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

Healthy Christmas Snacks for the Kids

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Looking for some healthy snacks to serve this Christmas?

Get the kids into the Christmas season with these fun snacks and lunches!

#1:  Veggie Christmas Tree

Use cut celery arrange on an angle to create the shape of the tree.  Slice a baby carrot into wheels for the ornaments.  Cut a yellow pepper into the shape of a star for the top of the tree.
Create the trunk by rolling a slice of deli ham into a one inch wide roll-up and folding it in half.  Slice the bottom off to create a straight line if you wish.
My favorite part of this snack are the snowflakes.  I created them by slicing some string cheese into wheels, then carefully slicing little triangles out of them (from the outside in).
Serve with a little ranch for dipping, and enjoy!
(My kids ate this whole snack up!  So much good fiber and protein!)
Variations:
Use cucumbers for the tree (sliced in “sticks”)
Use a carrot or two for the trunk and cherry tomatoes for the ornaments
Use yogurt for the snowflakes

#2: Santa Panini Sandwich

I made this snack by first making a turkey and cheese panini sandwich on our Cuisinart Panini grill.

After placing it on the plate, I spooned some cottage cheese around the bottom of the plate and left a little gap where Santa’s mouth would be. Note: the sandwich is placed with the rounded side of the bread down.

Next, I created his hat and nose with some strawberries.  Finish the look of the hat with a little whipped cream and finish with some raisin eyes.

This one was a favorite!

#3: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

I made Rudolph out of a peanut butter sandwich.  Leave the round (top) part of the bread in tact, then slice into an oval for the main part of the body as shown.

From the remaining portion, slice four thin legs and a head.  Think of cutting the shape of a shoe for the head.  Add a raisin eye, a strawberry nose, and two pretzel antlers.

A little pine tree made of sugar snap peas completes the look of Rudolph’s flight through the air!

#4: Cottage Cheese Snowman

Meet one of the first creative snacks ever created.

Our sweet snowman has a cottage cheese body , raisin eyes and buttons, 1/2 a baby carrot for a nose, and celery sticks for arms.

Scoop the cottage cheese onto the plate with a small spoon into three circles.  Slice your baby carrot in half and add for his nose.  Place his eyes and buttons on, and finish with arms.  Done!

You can’t get much healthier than this for a festive winter snack!

Variations:
Use pretzels for his arms to look more like sticks
Use yogurt for his body
Use blueberries for his buttons

#5: Holiday Wreath

My daughter Grace asked for a wreath for lunch.  I decided to go with celery for the greenery as opposed to lettuce or cucumbers, which, depending upon your child’s taste buds, you could definitely use.  My girls love celery, so I went with that.

Next I added carrots and grapes sliced up for the “berries” of the wreath.  You could use cherry tomatoes, red bell peppers, or even strawberries here, but I used what I had on hand.

The bow was made out of a slice of ham.  I cut one full slice from the deli into quarters, and rolled each up as big as I wanted it to be for the parts of the bow.

Once all that was done, I snapped the photo.

Before I served it, though, I had the idea to add some background “snow”!

This is how I served it, and, as usual, it was gobbled up!

Which version do you like better?  I really can’t decide.  This second one is definitely more filling for lunch, though, and the girls do love their cottage cheese.   So for that reason alone, I know my kids would vote version 2!

(Linking up HERE)

Healthy Halloween Snacks

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Healthy Halloween Snacks are hard to come by sometimes.  For those of us who are into providing healthy Halloween Snacks, here are two to try.
Create a spooky spider in his web!
Peel string cheese and lay it on the plate in a pentagon shape starting on the outside layer.  Move inward, creating another smaller pentagon within the first, and so on.  I ended up with four layers of pentagons.  Next, lay additional string cheese at the junctions of the different corners, and anywhere else you’d like, until you have what looks like a web!
Next, slice a grape in half for the spider’s body.  Thinly slice the other half of that grape plus half of another one to create the spider’s legs.
Finally, add some raisin eyes, and he is finished!
This is the second of two snacks for the season I’ve shown you.
Here is the other healthy Halloween snack for you to try!
Read all about him HERE.

 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

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Today’s post features Eric Carle’s beloved Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see? story book as well as a learning activity and snack to go with it!
This comes from a series I been calling Read.Play.Eat.  Take a look at the snacks and learning activities I shared for the following children’s books:
Blackout
It Could Always Be Worse
Lousy Rotten Stinkin’ Grapes

READ.

By Eric Carle
This is a story I’ll bet almost all of us have in our libraries!  I remember hearing this book read to me in kindergarten.
Read this story to you child.  Allow them to “fill in the blanks” as you pause when each new page comes.  They will quickly learn to name each new animal as it shows up.
PLAY.
Make some simple animals using a sharpie and some white cardstock.  I simply drew freehand from what I saw in the book.
Go through the story, and have your child color each animal as they appear.
Next, make some “puzzle pieces” by cutting the animals in half.
The goal will be to match each animal’s front to its back.
It will be all the easier with the colors each animal has.
Your child will be delighted to do a puzzle that he or she made themselves.
Another activity to do once the animals have all been matched together is to line them up in order of appearance in the story.
First, see if your child can do it from memory, then “check your answers” by using the book.  If they made mistakes, have them re-arrange the order to learn the right way.
So much fun!
EAT.
Create the Brown Bear of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” by simply making a peanut butter sandwich, and slicing four legs.  The natural shape of the bread is very close to the shape of the bear in the illustrations in the book.
Next, cut a circle from another piece of bread.  Use two half raisins for the eyes, and some halved almonds for his ears and nose as shown.  So easy!

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)

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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Mickey Mouse

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Mickey Mouse is one of Disney’s most beloved characters of all time.  We love Disney in our house.  We’ve made Winnie the Pooh, Mike Wazowski, the house from the film “Up”, and today we are making Mickey Mouse!
This Mickey was the perfect breakfast.  Oatmeal, raisins, and yogurt are the perfect combination!
(By the way, is photo 1 or photo 2 better?)
Make a semi-circular shape on the plate with your oatmeal.  Next, add Mickey’s ears with the raisins.  Use the plastic bag method shown below to easily draw two oval eyes and the mouth.
Draw the mouth, then add a small piece of watermelon to look like his tongue.
That’s it!
Now, I have one daughter who likes raisins, and one who doesn’t.  Grace, the oldest, wanted a Mickey but did not want raisins.  For her, a threw some raisins into some white bowls for the presentation, then left her with just the face to eat.

(sharing HERE)

Hot air balloon

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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) 



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Cottage Cheese Lamb

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Create a little lamb for your little lamb by using some mozzarella cheese cut into somewhat of an oval for the face and little rectangles with a point cut out for the legs.  
Next, use a small spoon and lay cottage cheese for the head, body, and tail.  cut a baby carrot in half for the ears, and give him some grass to walk on.  Can you think of a more perfect use of cottage cheese?

(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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