It’s Back to School season! I love this time of year — really, I love anything that gives a feeling of fresh-starts and new chances and do-overs. One of the things I want to refresh as we head into fall is our snacks. Last school year we made great progress on cutting crappy food from our diet. But our efforts seemed to evaporate as summer came on. Popsicles and ice cold soda and ice cream sandwiches are hard to resist!
There’s no time like the present to reintroduce healthier snacks. Of course, I could just serve them up as is (and probably will on many days), but I thought it would be a fun option to make our after-school snack times a little more playful. So, I drew up some simple illustrations and had them laminated as placemats. A fox, a cat, a man and a woman.
The idea is basic as can be: the kids use their snacks to fill in the shapes. My hope is to provide different veggies and fruits and almonds each day. The kids will see them as fresh, new decorative options, and instead of reaching for the same old, same old, they’ll be getting more of a variety of foods than they might otherwise. Kids are happy. Mom is happy. Everyone is happy!
If you’d like to make your own set, it’s easy as can be. Download the free .pdf and save it to a thumbdrive, then head to your favorite copy shop. Have the .pdf printed on 11×17 paper and laminated. With printing and lamination, each placemat cost me less than $3.
Do you have any fun after-school snack traditions at your house? We’re always looking for new ideas!
That’s amazing! I’m a strong believer that involving your kids in food will make them eat it!
Love from Germany,
http://lasagnolove.blogspot.de/2014/08/books-on-food.html
Bambi
I’ve found the same thing to be true at our house.
I so admire that though you have teens and tweens, that you continue to do fun things for the youngers, that so often get swept away in the years of disenchantment.
Thanks for the kind words, Emily!
The Smokehouse almonds. So good! These placemats are adorable, and I want to come to your house for afterschool snack. You are a great mom! xox
Come on over! I promise to pickup a can of Smokehouse just for you.
Very cute! I love these! So gonna try it out.
With my 3 year old, we do an after school smoothie picnic. We make a smoothie in the blender together, pour it, and go out on the deck and sit on the rug and drink it. Then we water the plants together. It’s become a fun little activity every day that he really looks forward to.
Such a sweet idea! I love ideas on how to be better engaged with my kids…and I’m always up for a new tradition! Thanks for sharing.
That is adorable, Nina! So glad you shared.
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Cute idea!
Where is the link to download the printable? I’ve read the post several times and don’t see it.
Sorry it’s hard to spot! My bad. It’s right after the photos of the placemat with the woman with orange carrot cheeks. The link comes after the sentence that says: If you’d like to make your own set, it’s easy as can be.
And here it is again, so you don’t have to hunt it down. : )
So fun! Maybe I will use these…for myself.
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