{"id":41799,"date":"2023-07-07T01:33:43","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T08:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=41799"},"modified":"2023-07-06T17:15:59","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T00:15:59","slug":"homemade-fun-food-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/07\/07\/homemade-fun-food-toys\/","title":{"rendered":"Homemade fun food & toys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Healthy food can make for a fun snack. The website hello, Yummy has lots of ideas about cooking for and with kids. This banana car with strawberry wheels and a graham cracker bear driver is but one option. (photo from helloyummy.co<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

If I had a dollar for every time I heard a parent tell their kid to stop playing with their food, I\u2019d be a very rich woman. I might even be able to afford a kosher prime rib roast. That being said, I\u2019m here to tell you that sometimes it\u2019s perfectly acceptable to play with your food. Like when there\u2019s a banana strawberry car involved. Or maybe some peanut butter.<\/p>\n

Anticipating the visit of my grand-nephew and grand-niece got me thinking about how we could have some fun together in the kitchen \u2013 without sending anyone to hospital or having to move afterwards. The 3-year-old, Raphael, loves to help his mom cook and bake, so I figured this would be the perfect way to bond with him. His 1-year-old sister, Ariel, might not be adept enough for the culinary process, but I\u2019m sure she\u2019ll eagerly participate in the finished product.<\/p>\n

I think we can all agree that food is more fun when you can play with it. It brings out the inner kid in us, the one who\u2019s just dying to squish mashed potatoes through our teeth. Unseemly behaviour for an adult? Sure. Have we all done it? You betcha. And who among us hasn\u2019t rolled Wonderbread into soft little balls? The fact that edible toys are, for the most part, healthy, is a win-win. You just need to make good food choices.<\/p>\n

For the super-fun banana car snack I found online (helloyummy.co) all you need is a banana, a couple of strawberries, some peanut butter to attach the \u201cwheels\u201d to the body of the banana car and a graham cracker \u201cdriver\u201d (an animal cracker hippo or elephant works perfectly well, too). As for the strawberry \u201cwheels\u201d you could replace them with thick slices of kiwi, mango or even grapes. If you really want to get decadent, you could dip the banana wheels into melted chocolate, add a red licorice tailpipe, or tuck some raisins or blueberries into the \u201cwheels\u201d to simulate hubcaps. The possibilities are truly endless.<\/p>\n

While the original recipe calls for using toothpicks to attach the wheels to the body of the car, I\u2019m hesitant to do that, considering there\u2019s a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old involved. It\u2019s a foregone recipe for disaster.<\/p>\n

Instead, I\u2019m sticking with peanut butter as the adhesive (a glob of cream cheese could also work in a pinch). And, yes, I checked with their mom first to make sure neither of them is allergic to peanuts. Given that both kids were practically weaned on Bamba (the peanut-flavoured melt-in-your-mouth Israeli snack food), I figured I was safe on that count, but it\u2019s always good to check with the parents.<\/p>\n

Since I\u2019m not sure of the practical play factor of these banana car snacks, there won\u2019t be any makeshift racetracks as part of this edible experiment. (Will the wheels even turn? I doubt it.) Although I did see lots of great ideas on Google and Instagram.<\/p>\n

Lucky for me that little Raphael and Ariel are the opposite of picky eaters. In fact, they\u2019ll pretty much devour anything in sight. It doesn\u2019t matter how esoteric, spicy, slimy, crunchy or smelly it is, they\u2019re game to try it. And, if you transform the food into some kind of\u00a0 insect, animal or character they recognize, even better. All it takes is a bit of ingenuity and some basic foodstuffs. The look of sheer wonder on a kid\u2019s face when they see an insect made out of celery, apples and pretzels, and then you tell them they can eat it \u2013 well, nothing beats that.<\/p>\n

So, go ahead and play with your food, make mealtime and snack time fun, and let your imagination soar. It\u2019s unquestionably a healthier choice than plopping kids down in front of a screen, plus it encourages innovation, resourcefulness and artistic expression.<\/p>\n

Aside from fun food snacks, I\u2019m a bit addicted to Instagram for all the cool DIY toys you can make for toddlers and preschoolers using nothing more than leftover paper towel rolls, ping pong balls, a plastic straw, a bit of tape and some kids scissors. As a former children\u2019s librarian, I have all sorts of craft tricks up my sleeve, and I love the uniqueness of homemade toys. But I definitely need a craft refresh now and again.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m always a little disheartened by the number of adults whose go-to gifts involve ordering overpriced toys online. I know that not everyone has the time or inclination to make a gift, but I sometimes think our culture has just gotten lazy. And how many times have you seen a well-intentioned adult (with a lot of disposable income) buy a 2-year-old a $75 toy only to have the kid show more interest in the box or the bubble wrap? Expensive does not always equate to fabulous toys. Put some time and thoughtfulness into it, and I guarantee your DIY gift will be memorable.<\/p>\n

The second summer of the pandemic, I made a bunch of felt animals for then-2-year-old Raphael and, according to his parents, he loved them. He\u2019d stick them on any surface within reach, and they were a great way to learn animal names and have fun doing it. I\u2019m not saying they were newsworthy, but they were all handmade with love.<\/p>\n

And making them was not as onerous as you might think. Just find some free templates on Google, print them out, buy some felt and glue at the dollar store, do some tracing, and boom \u2013 you\u2019ve got yourself some mighty fine felt board animals. Aside from putting them on surfaces throughout the house, you can cover a poster-size piece of corrugated plastic with felt (again, dollar store material) and use the animals to make up stories on the board.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s my belief that, if you make it, they will come. If you buy it, they may just play with the box instead. See you at the grocery or dollar store.<\/p>\n

Shelley Civkin<\/strong>, aka the Accidental Balabusta, is a happily retired librarian and communications officer. For 17 years, she wrote a weekly book review column for the Richmond Review. She\u2019s currently a freelance writer and volunteer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Healthy food can make for a fun snack. The website hello, Yummy has lots of ideas about cooking for and with kids. This banana car with strawberry wheels and a graham cracker bear driver is but one option. (photo from helloyummy.co) If I had a dollar for every time I heard a parent tell their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[8729,5864,3584,21055,3430],"class_list":["post-41799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-accidental-balabusta","tag-children","tag-cooking","tag-crafts","tag-kids"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}