do you bento?
making food fun for kids is an art. perhaps not a fine art, or even a craft really, but it is creative, for sure. i stumbled upon the bento box craze for kids before novi could eat solids, and i couldn’t wait to get in on the action. now novi has all of her teeth and eats all meals and snacks, but still, our bentos are few and far between, as she’s not yet in preschool. regardless, what a great eco-chic (no disposable packaging!) and cute way to inspire young ones to eat healthy meals and snacks! i love to bring them out on playdates or picnics with her. here are a couple i’ve made:
picnic in the park
dinner outing
another cool idea for fun food that i saw in cookie magazine is this simple trick using cookie cutters on kids’ morning toast and eggs.
butterfly toast & eggs
seasonal fun - pumpkin toast
of course, there are sooo many creative books like play with your food
this woman’s bento photo set on flickr is totally inspiratonal! or you can even just search the word bento on flickr for other awesome ideas.
and many, many cute sites for getting your bento ideas and supplies:
- bento crazy
- lunch in a box
- cooking for monkeys
- cooking cute
- vegan lunch box
- i love obento
- japan centre
- lunchboxes
- reusable bags
- laptop lunches
- lunch sense
- snap wear
- sugar charms
- weldonia’s blog
- tools for bentos
- ichiban kan
- air and angels
- supplies on ebay
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ME ME..I bento! I got two of the Laptops for my kids. One just started K this year and so far it’s working out. Although I do need to find a few other covered containers for him to bring in as there are some things I want to pack but can’t since it would leak. He also eats A LOT and I’m not sure how long he’ll be able to just bring the laptop to school without needing something else to bring more food in. I can’t pack a whole sandwich without using the two big containers which leaves only the two smaller ones.
I do have to say that it makes it easier for me to make sure he gets a well balanced lunch