Creative Kid Snacks

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Fun Lunches to Teach Kids About Jesus

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Easter is coming, and I love the idea of combining meal time with teaching and learning time.  Teaching Bible stories is especially important in our family, and, with Easter coming up, I thought I would put together a post featuring snacks designed to tell the story of Jesus.  I plan on making these snacks for my kids during the month of April this year in order to serve as a time of remembering Jesus’ life and what He came to do on earth.

Fun Snacks to teach the kids about Jesus. Great to make during the month leading up to Easter.

Note:  Some may find it difficult to wrap their mind around the idea of portraying Bible stories with food.  It may appear irreverent or give the impression that the stories of the scriptures are somehow being reduced to a plate of food.  The reason I have prepared these little plates for my girls in the past is to celebrate the Bible.  We love to talk about Bible stories and use lunch time as an opportunity to learn and re-read them.  It is because I love my Lord Jesus that I include His story in the creative snack time.  His story is the best of all, and these dishes are meant to celebrate it.

Click on each title or picture to read all about how to make each snack.  I will share some ideas of what to do to expand on each story portrayed in each photo.

Jesus’ Birth

Baby Jesus in the Manger

  • Read Jesus’ birth story in Luke 2
  • Sing “Away in a Manger”
  • Set up a nativity scene or act out the story as a family

Angels Announcing Baby Jesus is Born

Angels We Have Heard on High

  • Read the story in Luke 2 (verses 8-14)
  • Sing the song “Angels We Have Heard on High / Gloria”
  • Shine flashlights into a dark room and repeat what the angels sang ““Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The 3 wise Men

The 3 Wise Men

  • Read the story in Matthew 2: 1-12
  • Create pictures or 3-D models of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and learn about why the magi chose to bring those items here.
  • Have the kids pick out the offering they might bring if they were to go and visit the new king, baby Jesus.

5 Loaves and 2 Fishes

5 loaves and 2 fishes

  • Read the story of Jesus performing this miracle in John 6.
  • Talk about how the disciples must have felt, what the miracle showed them about Jesus, and some of the things they think the crowds of people might have said as they watched this happen and ate the food.
  • Pray and thank God for showing us his supernatural power through miracles like this one.

Jesus on the Cross

Easter Snacks to Make with the Kids - snacks to focus on the true meaning of Easter

  •  Read the story in Luke 23
  • Talk about how Jesus felt as he carried his cross up Calvary’s hill to be crucified.
  • Remember the reason that Jesus chose to die (to make a way for our sins to be forgiven and allow us to be able to know and be friends with God and be with Him in heaven when we die).  Pray a prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude for this incredible act of love Jesus performed for us.

The Empty Tomb Lunch

Resurrection Day Easter Breakfast for kids

  • Read the story in Mark 16.
  • Talk about how Jesus’ resurrection proved that He was who He claimed to be.
  • Have the kids re-tell this story as if they were a guard.  (The guards collapsed with fear when they saw the angels).

Resurrection Day Breakfast

Resurrection Day Easter Breakfast for kids

  • Read the story (same as above)
  • Use the questions provided in the post on Resurrection Day Breakfast to talk through this story with the kids.  (Very interesting questions!)
  • Sing an Easter song about Jesus being alive.

 

If you enjoyed these ideas, you may also like our Resurrection Eggs.  These are 4, super-easy special eggs to make as a family when you are coloring Easter eggs.  There are directions on how to make each of the 4 eggs, as well as how to teach the significance of each egg as it represents part of the Easter story.  Check it out!

Also, check out our other cute Easter Snacks in this collection!

Easter Snacks to Make with the Kids

Resurrection Day Breakfast

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Today I have a little breakfast to celebrate the Easter story.  Make a fun little breakfast to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead!  An egg-in-toast is a great way to portray the empty tomb and this breakfast will be a great way to talk about this great story.

Ingredients:

1 slice of bread

1 egg

1 slice of cheese

1 T butter

Directions:

Heat a skillet.  Use a cookie cutter or cup to cut a large circle in a slice of bread.  Butter the bread and place onto skillet.  Crack an egg into the skillet and let cook several minutes until bottom of egg is firm enough to flip.  Flip bread and egg once to briefly cook the other side of the bread and egg, and then serve.  The egg looks like the light shining out of the tomb, and sliced cheese strips look like more light coming from the tomb because Jesus has risen from the dead.

