If it gets your kids to sit down for a healthy meal, we're all in favor of playing with your food! We've rounded up 60 ways to make eating enjoyable, even for the pickiest little palates. From breakfast to dinner, and everything in between, check out these great ways to make food fun!
Get ready to step up your sandwich skills with bento box lunches. These picturesque meal settings are a snazzy way to dress up leftovers, effective (and plastic bag free) way to pack lunch, and a smart way to encourage your children to eat healthier meals by making nutritious foods look more appealing (Jessica Seinfeld would be so proud). If you are as busy as most moms, you probably don't have time to bento everyday, but invest in $4 worth of bento tools and you'll be ready to add a small mural meal touch to your child's lunch on special days. Browse through these decadent boxes for inspiration.
Feel free to play with your food! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but active tots aren't always willing to spend time eating it. Before lobbing another round pancake on their plate, take a look at these flapjacks created by a dad of two over at Jim's Pancakes. Using a pancake recipe, food coloring, and a squeeze bottle, he's managed to turn the traditional breakfast favorite into works of art. The picturesque meals may take a lil more effort than a waffle thrown in the toaster or a granola bar on the run, but for a special occasion — like Tuesday's National Pancake Day — or a lazy weekend, this may be all your tyke needs to stay seated at the table.
Photos courtesy of Jim's Pancakes
It's not always easy to convince kids to try new vegetables, but a little bit of creativity can make the healthy food group more fun. If you keep things playful, your kids will start to look forward to meals and enjoy participating in the full food experience. Hoping to boost your child's veggie intake? Check out these five simple ways to help improve their diet!
T minus one week until Memorial Day! The day is not only the unofficial start of Summer, it's the first day of grilling season. Families across the country are moving their meals outside and looking for grill marks on their favorite fare. Some of our favorite tot food bloggers and chefs have shared their favorite patty recipes as part of our National Burger Month celebration, and now we're sharing a few of our own! Check out these kid-tested and mom-approved burger recipes and feel free to share your own in The Children's Table group over in the LilSugar Community!
Teaching children to appreciate and actually eat healthy food is a challenge for most families. Just ask Jessica Seinfeld, whose Deceptively Delicious cookbook takes dishes like chicken lo mein and turkey meatloaf and turns them into veggie-rich creations children will chop down on. If you're ready to up your meal making further, try turning your dishes into picturesque place-settings of nutritional goodness. The food choo choo train has never been cuter or more convincing.
Let them eat healthy food! Start the New Year off right by whipping up a few colorful recipes that the kids will actually eat. From items they can be served in bed to decorative entrees that will have tots nibbling up every last bite, we've got nutritious foods for the entire family will enjoy. So head into the kitchen and get cooking!
 5 Crumb-Less Breakfast in Bed Entrees |
 5 Hands-Off Crockpot Meals |
 Out of the Lunch Box: 6 Sandwich Recipes |
 Reinventing PB&J 5 Ways |
 5 Alternatives to PB&J |
 Edible Works of Art! 9 Mural Meals |
This year we created a special series of kid-friendly sliders aimed at enticing little ones for seconds (or, at the very least, finishing firsts!). If your family eats meat, burgers are likely a monthly staple that could use a saucy makeover. Here's an inspiring review of our popular kid-tested and mom-approved burger recipes that are perfect for grilling season and year-round.
Editor’s note: The following is a guest post written by Annabel Karmel, the British children's chef and kiddie cookbook author. This week Annabel shares mural meals to help entice tots to try new foods.
Children often say that they do not like foods even before they have already tried it. So it is important to entice them and encourage them to eat a healthy and balanced diet. It is easy to give up and just make the foods you know they will like. But just persevere, keep trying new things and make food look attractive so they are at least tempted to try just a little bit.
Children also like to assemble their own food, so you can get them involved – they love to eat food they have made themselves.
Have a picky eater who refuses to eat his greens or a lil girl who is begging to be your sous chef, but you don't know how she can help? Submit your cooking and feeding questions to The Children's Table group over in the LilSugar Community, and we'll have Annabel answer them!
I've got some big burger fans in my house, so I'm always looking for ways to make them kid-friendly and fun. But I'm not thrilled about serving up plain old fries and hamburgers, so I'm always looking for ways to change things up. Last night, I found just the thing to please my picky crew — a healthy twist on burgers and fries. Instead of red meat, I used ground turkey and added in some shredded zucchini to sneak in more veggies. I baked up some sweet potato fries and used the rest of the zucchini to make veggie chips to serve on the side. I garnished the turkey burger with a slice of cheddar and my son thought his edible owl art was a hoot!
Get the easy recipes and my step-by-step pictures when you read more
