by Guest Blogger Dani Heart
I'd choose fruit ninety nine percent of the time over any other snack I can think of. I look so forward to Summer when it's a little easier to get all of our favorites. Thankfully my daughter has always loved fruit too so I spend a lot of time making "fruit bowls" around here.
I wanted to make it a little more fun and use our cat plate to make the afternoon fruit snack time more exciting. Her cousin was here for a play date so it's was the perfect opportunity. She'd never seen the plate or dress cutter so it was pretty exciting to her.
I kicked the girls out of the kitchen while I worked on their surprise. They kept trying to sneak back in of course. I make sure to save all of the extra fruit, even the berries and other things that have had shapes cut out for the girls to use on their own.
When I had the cat ready for them to eat I also set the scrap bowl on the table between them. As they're eating the fruit dress on the cat they can move things around and come up with their own creations. Great right? Keeps them busy, allows them to imagine something new and they're getting a snack that's healthy. Plus I only had to fix one snack.
The first thing they came up with was a princess ballerina... see the cutout berry top? Even naturally scalloped at the top, funny how I would have never thought of that. The second dress up costume they made was a clown. I love the raspberry nose and the fact that someone took a bite out of the tutu. Lastly they made a mermaid. Most of the fruit was eaten at this point so they didn't have as much to work with. They were also thinking of other foods they could use for their next mermaid creation. Turkey meat, goldfish, cheese, etc.
I love making them smile with a few extra minutes of work. This plate is so much fun, we're so happy to have found them. Maybe next time I'll try some veggies. With these two the only chance I'd have at getting them in their bellies would be if they could play dress up again.
Go visit Dani Heart on instagram at @Simplymamabear
