Silly Snacks Caterpillar

Food seems to be the major source of power struggles between my 4 year old son and I.  He is constantly asking me for snacks and I find myself either giving in to get him to leave me alone or saying no and getting into a huge fight. It is a sucky situation and I hate the downward spiral of negativity associated with eating that is going on in my house. He is such a picky eater as it is, we just really don’t need any more problems in that department.

So, I decided that I’m going to try to make healthy eating and just eating in general, more fun. I recently bought the book Silly Snacks from my son’s school book fair. I decided to surprise him when he got home from school yesterday with a special treat from the book. I made a caterpillar using a banana, peanut butter, a couple of raisins (for eyes), thin pretzel sticks, and marshmallows.

First, I peeled and sliced the banana into 1-inch pieces. I used peanut butter to adhere the banana back together. I used thin pretzel sticks for antennae and feet, raisins for eyes, and stuck a couple of marshmellows on top just for fun. See picture above for how it came out. My son loved it and really appreciated the surprise. It made us both happy, so it was definitely worth the little extra effort and time it took to make.

Have you ever made any silly or creative looking snacks or meals for your child? Tell me about it.