Back to School Snacks

Our Relief Society had a "Back to School" night and I was named as the Food Science 101 Professor, with a focus on after school snacks. Truth be told, before this my kids were lucky to get dry cereal after school... but that's be side the point. I did some research and discovered all of the great possibilities out there. I think these ideas would be great for special days or for bringing in snacks for the class room. I had a lot of fun and found most of the ideas at either marthastewartliving.com or familyfunmagazine.com. There were more ideas out there than I could possibly demonstrate so I focused in on FISH... you know like a school of fish. And I focused on APPLES, for obvious reasons.

I filled up a fish bowl with ...GOLD FISH, pretzels as fishing rods, marshmallows for bubbles and gummy worms for bait. Believe me, the kids took the bait!

These little beauties are made of dried mangoes and pretzels for the tails. They are held together by frosting. I used a dot of frosting for the eye and then placed a mini chocolate chip on top. my favorite part here is the plate. I purchased it at our local dollar tree and I use it everyday for the kids school. It doubles as a dry erase board! Each day my boys come home there is a question of the day for my 7 year old to read, like "How did you help at school?" or "What did you play at recess". Then in the middle of the plate I like to write a simple word for my 5 year old to read. When I can I like it to relate to the snack. For this snack I'd write "fish".

These are my favorite fall cookie... besides all of my other favorite fall cookies.

I set up an assemble it yourself station labeling the different toppings in order. This would be a fun surprise after school for any kid. #1 Peanut Butter #2 Thinly Sliced Apples #3 Caramel #4 Cinnamon. Delicious!! I wish I had one to eat right now!
Apples, apples, apples. An apple at room temperature can post a special message for your special little someone or it can simply carry a smile when you use a non-toxic dry erase marker. The message can be easily wiped off before eating.

A gummy worm in an apple makes for a healthy but also tasty after school snack, or fun lunch box surprise.
Now these are my kind of apples. Cupcake Apples! I used a white cake mix and added in mini chocolate chips for seeds. ;) They are topped off by red frosting and sprinkles. The stems and leaves are made of original tootsie rolls and lime flavored tootsie rolls.

I have to admit, I have been trying a little harder after this to make coming home from school more pleasant. I try everyday to have a plate and a snack waiting for my little guys. It doesn't have to be fancy. A banana that has been specially chosen for them with a cup of chocolate milk can go a long way.