What We Did Today (Keeping Kids Busy, Day 1)

It's the VERY first day of scheduled Summer vacation!! Our oldest is busy every morning this month with literacy camp but we are still keeping it lively with sensory activities, kid friendly recipes and school readiness games and crafts. Each weekday this Summer we will share a snippet of what we have been up to with our little ones and hopefully can provide a little inspiration for you to share with your fave kiddos at home.

 

 

Practicing counting with goldfish crackers. Finger-painting fireworks on a tray of shaving cream.Banana dogs with peanut butter and a strawberry jam swirl. Journal entry.

A Christmas Bento

Christmas tree sandwich decorated with m&ms. Vanilla yogurt topped with red and green sprinkles and candy cane stir sticks. Red and green pepper slices with Cajun dipping sauce. Gingerbread bear and candy cane fudge. Served with a tall glass of eggnog.

Halloween Lunches for Little Ones

Celebrate the official countdown to Halloween this week with one (or all!!) of these spooky lunches your little ones are sure to love and devour.


1. Menacing Muffin Tin Meal, Another Lunch.

2. The Three Witches Snack Bento, Another Lunch.

3. Mummy Mini Pizzas, Rhodes.

4. Creepy Crawly Muffin Tin Lunch, Bento Mama.

5. Sand"witches", Fiskars.

Another Autumn Lunch

A simple fall lunch loaded up with lots of fruit. Banana, peanut butter tortilla wrap, apple chips and craisins.

Gobble Gobble!! An Autumn Lunch.

I delighted my daughter with this silly turkey themed lunch this week. For my hard work I was rewarded with her very best imitation of the autumn bird which resembled something between an actual turkey and a happily grazing cow - "mooogoooobblegoooobble". Our vegetarian "turkey" sandwich was created with tofurkey sandwich "meat", cheese, fall colored peppers and candy eyes. Everything tastes better when it's in a fun shape doesn't it??

Woodland Lunch

This week we served up a special lunch my kids went crazy for. Owl sandwiches with a cucumber snack tree. Our sandwiches were standard pb&j with cucumber slices and rasins for eyes and a cheese triangle for the nose. Trees were created with yet more cucumber slices and cheese bits for the trunk.

Dino Lunch

A simple cookie cutter lunch for my dino loving gang. PB&J sandwich, cucumbers, chickpeas, raspberries and a cheese sun. RAWR!!

Snacks in a Cone

La Jolla Mom shared this amazing idea to serve healthy children's snacks in cones for an instant treat. Such an ingenious idea!! Everything seems like dessert when served in a cone!! Be sure to pop by La Jolla Mom to check out her recipe for a cracker salad perfect for serving up in a cone.

Apple Sandwiches

These apple sandwiches with peanut butter , granola and chocolate chips look like SO much fun!! Image from To the Sea.

The Sandwich Flower Lunch

My kids went crazy for this garden themed lunch today - no those leaves are NOT real...I added them on digitally as an afterthought. We created our garden of sandwich flowers by tightly rolling vegetarian lunch meat and cheese in a whole wheat tortilla. The tortilla roll was then cut into 1 inch slices and each slice was secured onto a baking stick. A half slice of bread was placed in the bottom of a small bowl and then covered with chickpeas. The sandwich flowers stand straight when nestled securely amongst the bread and chickpeas. Try taping some paper leaves to the baking sticks and/or serving your sandwich flowers in a flowerpot for a more dramatic presentation.

Another Very Hungry Caterpillar Lunch

That pesky caterpillar is on the loose again!!! This time it looks like all of those strawberries have gone to his head. We made this fun The Very Hungry Caterpillar inspired lunch with peanut butter and jelly tortilla rolls, Pringles cheese cracker Stix for the legs and antennae and a jumbo strawberry with raisins for the head. We served some banana chips and fruit smoothies on the side. YUM YUM!!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar was here....

What happened to this muffin tin lunch?? Looks like a very hungry caterpillar has been busy in our kitchen!!

To make this fun meal we used a straw to poke holes in vegetarian salami slices, cheese slices, peaches, pears, apples, mini chocolate muffins and strawberries. We served tall glasses of chocolate almond milk on the side with gummy worms for dessert.

Lunch in the Shade (and a paper umbrella tutorial)

Peanut butter and banana tortilla roll with strawberry slices and cottage cheese...all shaded by a homemade paper umbrella of course.

Making your very own paper umbrellas is easy and inexpensive..your kids will think you are a crafty super hero.

Homemade Paper Umbrellas

What You'll Need

• Pretty patterned paper
• A soup can
• Pen or pencil
  
• Scissors
• White Glue
• Toothpicks

How-To

1. Trace a circle onto the patterned paper using a soup can and pen or pencil.
2. Cut out the circle using either a regular pair of scissors or a pair with a decorative edge. Cut a small triangle from the circle like the one shown below.
3. Wrap the umbrella into a cone shape and using double sided tape or a glue stick secure the ends together. Put a dab of white glue on the inside the tip of the umbrella and poke a toothpick through the center.
There...how simple was that?!

Go get your craft on!!

Spaghetti Dogs (Again)

I know....ewwwwww. These disgusting things may look familiar as we shared the how-to back in 2009. While yes I do agree they are revolting to look at the kids get a HUGE kick out making them and gobbling them up. If they're happy...I'm happy. Check out our original post - HERE.

Butterfly Lunch

Butterfly shaped, vegetarian bologna with cheese sandwich. Cut strawberries. Strawberry mousse with butterfly sprinkles.