Creative Kid Snacks

make fun of lunch!

Grinch Party Poppers

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The Grinch is one of Dr. Suess’ most beloved characters, and at Christmas we love to watch “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.
Just like we love to make Christmas trees, wreathes, snowmen, Santa, and reindeer for snacks this time of the year, we also love Mr. Grinch.

Today’s snack is a perfect finger food to put out for the kids at a Christmas party.
These would also be perfect for a Christmastime sleepover, featuring popcorn, the Grinch movie, and these scrumptious little poppers.
Healthy, cute, and super fun, you know these little guys will be a hit.
Here’s how to make them.

Step 1: Collect your ingredients and assemble Grinches

 
(Depending on how many Grinch poppers you would like to make, you will need that many of the following):
 
-slice of white string cheese (at least 1/3 inch thick)
-strawberry
-banana slice (at least 1/3 inch thick)
-green grape (with bottom sliced off so it lays flat)
-melted chocolate. (1/2 of a Hershey’s bar, broken into pieces and microwaved until melted, stirring at 20 second intervals will be plenty to make up to 25 poppers)
 
Assemble each Grinch by sliding each piece up a plastic toothpick.  I get mine from the dollar store.  They come in a package of assorted colors with little hearts on the top.  They are the perfect size, and not too sharp for the kids to eat off of.
 

 Step 2: Melt Chocolate

 
 Depending on how many poppers you are making, melt the appropriate amount of chocolate.  I used a simple Hershey bar in this recipe.

1/2 of a Hershey’s bar, broken into pieces and microwaved until melted, stirring at 20 second intervals will be plenty to make up to 25 poppers.

  Step 3: Pipe Grinch faces

Place your melted chocolate into a piping bag with a very small tip attachment; 
or do it the easy way by using a ziploc bag with a tiny snip off of one corner to pipe your faces.
Make 2 eyes with frowning eyebrows above them.  Next, make a wide smile with bumps and a little point at the bottom middle.

Step 4:  Chill, serve, and enjoy!

 
Chill in the refridgerator for at least 15 minutes.
 

 My little girls LOVED these guys.  I made about 10 of them for today’s post, and they had to be cut off after 4 each!  (They still hadn’t had their lunch yet)!
 
TIP: Pipe Grinch faces onto grapes and chill in advance if you want to work ahead and prevent the rest of the ingredients from being out in the air too long.
 
(Sharing HERE)
 
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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)

Lion King Lunch

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“The Lion King” is one of my personal favorite Disney movies of all time.  We just got a copy for Christmas and the songs “Circle of Life” and “Can you feel the love tonight” are stuck in my head for hours every time we watch it!  Simba and Mufasa are the heroes of the story, so today are creating a lion lunch in their honor.
Create grown-up Simba or Mufasa with some rotini pasta with marinara sauce for the mane, a slice of colby jack cheese for his face, and, strawberries cut in a triangle for his nose and two thin strips for his mouth area!  Add two raisins for his eyes, and you are done.
Serve with some grapes on the side, and enjoy!
Check out our other Disney inspired lunches: Mickey, Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc., Up, and Winnie the Pooh

(Linking up HERE)

 

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)
 

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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Kite

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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

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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)

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Solar System

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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)

 

 

 

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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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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