Read the Story

Matthew 28

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Talk About It

Some questions to ask the kids include:

What do you think the women said to themselves after they saw that the tomb was empty?

What do you think the other disciples thought when the women told them that Jesus was risen from the dead?

Why were the guards so afraid?  How would you feel if you were a guard?

How do you think the disciples felt when they saw Jesus on after he had risen?

What does this story teach us about Jesus?

Pray a Prayer of Thanksgiving

This would be a great chance to thank God together for sending Jesus to die for us and for raising Him from the dead because of His great power.  Thank Him for forgiving our sins through Jesus’ death on the cross, and thank God for this story.  Jesus’ resurrection proves that He was who He said He was.

Act It Out

Have each child choose a character to be and act out this story.  Characters could include the guards, angels, Jesus, women, or the disciples.

What other ideas do you have to teach kids about the Easter Story?  Please share your comments and links below!

Also, check out our other cute Easter Snacks in this collection!

Easter Snacks to Make with the Kids

Jacob’s Dream

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Teaching Bible Stories to my kids is something I love to do.  We have an awesome Children’s Bible that we read together most nights before bed, and it has been so cool to see my girls learning the stories and remembering them as we see them over and over.

One way to reinforce what we have been reading in the Bible is to make a snack about it.  Basically, we are using the tools we have available (in this case, food) to create an artistic visual of the story.  It is a way to celebrate what we are learning in scripture and a tool to use to help kids retell and remember the story.

Jacob’s dream is a fascinating bible story.  Jacob is on the road, fleeing from his brother Esau, and going to his uncle Laban’s house.  On his journey he lies down to sleep, using a rock as a pillow.  While he sleeps, he dreams of a great ladder going towards heaven, with angels ascending and descending.  Can you imagine seeing that?  Jacob awoke from the dream saying to himself, “surely God is in this place”, and he took the stone pillow he had used and placed it as a pillar to remember the way God had met him there.  He called that place Bethel.

Ingredients

Yogurt (plain or vanilla)

Fresh pineapple

1 baby carrot

small turkey/tortilla wrap

Directions

Slice a fresh pineapple into thin sections about one inch wide, and lay onto plate, pushing them gently to look like a diagonal staircase.  Next, spoon yogurt into a plastic baggie, snip a tiny corner off of the bag, and pipe yogurt onto the plate in little swirls to make the cloud.  Use the method shown below.

Use the same technique to make the angel’s body and dream bubble as shown.  This does not have to be perfect (you can see mine is not!) but just enough to get the idea.

Slice a baby carrot in half lengthwise and lay one half on the plate.  Slice two thin legs out of the other half and place beneath the body.  Use a small section of a turkey wrap to look like the stone pillow, and you are finished!

Additional Learning Ideas

– Act out the story

– Ask the kids about a special time that God met them or helped them in a special way, and think of a way they can mark that place in a special way.

– Make an angel craft and place them around your child’s room for the day as a reminder that God has sent angels to be his messengers and to help us on while we are here on earth.  Brainstorm other Bible stories in which angels were involved.  (Daniel and the Lions Den, Mary, Joseph, etc.).

(Sharing HERE)

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

 

5 loaves and 2 fish

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Today’s lunch is going to be used to teach a bible story.  John 6 tells the story of Jesus teaching a large crowd, 5,000 people.  It became late in the day, and the disciples told Jesus to send the crowds home because they would need something to eat.  Jesus said, “Let us feed them”.  A boy was carrying 5 small barley loaves and 2 fish and offered them to Jesus.  Jesus prayed and thanked God for the food, then started to break it up into pieces to put into baskets for the disciples to pass out to the people.

After everyone, all 5,000+ people had eaten their fill, there were 12 baskets left over!  This is one of Jesus’ awesome miracles and today’s lunch celebrates that.

Teach the 5 loaves and 2 fishes story

1.  Read the story aloud to the kids.

2.  Talk about how the disciples must have felt, what the miracle showed them about Jesus, and some of the things they think the crowds of people might have said as they watched this happen and ate the food.

