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Cute Meals Kids Love – 3 Fun Fish & Tropical Food Ideas

Some kids are picky and others might just like a little variety added into their daily meals and snacks. Finding meals kids love isn’t always easy, but it can be a fun challenge! Sometimes it’s easier to get a child to eat a better meal by making things fun. I’ve noticed some days my kids just want to eat fruit and vegetables or more of a “tapas” style kids’ lunch as opposed to the main course style. I’m trying to embrace their tastes while offering healthy meal and snack options. Check out these fun snacks and cute meals kids love!

Looking for a few meals toddlers love or cute shaped snacks? Look no further. We’ve got cute fruit plates and healthy toddler meal ideas covered!

Under the Sea Fruit Plate / Shaped Food for Kids - Snacks and Meals Kids Will Love - Featuring Blueberries as waves and Strawberries cute like fish and coral below
Under the Sea Fruit Plate / Shaped Food for Kids – Snacks and Meals Kids Will Love

Under the Sea Fruit Plate – Fun Food Kids Love!

I recently decided to try a lot of fun new kitchen techniques to get my toddler to eat more, and to actually enjoy it. She’s always liked fruit, so this Under the Sea Fruit Plate idea was a fast favorite.

You really don’t need much to make it happen, and even if you have different fruits (or veggies!), you can try this fun snack idea at home for your own little ones. Follow these simple instructions to make your own Under the Sea snack or meal for your son or daughter.

Under the Sea Fruit Plate for Kids - Featuring Blueberries as waves and Strawberries cute like fish and coral below

Under the Sea Fruit Plate

Cute shaped food plate for lunch or snack featuring strawberries, blueberries and raisins
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Course Main Dish, Snack
Cuisine Fun Food
Servings 1
Calories 131 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup fresh strawberries
  • 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1/10 cup golden raisins

Instructions
 

  • Wash all the fruit. Remove stems and leaves from the strawberries and check blueberries for stems as well.
    Fresh Red Juicy Strawberries
  • Slice strawberries into toddler safe slices.
    Sliced Strawberries
  • Use the pieces that resemble hearts as the fish, with the top of the hearts serving as the open mouths of the fish. Cut small triangles from other slices to create the fish tails. Add a yellow or black raisin to each fishy for the eye.
    Under the Sea Fruit Plate for Kids - Featuring Blueberries as waves and Strawberries cute like fish and coral below
  • Finally, create your pretty ocean waves using as many blueberries as your child will eat.
    Fresh Picked Blueberries

Notes

Other Tips:
- If your toddler likes broccoli, cucumbers, or celery, consider making some strips of “seaweed” and “kelp” that you can line up at the bottom of the plate. If your child is a bit too picky for this obvious of an incorporation of vegetables, you can cut up some additional strawberries or other fruits for the ocean floor.
- If you don’t have strawberries, you can make fish using other fruits like watermelon, cantaloupe, and even apples and pears. Use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter if you have one, or do everything freehand.
Keyword fruit, shaped food

 

Tropical Food for Toddlers: Cute Meal Ideas with Fish, Dolphins, Palm Trees, and More!

Since we can’t travel right now, I’m living vicariously through memories I have of tropical vacations long ago. Paradise is a state of mind! Channeling the warmer, tropical vibes, I’ve taken to coming up with tropical themed food ideas for my little ones. Consider these suggestions for tropical food for toddlers, featuring islands, palm trees, fish, dolphins, penguins, and more. Designed to be meals kids love, get ready for some fun with food!

Island Themed Meals Kids Love

It’s actually really fun to create your own island scene or beach design with healthy food for your toddler’s lunch or dinner. Cutting everyday foods into cute and creative shapes can go a long way to inspiring your child to sit and eat! My daughter couldn’t wait to get her hands on her lunch plate anytime I made fun shaped food–she often asked me if she could eat it from the first piece of food she saw me cut.

