjoy!

Continue the Fun with a “READ.PLAY.EAT” activity

READ.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is such a classic story book! Just like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is an Eric Carle staple I’ll bet most of us have in our bookshelves (if not memorized) and read often. I know it’s been a favorite for my girls.

The story is told of a caterpillar that hatches from an egg, grows, and eats and eats and eats until he is so full that he becomes big and fat. He builds his cocoon, stays inside for more than two weeks, and becomes a beautiful butterfly. It’s the classic metamorphosis story.

PLAY.

Create a “beautiful butterfly” with your child that they can play with over and over again. Follow the simple steps shown below:

My girls love to make these, and they only take about 5 minutes. I love them because they aren’t messy, and they don’t involve too much skill on the parent’s part! We have quite a collection, and my oldest daughter Grace plays with hers often. She loves to hold the butterfly by the stick and swing him around to flap his wings.

It is also fun to make each one unique and different. One thing we have done is make a butterfly for everyone in the family. The kids have fun deciding which colors, patterns, and designs best reflect each person. So fun!

EAT.

Make a healthy caterpillar for lunch!

Very Hungry Caterpillar: Creative Kid Snacks

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!

If you enjoyed this, check out our other animal snacks, as well as our nature themed snacks. The kids will love them! I know mine did!

(Sharing HERE)

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

Joshua and the battle of Jericho

November 6, 2012 by Amy Hudson

Joshua 6:1-27 tells the story of the great city of Jericho with walls so high and fortified that no adversary could break through. God called the Israelite leader Joshua to march around the city with the priests blowing their trumpets of ram’s horns in front of the ark of the covenant for six days. On the seventh day, they were to march around the city seven times and all of the Israelite people were to shout. When this happened, God told Joshua, the great walls of the city would come crashing down, and, in this way, the Lord would give the city over to His people.

Read this story with your child, or read the story from the children’s bible (HEREis the one we use), and then create this story for lunch!

Build walls using grapes sliced in half, laid flat side down onto the plate. Next, slice baby carrots in half lengthwise and lay a couple of them down to be the Israelites. Thinly slice the other half of the baby carrot and cut to shape for arms and legs. Complete the scene with some green celery grass below the city walls and add two small triangular slices of pineapple for the priest’s horns. A nice sun in the sky completes the picture.

(By the way, once I saw the photo, I realized that the Jericho guy looks like he’s smiling . . . oops! That was supposed to be a round mouth saying “oh no!”)

Once this lunch was complete and we retold the story, Grace “tore the walls down” as they fell in the story. She had fun with that!

Finally, I sliced up the “grass” below the city for her to dip into her peanut butter.

Variations:

Build the wall with other fruit like strawberries, bananas, or blueberries.

Use pineapple for the sun, or cheese for the trumpets.

Enjoy!

Check out our other bible stories HERE.

(Linking up with these fine parties)

Toy Story Alien Snack

Ingredients:

Directions:

Check Out the Rest of Our Kids Movie Snacks

Ingredients:

Directions:

Health Benefits of this Dish:

Ingredients:

Directions:

Ingredients

How to use this snack / activity

More Science Related Snacks

Finding Nemo Snack

Ingredients:

More Fun and Healthy Disney Snacks

Create these fun little sea creatures using the following ingredients:

Assemble:

Butterfly Quesadillas

Ingredients:

Directions:

Continue the Fun with a “READ.PLAY.EAT” activity

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