Have you ever handed your child an orange only to have them look at you like “Really? This snack is soooo boring!” ? Well, today let’s liven things up a bit by playing with our food! Yep, I’m giving you permission to play with your food! Grab an orange, a few baby carrots, a couple of miniature marshmallows, a few mini chocolate chips plus a knife and a cutting board. We’re going to make some fun animal shapes!
Start by cutting both “ends” off the orange.
Next slice it into thin slices, leaving the rind on.
Take 3 or 4 baby carrots and slice them into round pieces. Full size carrots would work nicely too.
Take a couple of carrot slices and carefully cut out a “v” shape in each. Take a couple more carrot slices and cut them in half. And finally take a few more carrot slices and cut them into a triangle shape.
Smash a miniature marshmallow down with your thumb to make it a flatter wider circle.
Stick a mini chocolate chip in the middle of the marshmallow circle. I put my chocolate chips in point down.
Now begin assembling your animal shapes made with food! Here are a few ideas, but I’m sure you and your kids can use your imagination to come up with more! Let’s start with a small fish…
He’s really cute but he would like a friend so let’s make another one!
Or we could make a larger fish. Let’s look at Big Fish #1…
Yes, I cut the orange circles in half to make this fish. Next we have Big Fish #2…
If you have any kids that love dinosaurs, this next idea will tickle their fancy! (Thanks for the suggestion, Josh!) Yep, you guessed it – it’s a Tyrannosaurus Rex head!! Only this time YOU will be eating HIM!
I have one more idea for your oranges and carrots. It’s a bird…it’s a plane…noooo, it actually IS a bird! 😉
Who knew that with a little bit of magic and some imagination, that an orange could be so much fun! Hope you enjoy playing with your food! 🙂
The Kids Niche 