Fun Animal Snacks To Feed Their Imaginations

August 31, 2020

When it comes to getting your kids to eat healthy food, it’s often a tricky affair. You usually have to get creative to help them have a well-balanced diet. Some resort to hiding ingredients in more kid-friendly foods, while others highlight eye-catching colours. If you’re struggling to get your little ones to eat healthily, there’s another reliable option — turning food into their favourite animals. It requires some creativity, sure, but transforming food into your children’s favourite creature will make them more willing to eat items they otherwise wouldn’t.

Here are Animal Snack recipes to get started:

Panda Sushi

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Tsum Tsum ⚫️➖⚫️🍣

A post shared by Ming #bentomonsters (@bentomonsters) on Jan 16, 2016 at 7:20pm PST

Credit: @bentomonsters on Instagram

Anything panda is usually a hit with children, so there’s no doubt that your kids will be delighted with panda-shaped sushi served to them. And while the idea of creating tsum tsum treats seems complicated, you actually only really need a few ingredients and a trusty rice cooker to make them. The best rice cooker in this case would be a multi-functional one, as you can make more Asian-themed animal snacks if you put a bit more effort (and imagination) into the task! These versatile rice cookers are equipped with built-in steamers that can also let you make small baos with faces on them. But concerning panda sushi, you would need to cook sushi rice the regular way, mould it into a panda bear shape, use nori cutouts to create the face, and use sauce mix to put the components together. You can even add toppings like salmon, tamago, or shrimp and make them look like “hats.”

Teddy Bear Toasts

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My kind of Sunday morning 🐻 Have a lovely day! 🖤 . #breakfast #Sunday #morning #april #teddybear #teddybeartoast #flashesofdelight

A post shared by Indira Mujkanovic (@itsindyra) on Apr 22, 2018 at 2:17am PDT

Credit: @itsindyra on Instagram

If you want to involve your kids in the cooking process, one of the easiest treats you can make is the teddy bear toast. For one, it doesn’t require a long time to create. For another, the tools involved are kid-friendly. Children can usually start tinkering with kitchen appliances around age 6, and toast is a great first dish that they can “cook” on their own. After all, oven toasters are not difficult to use, so long as you impart with them proper toaster safety. All you need to do is toast bread, spread your condiment of choice on top, add a banana slice on the centre for the bear nose and another two on the top right and top left corners for the ears. For variety, you may add blueberry on the eyes for a fun and yummy touch.

Oatmeal Owls

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Don’t play with your food, they said. Adults can’t have fun, they said. Well, maybe I WANT to play with my food and maybe I LIKE having my oatmeal look like an owl. The early bird does get the worm, afterall 😉 CLICK THE LINK IN OUR BIO TO TRY THIS BLEND^^^ Try creating this blend on our site by adding a sweetener and our cinnamon roll flavor to your oats. Throw in some Sharon fruit, pumpkin seeds, apple, almonds, and peanu tbutter cookie dough bites and you’ll have your self a mighty fine breakfast! Fit for any activity you may encounter during the day. Thanks @annimeyer for this b-OWL of oatmeal 🙂 #myoatmeal #oatmeal #oatmealowl #breakfast

A post shared by MyOatmeal.com (@myoatmeal) on Nov 3, 2015 at 11:18am PST

Credit: @myoatmeal on Instagram

More often than not, it’s challenging to get your kids to eat something bland like oatmeal. But food like oats deliver an impressive amount of both fibre and protein, not to mention quick and easy to create, so they make for an ideal dish for children. Plus, it’s sugar-free, as opposed to popular breakfast goodies like boxed cereal. To get your kids to munch on oatmeal, the trick is to gather the right ingredients to create “oatmeal owls.” All you have to do is cook oatmeal like you usually would, and add things like almond slices, strawberries, and sunflower seeds to assemble the face. When you serve it this way, the meal won’t be as dull, and it will have a dash of flavour, too.

Check out other healthy and fun kid snacks to help feed their imaginations this September.

Article contributed by Alessandra Roberts

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