Here are some fun food ideas for kids at dinnertime. Ways to make lunch and dinner time fun and introduce vegetables into their diet.
If you’re a Mom you may have tried everything to get your kids to eat dinner! For some the struggle might be the veggies, others struggle to get their kids to eat meat. Nevertheless it’s frustrating. When my kids were younger I had some of the same issues, let me share some of the fun food ideas for kids that worked for us! Sponsored by Tyson.
Food Art
One of my daughters wouldn’t at meat for a while, while the other two had apprehensions about vegetables. They are all very adventurous eaters NOW. I will say it took time.
I learned that one teeny tiny bite from nothing at all was a success because the next time with that same food it was a little bit bigger bite. Now they love things like quiche (seriously). Let me show you how I started making dinnertime fun for them.
First I started with something I knew they liked, like these Tyson® Fun Nuggets. This made it simple since they are easy to prepare and are made of 100% natural ingredients. Now I can feel good about what I’m serving them.
I just wrap them in a paper towel and microwave them so they get nice and crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
- BUT if you want them REALLY crispy follow our air fryer frozen chicken nuggets instructions. It’s our favorite way to cook these!!
Then I go from there. I used a few dinosaur and regular shaped pieces for this fun lunchtime idea.
It usually only takes about 30 seconds in the microwave to heat them up. Then I flip them over and heat for another 30 seconds.
Fun dinner ideas for kids
I don’t want them too hot or they won’t eat them. If you air fry frozen chicken nuggets it is a total of 12 minutes. Either way it’s a quick meal.
- First cut 1 piece of the lettuce you see in the first picture down the middle, that will be my grass.
- You may think “they would never eat/touch that”, but after a while you may notice them getting curious.
- Place the nuggets on the “grass” so the dinosaurs can graze for a bit.
- Then cut the nuggets diagonally to make your tree.
Use regularly, or this is how to make candied grapes to create the branches and leaves.
Easy kid friendly dinners for picky eaters
Use 2-3 nuggets cut in half to make the tree.
Then, cut grapes in half so they don’t fall off the plate to make the branches/leaves for the tree. If you have little ones you would want them cut in half anyway so mind as well have fun with it.
- Use a yellow bell pepper (yes my kids like these now because I introduced it over and over again) to make the sun rays.
- Slice it thin and criss cross it at the top.
A slice of banana will do for the middle of the sun. 😉
Squeeze on some ketchup for the eyes and you are done!
I got these squeezable ketchup and mustard containers at the store years ago and they are SO helpful! It really is the little things like this that help. Let your child put the eyes on with a container like this that makes it harder to spill and they are more likely to take ownership of their creation.
Better yet, give them the plate and all the items cut up and let them create this picture themselves after you have done it for them once!
If you introduce vegetables and fruits on a daily basis eventually they will get curious….at least to taste them. I will tell you it took a while, some took longer than others in this house, but now they are very experimental eaters and love unusual things like plain bell peppers and even sushi!
Keep at it, start with something they already like such as these Tyson Fun Nuggets, and build on that with a variety of fruits and vegetables. Good luck!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Tyson. The opinions and text are all mine.
