It’s pretty much a universal truth: kids love snacks. Though, as with anything else in life, familiarity can breed contempt, or at least boredom. It can be all too easy to get in a snack rut and wind up repeatedly handing your child the same things when a case of the munchies strike. If you find yourself scraping the bottom of the barrel for fresh snack inspiration, here are just a few ideas to liven up things and make snack time do double duty as playtime.
1 Add Sprinkles – Okay, so they’re just colorful bits of sugar, but what they don’t add in nutritional value, they add in fun factor! Start with something healthy like yogurt or apple sauce and add a dash of rainbow sprinkles… suddenly it’s a party!
2 Cookie Cutter Treatment – The same old snacks can be a whole lot more fun in a new form. Grab cookie cutters and cut some shapely snacks out of things like melon, cheese, or bread.
3 Give it a Face – Add some personality to your child’s snack by giving it a cute face with an impish grin. This can be as simple as making a ranch smiley face on a carrot round or as complex as using a variety of finger foods to create anything from raisin eyes to an orange slice grin.
4 Edible Jewelry – Transform the fun of a candy necklace into a more healthy snacking experience. In a muffin tin, offer a variety of small snacks such as pretzels, dried fruit, and “O” shaped cereals that your child can thread onto a piece of string and eat afterwards.
5 Story time Snack – From “Green Eggs and Ham” to “The Little Red Hen” there are lots of children's stories that have food themes in them, some of which also have recipes included. Read a fun story book with a food geared plot and afterwards make and share a snack straight out of the pages.
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So simple, yet so true! You've got the basics covered. These are my go-to tricks for fun snacks!
Great ideas and beautiful photos!
Brilliant article! Love it! especially the photos.
My son is a terribly picky eater (he has mild autism, which has a lot to do with it). We are always trying to get him to eat more and presentation matters A LOT. We already use cookie cutters, make animals, shapes, and funny faces out of food, and let him do hands-on activities with the food. BUT we always want him to enjoy a peanut butter or almond butter sandwich (since his protein sources are so limited) and most of the time he rejects them - I'd be willing to bet he would not reject peanut butter decorated with sprinkles though! Thanks for that idea!
We use the first three tricks regularly, but the last two are new to us! The idea of using books is brilliant - I can think of a lot of them: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Bear Snores On, You Can Do It Sam, Little Pea, The Very Hungry Caterpillar - the list goes on!
The pictures are cute. But seriously, I can get my kid to eat white cheese and peanut butter. Work out some ways to get the greens in and I'll bite!
I too LOVE the rainbow sprinkles idea!!
And the edible jewelry is great for boys and girls. I made Fruit Loops necklaces for my sons before an 8 hour car trip--I pulled them out of my bag and surprised them at about 3 hours in. They loved them and it quieted them both for at least an hour! Adding pretzels is a great substitute for the sugary stuff too--thanks!
Good writing and photos. I think the last idea could be a whole post on its own, “Five Storytime Snack Ideas.”
Not that it’s hard to get my almost-three-year-old to snack on anything. But to eat anything resembling a meal? Forget about it.
My kid doesn't do so well with food dyes, but I do use the sprinkle trick with "healthy" sprinkles... shredded coconut, wheat germ, crushed granola, crushed nuts... Banana slices with coconut are a favorite around here!
This is a great post - my favorite of the tryouts so far! I'm totally excited to put these ideas into practice with my kid. Thanks!
Oh, "Stone Soup" I remember making the recipe in back of the book as a kid, minus the stone of course. That was fun!
Here's one great way to hide greens for picky eaters - chocolate spinach milkshake! Just don't let them see you make it. ;)
Sorry I don't have the exact proportions, DH always makes this one.
1-2 cups of milk (/soy milk/almond milk/rice milk/yogurt)
6-8 oz of raw spinach
Blend these two together really well. Once you add the other stuff the spinach won't get any smaller.
Add peanut butter and cocoa powder to taste.
Blend in frozen banana chunks until it's milkshake-thick.
This makes two adult sized servings.
You cannot taste the spinach at *all* and the cocoa hides the green. Best of all, no added sugar! The banana makes it nice and sweet.
You can also do spinach smoothies with orange juice, frozen mango, and frozen banana... but it comes out very green. ;)
This is a great post with fantastic ideas for me to try out on my discerning 2 year old! Also, great spinach smoothie above!
my kids dont eat a lot of processed food or sugar but here is a treat we have every once in awhile. it takes no prep time and they love it!
http://lovelybud.typepad.com/lovely-bud/2010/02/simple-gourmet-kiddy-snacks.html
What great and simple ideas! I'll definitely give these a try.
I have a kid who will not eat anything (and I mean anything, even a piece of chocolate cake) unless she's hungry. All of these super cute foods would get her to the table for sure. Recently, I have tried to make snack time more of a miniature meal instead of empty calories since she often skips meals anyway. This allows me to relax (sort of) about her eating.
I have a blog called Fix Me A Snack (http://www.fixmeasnack.com). I hope it's okay for me to link to this on my Tips page.
Thanks everyone for the comments and thanks Ohdeedoh!
Yolanda, my kids are the same. Snacks they eat, meals are another story which is why I try to make the snacks as well rounded and nutritional as possible! That's why I love Mama K's suggestion for healthy sprinkles, I'll have to try that one!
Ernestthedog, you're right, getting kids to eat their greens is always a challenge. How about using the cookie cutters on cucumber slices? Ants on a log with sprinkle ants? Or, maybe, make a face with salad fixings like this one: http://www.nonsuperwomanchronicles.com/memoirs_of_a_moorings/2007/10/veggie-time.html
Great ideas and wonderfully diverse, illustrative photos. I'm not so sure that sprinkles are such a great idea, but every once in a while, what the heck? BUT what about shredded carrots or beets for a fun colorful addition instead?
My daughter (1) will eat anything; my son (4) will eat if he's hungry AND it involves lettuce, onions, strawberries, honey, or peanut butter, AND the food looks good AND he's in the right mood AND he's not busy working on another project AND we happen to coordinate meal/snack time exactly right with the above scenarios. We'll have to try some of these!
I might also try them at meal-time - if he's going stop to eat SOMETHING let's make it a whole lunch!
This is an interesting post, and clearly some thought went into this. But maybe it would be more suited for the Kitch'n website? I don't really see how this is design related. This is not the kind of post I am seeking when I come to this site.
Super cute ideas. I've never tried sprinkles on peanut butter bread. I have tried, Nutella spread over a banana slice so that one can dip it into sprinkles. It's a hit in our house. Thanks for more ideas.
: )
Jackie.
Yes, sillymom. No one with kids would ever be interested in fun snacks!
I think food presentation is perfectly appropriate for a design blog! After all, it is part of living with children. I will have to try some of these ideas with my picky 2 year old. Thanks!
Ew. No thanks on the food coloring and processed sugar.
No food coloring or sugar? Your kids must be bored.
Sillymom 2010, Ohdeedoh is about more than design. We're about modern homelife with children which certainly includes design for the home, but (more importantly to some) we're about helping families create beautiful, healthy organized homes and highlighting ways people use their homes. Cooking for and with children is certainly within our scope.
Carrie McBride
Managing Editor