Tropical Toddler Food Closeup - Fried Flounder, Strawberries, Grapes, and Carrots

Consider fun sea creatures and other animals to live on the island. If you’re up to it, make a palm tree, sunshine, and even tropical flowers or seashells if you so desire.

Grab a plate and use these easy steps to create your own tropical food for toddlers:

1. Put a piece of fried flounder, a chicken tender, toast, or some other tan, golden, or white colored food item on the plate as the sand / island. I’ve also used seashell macaroni and cheese, since islands and beaches often have seashells! Grainy or textured foods can be great, too.

2. Add a thin slice of blue Jello or a handful of blueberries to serve as the water.

3. Press small cookie cutters or mini vegetable cutters into fruit like strawberry slices or apples to create inhabitants for the island. I made a few strawberry dogs and some apple dolphins.

4. Use a sun cookie cutter or circle cutter to create a sun for the sky above your tropical island food plate.

5. Create a palm tree by stacking up slices of quartered grapes, and then add four leaves of raw carrot chips.

6. Serve and enjoy the look on your child’s face as she can’t wait to figure out what to eat first!

Jumping Dolphins Shaped Food Idea

Making meals kids love comes easy when you let yourself get creative and have fun with it! You can also make an adorable dolphin scene for lunch. Follow these simple steps!

Jumping Dolphins with Hard-boiled Eggs and Blueberries on a blue plate - Toddler Shaped food

  1. Slice a hard-boiled egg using the egg slicer.
  2. Remove the yolks and place them at the top of the plate. Space out the rings of egg white.
  3. Use the dolphin cutter and make several cute dolphin friends out of leftover ham, sliced lunch meat, or cheese! Layer the dolphins on the egg white rings so it looks like they’re jumping through hoops.
  4. Make a sea of blueberries at the bottom of the plate.

Palm Tree Meal Ideas for Toddlers

Making a palm tree out of food for your child to eat is a fun and easy activity. It’s also quite versatile! First you need something for the trunk—a celery stick or some quartered grapes will do. Arrange the palm tree trunk on the plate. I like to use raw carrot chips or orange slices as the palm tree leaves, but you could make leaves out of pear slices, apple slices, or other fruits or veggies.

Tropical Toddler Food featuring blue Jello, Grapes and Carrots palm tree, fried flounder beach, and fruit cut out as a dog and a dolphin

The colors may be a little reversed from the usual brownish orange trunk and green palm leaves, but the palm tree food designs come out really cute either way. My toddler would request palm trees on her plate every so often, probably once a week. Food for toddlers can be healthy and fun!

A few simple fruit and vegetable cutters or tiny cookie cutters can make fun toddler meals a snap! The PopChef kit also comes with great cutters that make it super simple to create a mealtime masterpiece.

Food for Toddlers: Build Your Own Island

Why have all the fun by yourself? Rather than working to create your own food for toddlers, have your kiddos help you! First, prepare all the pieces of the tropical island and arrange them on a platter or paper plate for your child to access. Imagine how much fun your kids will have building their own island out of food!

Tropical Meal Ideas for Toddlers - blue Jello, Grapes and Carrots palm tree, fried flounder beach, and fruit cut out as a dog and a dolphin

Have your son or daughter help you to create the tropical island food scene by arranging the food on the plate however they please. Consider including foods cut to resemble tropical flowers, fish, dolphins, and cute animals to chill out on the sand. In fact, be sure to make a few extra animals to live on the island as it’s hard to resist strawberries or apples shaped like tiny, adorable animals!

As you can see, with the right tools, it’s SO easy to make meals kids love! Who says you can’t play with your food, at least every once in a while?

If you try these toddler plates and have your own photos, feel free to send them to us. We’ll gladly post them as inspiration for other moms and dads looking for creative toddler meal and snack ideas!

Also, if you like this post of ideas for meals kids love, be sure to check out another fun idea – Adorable Minnie Mouse Kebab Fruit Ideas!

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