Special occasions are the perfect opportunity to indulge your child’s creativity and whip up some fun and healthy alternatives to typical party food. Unlike their mass-produced counterparts, which almost always contain excessive sugar and low-quality fats, these kid-friendly recipes contain real fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and natural sweeteners. These are healthy food craft ideas that kids will love sharing with their friends, for a special breakfast, or on their first day of school. Let’s take a look at four simple, nutritious and fun meals to cook with kids!
Creative fruit character food art
If it’s strawberry season, you’re in luck – these little beauties give us a lot to play around with, with their bright red colour and their delicious flavour they are perfect for making food art for kids.
A food art idea with strawberries is to get creative and make little critters. All you need are a few strawberries, some melted chocolate, and blueberries for the head. Grapes, pomegranate, and passionfruit are also playful ingredients kids can use to decorate different creations. For instance, they could use grapes to simulate a nose, pomegranate for the freckles, and half a passionfruit as a surprised mouth. You can use different fruits to celebrate the changing of the season. This way, they will learn about seasonal fruit. Check out more ideas of healthy food games for kids here!
Kids breakfast crafts with muesli
No special breakfast is complete without muesli, and there are many ways you can turn this into fun food for kids. Simple, delicious, and healthy lollipops are one healthy food activity that’s sure to be a favourite of both parents and children alike! Not to mention, they’re so much fun to make. All you need is muesli, lollipop sticks, a banana, and peanut butter. Put the peanut butter around the banana and sprinkle in muesli for a healthy snack.
Kids can also use muesli to decorate a breakfast bowl. One crafty idea is recreating an autumn landscape, where the fallen leaves are made of muesli and raisins represent tree trunks. Let their imagination run free to create amazing compositions.
Last but not least, homemade baked muesli can be a really nice recipe to prepare with them, too. Baking with kids doesn’t have to just mean high-sugar cakes!
Colourful popcorn for kids
Kids love colourful popcorn, but the kinds you find at the supermarket are usually made with artificial additives. Let us offer a solution. Make sure you have an apron ready! Pop the popcorn with high-quality oil, like extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil. At the same time, prepare a beetroot juice for the colouring. The juice is easy to make (you can use a blender or do it manually): grate the beetroot and then squeeze the shavings in your fist to extract the pink liquid. Use a spray bottle to colour the popcorn. Kids would love this part, so why not have them do it?
Kids pancake ideas
Kids will have a tonne of fun putting different pancake pieces together. They can create animal shapes, using pancakes as the body and fruits as toppings to add details. Some decoration options are strawberries for a nose, banana slices for the eyes, and blueberries or chocolate chips for the centre of the eyes. You can use vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower to simulate trees or bushes, so the animals can be placed in their natural environment. A birthday breakfast would be a perfect time to work on these creations!
These are just a few recipes you can cook with kids. They will add joy to your day, and kids will surely love their own healthy creations. There is no harm in adding some fun to healthy eating! These activities may even foster healthy eating habits in kids, without them even realising.