3.  Pray and thank God for showing us his supernatural power through miracles like this one.

4.  Act out the story together.

5.  Make this lunch.5 loaves and 2 fish lunch and learning activities by creativekidsnacks.com Create the fish by combining 1/2 of a can of tuna with several tablespoons of mayonnaise or miracle whip.  Here is a great recipe for homemade mayo made with much less fat and far better ingredients than store-bought.  Shape two little fish using your fingers.  Add a little raisin eye to each.

Serve with 5 “loaves” of bread.  Shown are garlic chips, but you can serve any kind of bread that will be easy to eat with the tuna.  I wanted something onto which the kids could spoon their tuna and eat.  Also perfect on the side are celery sticks.  The kids can spread tuna on the celery sticks to eat as well.
5 loaves and 2 fish lunch and learning activities by creativekidsnacks.com

One can of tuna was plenty to make two plates like this, one for each of my girls.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how much they enjoyed this meal.  They have not eaten much tuna, as it’s not something I regularly buy.  However, tuna is perfect for making a fish, thus the “5 loaves and 2 fishes” lunch.

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!


Resurrection Eggs

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The following post is something originally seen on my other blog, Sugar and Spice.  I started it in 2011 and it is where I first blogged about the creative snacks I had started making for my daughter.  Those snacks became so popular that they morphed into their own blog, which is Creative Kid Snacks.

I decided to post this entry here today because Easter is coming up, and this idea is a great way to use Easter egg coloring to teach the real Easter story to your kids.  I hope you enjoy!

Are you looking for a way to include the real story of Easter in your egg-coloring this year?
I would highly recommend making Resurrection Eggs!  I had the idea last year to make them and they worked so well as a teaching tool and as a way to incorporate the real Easter story, that they are now a mainstay of our Easter festivities.

To make them you will need:

1) Regular egg-dying supplies (i.e. a kit from the grocery store)
2) Colorful tissue paper (available at the Dollar Store)
3) Glue – any kind
That’s it!
You will make 4 eggs.  As shown in the picture above (from left to right), you will make (1) a passover egg, (2) a cross egg, (3) a tomb with the stone rolling away egg, and (4) a heaven egg.

Process:

1) Dye your eggs first and let them dry.  Choose colors against which the tissue paper you are using will pop.  This coming year I will change the first egg’s backdrop color to a pale orange, I think.
2) Cut out your tissue paper to make the shapes shown above.
 – Passover egg will be a red goblet and a yellow loaf of bread.
 – Cross will be a red cross shape to also represent that Jesus bled while on the cross as our sacrifice
 – The tomb will be a wide square with an archway cut out of the middle.  You will also need a large circle for a boulder.
 – Heaven will be a long blue cloud with yellow beams coming out.
3) Glue tissue paper onto eggs as shown and let dry.

Explanation for each egg:

Passover Egg:  Jesus had a final meal with his disciples called a Passover meal.  He explained to his disciples God’s plan to save the world from their sins through Jesus.  Jesus was going to have to die on a cross.  Jesus told the disciples to eat the bread and remember his body that would be broken for them and drink from the cup and remember the blood that he would shed on the cross.

Cross Egg:  Jesus was crucified on a cross.  The cross is red to show that Jesus bled and died on the cross.  When Jesus died on the cross, he paid the price for our sins by dying in our place.  Jesus never sinned.  He was perfect and took the punishment for all of our sins upon himself so that we could be forgiven.

Tomb Egg:  Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb and it stayed there for 3 days.  On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead!  The stone was rolled away by angels, and when the women came looking for Jesus, the angel said, “He is not here; He has risen!”.  When Jesus rose from the dead it showed that he was who he said he was because he conquered death and that he had the power to forgive us from our sins.

Heaven Egg:  Because of the Easter story, we will be with God in heaven when we die.  Heaven will be a beautiful place filled with joy because we will be with God and see all of his glory!

(You can use your own words, of course, but that is roughly how we explained it last year).

How to involve the kiddos:

1) Ask your child to hand you each shape as you are ready to glue it on.  As you glue it on, explain its meaning.  Repeat this with all 4 eggs.
2) Go over the story again once the eggs are lined up.  Take out your children’s bible (here’s ours), and read the Easter story.  Have the kids point to the eggs being talked about.
3) Before Easter, have your kids tell a friend or relative about the resurrection eggs they made and each of their meanings.
4) On Easter morning, hide the eggs around the house, and have the kids find them and bring them back together before breakfast is served and Easter baskets are invaded.
5) Pray together as a family and thank God for each aspect of the Easter story.
6) Ask your child which egg is their favorite and why.
7) If your child is into hard boiled eggs, allow them to eat that one on Sunday morning as part of breakfast.
Surely you will come up with even more of your own great ideas for the Resurrection Eggs.  I’d love to hear what you do with them if you try them!
Happy (early) Easter to you!

