Nature Themed Snack Ideas

Celebrate Food Day by introducing your students to healthy nature themed snacks today and throughout the school year. These “recipes” are from the KinderNature website.

Monarch Butterfly Citrus Snacks

Place two orange segments per child flat on the table making a butterfly shape. Add black string licorice antennae.

Bunny Snack

Use a pear half as the rabbit’s body.
Two mini carrots form the ears.
Raisins make the eyes.
And a cherry makes the nose.
Add a marshmallow for the tail.

Peanut Butter Edible Clay

1 cup Creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup Instant powdered milk
3 Tbsp. Honey
Peanuts, raisins, chocolate chips, mini M&Ms and coconut for decorating (optional)

Stir the peanut butter, powdered milk and honey together in a medium-size bowl until dough is smooth. If mixture is dry and crumbly, add more honey. If it is too moist and sticky, add more powdered milk. Have children form their clay into a yummy edible animal. They can then decorate their artwork with peanuts, raisins, chocolate chips or coconut. Refrigerate unused clay in a sealed container.

Caterpillar Rolls

Pop-can dough (bread or biscuits)
Mini marshmallows
Mini M&M’s, mini chocolate chips, or raisins
Straight pretzel sticks

Divide dough into small equal sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Place 4 balls in a straight line on a baking sheet (balls should be touching). Bake according to directions on package. Cool rolls and decorate.

To decorate: heat each marshmallow in microwave for 5 to 10 seconds or until it becomes soft, plump and sticky when pressed. Firmly press two marshmallows on caterpillar faces for eyes. Press M&M’s, chocolate chips, or raisins into each marshmallow. Place two straight pretzels into the top of head for antennas. Pierce one marshmallow with each pretzel stick for tip of antennae. – I’ve also used tube icing to decorate with spots, lines and shapes.

Fossil Layer Sandwiches

Make a six-layer stack sandwich by alternating the bread type (pumpernickel, white, and wheat) and the colored cream cheese. Add raisins (fossils) to find in your earth layers.

Tasty Turtles
Put peanut butter or cream cheese on a Ritz cracker. Place 5 raisins for head and legs and top with another Ritz cracker.

Peachy Spiders

Push 4 pretzel sticks into each side of a peach half for the spiders’ legs. Place 2 raisins on the peach for the spiders’ eyes.

Bird Nests

1 bag peanut butter chips (10 oz.)

1 Tbsp. Solid shortening (Crisco)
1 5 oz can chow mien noodles
1 bag M&M peanut candy or small jelly beans

Melt entire bag of chips and 1 Tbsp. of shortening slowly in microwave or double boiler on stove top. If using microwave, heat full power at intervals of 30 seconds or less until chips melt. You want the chips and shortening to be well blended and creamy and hot. Immediately pour the can of chow mien noodles into the peanut butter mixture and toss lightly to coat noodles. Do this quickly, making sure the noodles are evenly coated. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper and gently form into the shape of a nest, leaving a hollowed area in the center. You may need to reform your nests slightly as they cool. Place three M&Ms or jelly bean in the nest as the “eggs”. Each batch makes approximately 14 nests.