A "Year's Worth" of Kindergarten Snacks - New Years and Season-Themed Classroom Snacks

The first week back at school after the Winter break was my turn as snack mom at Z's morning Kindergarten class. I decided to bring in the new year with a bang!

Happy New Year!

Sparkling pomegranate juice, organic popcorn, assorted grapes

Monday, 1/6/14 - For a New Years-themed snack, I put green, red, and black grapes on some tinsel party skewers. Like fireworks! To go with them, I sent some popcorn and sparkling pomegranate juice. Party time!

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Winter

Pomegranate Limeaid,  sweet potato chips, GF crackers, uncured ham, goat cheese

Tuesday, 1/7/14 - I got the idea to do a snack for each season for the next four days, and decided to start with "Winter." Because it was winter...

For a winter snack, I did mini Lunchables-style cracker-stackers with snowflake shapes. I used a tiny circle cutter on some uncured ham and a mini snowflake fondant cutter on sliced goat cheese, and sent them with some mini savory crackers from Trader Joe's.

Since I was ready to jab an ice pick into my brain after cutting just 36 hams and cheeses (3 per student,) I sent a bag of sweet potato chips to fill them up. And Z looooooves Trader Joe's Pomegranate Limeaid, so I made sure to get some for her week as "Snack Helper." Because pomegranates and sweet potatoes are seasonal in the winter!

Spring

Sunbutter Crunch bars, organic hummus, organic sugar snap peas and carrots

Wednesday, 1/8/14 - For a "Spring" theme, I made a bouquet of veggies! I put a little hummus in the bottom of some fancy baking cups (they have a green flowery print on the outsides) and "planted" some organic sugar snap peas and carrots. To make it more garden-y, I put a mini flower pick in each one.

And since it starts getting sunny in the Spring, I also sent some Enjoy Life Sunbutter Crunch bars. I didn't send a drink because the juice jugs last two days if the teacher puts it in the fridge overnight. Which she does. I love this teacher!

Summer

Organic pink lemonade, organic yogurt tubes, vegan rice crispy treats with GF pretzel sticks

Thursday, 1/9/14 - What's more summery than a build-your-own sun? Well. I hadn't intended them to be build-your-own. But the stupid gluten-free Snyder's pretzel sticks wouldn't stay in the rice crispy treat patties I made.

For the rice crispy treats, I used Erewhon crispy brown rice cereal because they're gluten-free (the Trader Joe's brand isn't) and free of petrochemicals (Rice Krispies has a petroleum-derived preservative.) I made them with Dandies vegan marshmallows (one of the two brands I've ever found without artificial Blue 1 food dye) and dairy-free Earth Balance organic buttery spread (I'm intolerant to dairy) using this rice crispy treats recipe.

Fall

Organic Granny Smith apples, My Fruity Faces edible stickers

I had several "Fall" ideas, including making leaf-shaped tortilla chips and cinnamon pumpkin seed butter. But the teacher had forgotten the yogurt tubes in the fridge the day before, so I didn't want to pile on too much extra food. In the end I went for "It's the end of the week - I'm exhausted" easy and lazy apples with My Fruity Faces edible food stickers - Dora and Spongebob versions. They come in little packets, so the kids could each get multiple stickers with no extra effort on my part. Win!

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