Stuck at home with fussy eaters? Make meal times interesting with these healthy and easy Fun Foods for Kids that can be made with basic ingredients at home!
With the Coronavirus pandemic taking over our jobs and our lives, almost all of us are stuck at home with our kids for weeks. Needless to say, this isn’t easy for anyone involved – us or the kids!
Not being able to go outside and play will take its toll on kids, who’ll soon get tired of seeing Mom and Dad all day and long to see their friends’ faces. It’s not a cakewalk for Mom and Dad either, who’re probably working from home, doing household chores and having to deal with bored kids.
And if you thought your kids were fussy eaters earlier, the added boredom of being stuck home with their favorite restaurants shut just makes things worse. They can get fussier and crankier, making parents angrier. It’s a vicious cycle!
But nutrition is very important during this period, since deficiencies can weaken our immune systems and make us susceptible to illnesses. At a time when every hospital health worker is needed to fight the pandemic, we can do our bit to avoid unnecessary doctor visits or hospital stays by taking care of our diet and nutrition.
For kids, appearances make a big difference. So if you hand them an orange as it is or if you take the trouble to peel it and arrange the segments like the petals of a flower, you know which one they’ll pick! And if you think making cute fun foods is too complicated and you don’t have the time to deal with that in the middle of everything, think again! Here we bring you 25 ideas for healthy and easy fun foods for kids, that you can easily make with whatever you have in your kitchen!
Let’s expand on the orange example mentioned earlier, and turn the segments into the mane of a lion instead! The Country Chic Cottage shows us how easy this is by using a single pancake as the lion’s face. Make the lion’s features with chocolate chips, strawberries and some fresh cream or white butter.
If you have a spiralizer, this jellyfish from Eating Richly will be super easy to make. If you don’t that’s okay – it only means you have to cut the strands by hand. You can cut any vegetable or even use noodles or spaghetti. Sliced grapes complete the remaining of this cute little peanut butter jellyfish.
One Lovely Life has the perfect solution for these hot days – chocolate covered bananas! The best part is that you can coat them in chocolate and then cover with any other topping your child likes – nuts, chocolate chips, shredded coconut or just leave it plain!
Creative Kid Snacks uses quesadillas to make these butterflies, but you can very well use regular rotis folded into triangles. Green and black grapes as well as carrots complete this pretty picture. You can sneak in some stuffing into the folded rotis – they won’t notice!
Here’s another fun thing you can do with rotis – turn them into sushi! This tricolor sushi is perfect to help your child get in those veggies if he rejects salads. Add a stick of paneer for some added protein punch.
Getting kids to eat fruits can be tricky, but Laugh with Us shows us a fun way with animals that aren’t conventionally considered cute – rats and snakes! The snake may need some careful arranging, but otherwise this dish is no-cook and easy to put together.
If you can make bread sticks for this dish from Fantastic Fun and Learning, that would be ideal. Otherwise you can use store bought ones along with green grapes – and you’re all set to make a pretty tree with roots and branches!
Here’s another super easy no-cook fruit snack from B-inspired Mama. All you need are apples, grapes and chocolate chips. If you’re having trouble holding the pieces of fruit in their places, use tiny toothpicks, but be careful – avoid if offering to small children.
We can’t get over the simplicity and elegance of this dish from Canadian Family! Oranges and berries or black grapes are the main ingredients you need for this. Even the orange peel can be used to make the fish mouth and tail.
This peacock from Creative Kids Snacks would also make a great snack for Republic Day. This is an open ended dish, you can get creative with the peacock’s tail by using veggies of your choice, as long they are bright in color.
Love the Hungry Caterpillar book? So do we, as much as we love this dish from Little Food Junction! Green grapes and cherry tomatoes come together to make cute caterpillars. You can also use red cherries if they’re big enough.
Bread is a great ingredient to use in fun foods like these, and Ida Frosk makes use of this fact to create a sailboat themed dish. Bread and cheese form the boat, while black grapes can make the sea. Love the little red capsicum birds!
Kix Cereal shows us how a basic set of cookie cutters can create magic when it comes to foods. Look at how plain carrots become fish, a strawberry turns into a crab and a slice of kiwi transforms into a green turtle. The dragon fruit starfish is a nice touch!
There are several stuffed bell pepper or capsicum recipes out there, some with rice, some with quinoa while some are with meat or veggies. You can use any of those recipes to make these cheerful capsicum octopuses from Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons.
This happy frog from Canadian Family is sure to get even the most reluctant kid to eat fruit! Green apples and green grapes come together to make the body of this frog. The rest can be managed with chocolate syrup drizzled on carefully.
Just Putzing’s tiny little octopuses are just too adorable for words! These would also make great appetizers for a kiddie party. All you need is a skewer to draw the features on the sausage octopus’ face.
Watermelon is one of the most popular fruits during summer, and for good reason too. It’s got loads of nutrients and is mostly water, making it the perfect food for hydration. Home Blog gives simple watermelon slices new life by turning them into fish. Chocolate chip eyes and a carrot tail complete the picture.
If your little one likes pancakes, he’ll love this cute bunny from Taste of Home! You can use any healthy pancake recipe for this one, just make sure you get the shapes right. Just a few more additions and you have an absolutely adorable breakfast plate!
Got a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan at home? Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons has an easy solution to recreate the cartoon on a plate – spinach phulkas! Add in tomato sauce and some easily available ingredients and your Ninja turtle is ready!
Little Food Junction has the perfect snack for a rainy day – or a day in self isolation! A plastic straw is the only inedible thing here, which you can substitute with something bendy, or just cut a large banana in the shape so you get the curve. Use any kind of edible seed for the rain drops.
If you can get your hands on those round loaves, then this dish from Daisies and Pie is super easy to make! If not, you can use regular square slices of bread, just cut out circles. Slather peanut butter on the slices and arrange some strawberries, black grapes/berries and bananas for the cutest owls ever!
When was the last time a fried egg looked so cute? Kix Cereal shows us how easy it is, with an egg fried sunny side up, and bits of carrot. Place it on a slice of toast and you’re done! Notice that the fried egg needn’t be perfect – imperfect is perfectly fine!
Here’s another simple dish to create with bread and peanut butter – a bear! Use bananas and black grapes for the bear’s eyes and ears and a single cashew nut for the mouth. Get more details at Butter with a Side of Bread.
If oatmeal is a staple at your home and your child is tired of the same old boring bowl, make things interesting – make it an owl! Fork and Beans uses almonds, strawberries and bananas to create a very realistic looking owl, complete with hooded eyes!
Another idea for oatmeal, this time a bunny from Kitchen Fun and My 3 Sons. Bananas make the ears, teeth, eyes and whiskers, while strawberries, berries and raisins do the rest!
Check out the recipe links to find out how exactly the dishes in the pictures were created. However, don’t be afraid to use your creativity – we know that it can be hard to find exact ingredients, especially during the lockdown. Make use of whatever is available and make substitutes to add your own personal touch. Avoid wastage – make the creations small, so the child is not overwhelmed seeing a large quantity. If you cut out shapes, make use of the remaining parts too, like using leftover bread to make bread pudding or bread crumbs. With such cute platters, your fussy toddlers will also enjoy all their meals during this challenging time.
Source: https://www.mylittlemoppet.com/easy-fun-foods-for-kids/
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