(Sharing HERE)

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

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.

Angels we have heard on high

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This healthy and fun little snack celebrates the birth of Jesus as recorded in Luke 2:8-14.  Read the story of the angel choir appearing in the heavens to announce that baby Jesus had been born, and then make this snack to continue the celebration!


“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.  And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
 “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”  

Luke 2: 8-14

 

Ingredients:

2 hard boiled eggs
2 baby carrots
1 t cottage cheese
2 raisins
1 strawberry
1/s banana
1 slice white cheese
1 t miracle whip or mayo

Directions:

Slice hard boiled eggs in half lengthwise.  Carefully remove yolk.  Place one half yolk onto top corner of plate for moon.  Place remaining yolk from the 2 eggs into a small bowl and mix with mayo.  Spoon mixture into a zip baggie with a corner sliced off, and set aside. 
Slice bottom off of egg white halves.  Use sliced off section to cut triangular arms/wings for the angels.  Arrange all on the plate as shown. 
Slice baby carrots in half lengthwise.  Slice in half again width-wise.  Use for shepherd’s bodies.  Slice one of the carrot quarters into thin strips for the shepherd’s arms and legs and arrange on the plate as shown. 
Slice little rectangles with tiny triangles sliced out for sheep’s legs.  Top with 1/2 teaspoon of cottage cheese each to look like sheep bodies.
Top angel’s bodies with banana slices for heads, then add raisin eyes and thin strips of strawberry for a smile.  Now take piping bag with egg mixture in it and pipe hair and halo for each angel. 
Use a pizza cutter to slice remaining slice of white cheese into lots of tiny pieces.  Sprinkle around the plate to look like stars.

Nutritional Benefits of this Snack:

Eggs are full of benefits, including being rich in protein, vitamin B, and omega-3’s.  See more about health benefits of eggs here.
 

 
 


Baby Jesus in the Manger

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“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6
The true meaning of Christmas is awesome story of God sending his son Jesus to be born into the world, in a humble stable, to save the world from sin.  
I’ve always loved the way Linus tells the story in the Peanuts Christmas special!

 

 

I’ve already shared some of the festive Christmas snacks I’ve made for my kids to get them excited about the season (as if they need any help with that)!  However, the real reason we celebrate Christmas is because Jesus was born!  The miracle of His birth and the story of God’s amazing love for mankind still blows me away. 
Luke 2 tells this awesome story.  Read that or read about the birth of Jesus in the Children’s Bible.  
After that, make this lunch together.

Baby Jesus is a baby carrot sliced in half to lay flat.  He is lying in a manger made of a peanut butter sandwich.  He is wrapped in swaddling clothes of string cheese peeled and wrapped around him.  His eyes are raisins.  The stable is made of carrots sliced to lay flat, and the hay and the star are made of organic colby jack cheese.  I use a pizza slicer to create the thin strips of cheese to look like hay.  The support for the manger is celery shaped like an “x”.

As a finishing touch, Grace and I sang “Away in a Manger” together right before she ate!

(Linking up HERE)




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Joshua and the battle of Jericho

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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)

The Flood

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Genesis 6-9 tells the awesome story of Noah and the ark.  This story has fascinated kids for all time, and they love to picture all of the animals filing in two by two to be rescued in the safety of the ark from the great flood.
Read the story with your kids, or read the story of Noah in the children’s bible.  Talk about how they must have felt when they saw all of the water covering the earth.  Then talk about how they must have felt when God allowed them to land safely upon dry ground again.  You can make a list of the foods Noah might have used to feed all the animals, and which animals your child might like to take care of if he or she were in the ark during the flood.
Create this super easy lunch by inverting a peanut butter sandwich, slicing out two rectangular sections from the sides and slicing the top into a point.  Next, create the rain, clouds, and waves using this technique:
Add the lightning bolt with some thinly sliced pineapple or some cheddar cheese cut to look the part.
(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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