Storytime Snack Ideas

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We were thrilled to be part of the #storytimesnacks in September project, spearheaded by Literacy for Littles. Each Tuesday in September, we joined some wonderful accounts in featuring snacks that fit the theme of a favorite children’s book! Reading is one of the most important things you can do with your child, and so many books pair beautifully with simple themed snacks! Even though September is over, you can still use some of these books and snack pairing ideas with your little ones throughout the year!

• Our first book was “If I Could Keep You Little” by Marianne Richmond. It’s a beautiful book that describes how many of us feel about parenting - we wish we could freeze time and keep our kids from growing up, and yet if we never saw them grow we would miss so much magic along the way! I cry hysterically every time I read it but still read it nonetheless.
• Our snack was inspired by the lines, “If I could keep you little, I’d cut your bread into shapes. But then I’d miss you finding, 'Hey, I LIKE ketchup with my grapes!'” To celebrate this part of the book, we’ve made peanut butter and sliced strawberry sandwiches with whole grain bread, cut into shapes. Sub any nut or seed butter for allergies. It’s a simple, filling snack that can be enjoyed before or after reading the book! We recommend eating separately from reading (as opposed to reading and snacking at the same time), as we want our kids to have the chance to eat mindfully.​

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• Our second book was “Don’t Push the Button” by Bill Cotter. It’s funny and silly and encourages kids to interact with the story. The premise of the book is monster Larry doesn’t want the reader to push the button, but eventually his curiosity takes over and a hilarious sequence of events ensues.
• You know that we are big fans of sensory play during mealtime (if your tot can’t touch something he likely won’t eat it), so we decided to make “buttons” with food in honor of this fabulous book. Simply place three dips in the end of a muffin tin (we love novel food presentation) and place a button on top! Here’s what we used:
  • ​Yogurt with blackberries
  • Roasted red pepper hummus with cucumbers
  • Guac with Simple Mills crackers

Encourage your kid to “push the button” and get a little messy with the food. Perhaps they want to taste the button next. Maybe they want to try again by pushing more buttons. It’s a fun, interactive experience for kids and adults alike!

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• “On the Night You Were Born” by Nancy Tillman is a beautiful celebration of a child - “You are the one and only ever you...” - and it makes me cry every time I read it. I always read this one to my girls on their birthdays! In this book, the author describes how the earth celebrates the birth of each new baby.
• The line, “Who in the world is exactly like you - Who - Who - Who?” inspired this cute little rice cake owl as seen on Pinterest (and it’s definitely more of a crafty snack!). For those of you who like super simple, these Babybel cheese ladybugs (also from Pinterest) are perfect, inspired by the lines, “If the moon stays up until morning one day, or a ladybug lands and decides to stay, or a little bird sits on your window awhile, it’s because they’re all hoping to see you smile...”​

Here's how we made them:

• Owl - brown rice cake body, apple wings (thinly slice for kids under 4), O’s cereal front feathers, strawberry beak, banana/blueberry eyes.
• Ladybug - This is where it gets interesting. You can peel the Babybel cheese down the middle, slightly separate, and dot the wax with cooled melted chocolate or another dark food liquid...or you can use a sharpie (#momhack). It doesn’t bleed through the very thick non-edible wax (I double-triple checked), but it may come off on hands so I would help your little ones peel it all the way off! It’s a cute, simple way to be all crafty but...not. 

“Heaven blew every trumpet and played every horn on the wonderful, marvelous night you were born.”

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When this series started we were contacted by Simon Kids/Simon and Schuster to check out a few of their children’s books, and the ones they sent were so sweet!

• We especially loved “Not Quite Narwhal,” a beautiful story about identity and inclusiveness, written by kid author Jessie Sima. My girls love it. Of course we had to share this book - and themed snack - with you, since we’re all about narwhals, unicorns, mermaids, and rainbows in this house!
• Fruit kebabs are a simple way to put food on a stick (everything’s better on a stick, right?). Our toddler course grads know how important it is to serve food in a novel way and add dips, so for some fun - and fat, protein and blood sugar balance - we’ve added a yogurt dip (use dairy-free if necessary). Simply mix full-fat Greek plain yogurt with sweetener of choice (or keep unsweetened) and serve with strawberry, peach, cutie wedge (2 different orange colors!), banana, kiwi and blueberries on a stick. Cut the sharp end. Make sure to keep this for kids 2+ and always supervise when kids are eating!

We hope you continue to make fun snacks and read to your kiddos!

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