Get creative and encourage a diverse diet for your toddler with three awesome food art recipes that feature Ready. Set. Food! Organic Oat and Fruit Bars. Plus, we’ve included some of our other favorite toddler snack ideas.
Ready. Set. Food! Organic Oat and Fruit Bars are an awesome way to keep feeding your toddler 8 top allergens and encourage diet diversity.
Diet diversity, or feeding your toddler a wide variety of nutritious foods, helps your toddler form lasting healthy eating habits — it encourages them to choose and love healthy foods throughout the rest of their life.
An important part of diet diversity is feeding common allergens. Continuing to feed top allergens in toddlerhood is vital, as it helps give your child the best chance at lifelong food freedom. And Ready. Set. Food! Organic Oat and Fruit Bars make this easy!
Today, we're encouraging you to get creative with three awesome food art recipes that feature Ready. Set. Food! Organic Oat and Fruit Bars.
Butterfly Bar Art
This Butterfly Bar Recipe made with Ready. Set. Food! Organic Oat and Fruit Bars is a cute and delicious way to get your kids involved in snack time. Try decorating the butterfly with different fruits together, to encourage your little one to love a variety of yummy flavors!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 1 RSF! Organic Oat and Fruit Bar
- 1 banana, sliced
- 1 kiwi (separate the seeds from the fruit)
- 1 apple, sliced (if making the butterfly for a younger toddler, soften the apple beforehand or cut thinner slices of raw apple)
- A handful of raspberries, sliced into strips
- A handful of blueberries
- Other fruit (substitute in or add as desired)
Steps:
- Take the RSF! Organic Oat and Fruit Bar out of the wrapper and put on a plate.
- Place a slice of banana at the top for the butterfly’s head.
- Arrange the kiwi seeds on top of the banana to create two eyes and a smile.
- Chop the apple into 8 slices.
- Arrange the apple slices next to the bar as the butterfly’s wings.
- Slice up the raspberries into little strips.
- Place a strip of raspberry on each slice of apple, to decorate the wings.
- Add some blueberries in a diagonal line on top of the banana, to make the antennas.
- Try different combinations of fruit for the wings and antennas – for instance, you might use peach slices for wings, or strawberry strips for antennas.
- You can also decorate the area around the butterfly – or the butterfly body – with fruit to encourage your toddler to eat different fruits. Try making a flower with fruit slices for the petals, and with a raspberry or blueberry in the middle. Or, try making a caterpillar with fruit slices. Get creative and have fun!
Volcano & Dino Bar Art
Dinos, volcanos, and RSF! bars – Oh my! If you’re looking for a fun and edible art project, look no further than this "dino-mite" recipe! The dinosaur and volcano are a great option for a party – or whenever you’re hosting a group of toddlers – since you'll be using 8 bars in total. It's a great snack to serve after dino dig sensory play, or during a prehistoric party!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Two boxes of RSF! Organic Oat and Fruit Bars (8 bars total)
- 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1 banana
- A handful of raspberries, sliced into strips
Steps for the Dinosaur:
- Take 3 RSF! Organic Oat & Fruit Bars out of the wrapper and put on a plate.
- Arrange the bars side by side so they look like the body of a dinosaur.
- Cut a long chunk out of the top and bottom bars to create the dinosaur's body.
- Set the cut pieces of bars aside.
- Cover the bars with a thin layer of smooth peanut butter.
- Slice the banana in half and place the entire half at the top for the dinosaur’s neck and head.
- Draw an eye and mouth on the dinosaur using peanut butter.
- Slice the other half of the banana to create a long, thin piece for the tail, and quarter-slices for the scales.
- Arrange the banana as scales on top of the peanut butter.
- Place the "tail" piece of banana at the back of the dinosaur.
- Slice the remaining bar pieces (the ones you set aside before) into tiny rectangles, to serve as the dinosaur's legs.
- Add the "leg" pieces of bars to the bottom of the dinosaur's body.
Steps for the Volcano:
- Place the remaining 5 bars on a plate, to form a triangle (you will have to cut and smush the bars together).
- Place strips of raspberries at the top of the triangle, and down the front of the triangle, to resemble lava exploding from the top of the volcano and flowing down.
Car Bar Art
A car made of bars? Yes please! If your toddler loves cars, they’ll love helping you make this car out of RSF! Organic Oat and Fruit Bars. It's great fuel for the journey towards lifelong healthy eating! Just like the butterfly, there's plenty of room to change out the fruits and get creative, to further encourage diet diversity.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- One RSF! Organic Oat and Fruit Bar
- 4 blueberries
- One apple slice (if making the car for a younger toddler, soften the apple beforehand)
- A handful of kiwi seeds or sesame seeds
- Raspberry seeds
- Other fruit (substitute in or add as desired)
Steps:
- Take the RSF! Organic Oat and Fruit Bar out of the wrapper and put on a plate.
- Cut the RSF! Organic Oat and Fruit Bar in half.
- Place one half of the RSF! Organic Oat and Fruit Bar on top of the other half.
- Add 2 blueberries to each side of the bar for wheels.
- Cut the apple slice in half and place on top of the bars.
- Add two raspberry seeds to the top of the apple for eyes.
- Finish off with kiwi seeds in the form of a smile on the apple.
- After following our original steps above, try making different shapes of cars with stacked bar parts. You could also try putting different fruits on top as the "driver," or as decorations. Or, try using different fruits (like raspberries, kiwi slices, or banana slices) for the wheels!
Other Snack Ideas for Toddlers
Looking for more snack ideas to encourage diet diversity and foster healthy eating habits? Here are some of our favorite choices:
- Peach slices
- Banana slices
- Mango slices
- Kiwi slices
- Matchstick-thin strips of veggies (such as peppers, cucumbers, celery, or carrots) with hummus for dipping
- Matchstick-thin strips of veggies with guacamole for dipping
- Cucumber slices
- Roasted carrot or sweet potato "fries"
- Avocado slices
- Guacamole on half a slice of whole-wheat bread
- Whole-wheat waffles with smooth nut butter puree
- Whole-wheat pancakes with plain yogurt
- Plain Greek yogurt (no added sugar) with fruit pieces mixed in
- Chia pudding with fruit slices mixed in
- Parfaits with fruit and plain yogurt (no added sugar)
- Cheese slices or cheese strips
- Chicken pieces
- Homemade egg cups with mushrooms, broccoli, spinach, and/or red peppers
- Homemade veggie muffins (with no added sugar)
- Homemade smoothies with fruit and plain yogurt (no added sugar)
- Pieces of whole-wheat quesadillas with chicken and chopped kale
- Cooked pieces of butternut squash
- "Roll-ups:" Pieces of whole-wheat wraps with shredded turkey and cheese
- Other homemade snacks on our toddler snack ideas list
All of these options align with the USDA Dietary Guidelines for toddlers ages 1-2 years, which recommend:
- Prioritizing a variety of fruits and vegetables in a rainbow of colors
- Feeding high-protein foods, like meat, fish, seafood, eggs, nut products, seed products, and soy products
- Choosing whole grains over refined grains
- Feeding dairy foods, such as milk, yogurt and cheese
- Avoiding foods with added sugar
- Avoiding foods high in sodium
For a more detailed guide to what your toddler should eat in a day, check out our articles focused on 12-18 month olds and 18-24 month olds.
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All health-related content on this website is for informational purposes only and does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Always seek the advice of your own pediatrician in connection with any questions regarding your baby’s health.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
See the FDA Peanut Allergy Qualified Health Claim at the bottom of our homepage.
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All health-related content on this website is for informational purposes only and does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Always seek the advice of your own pediatrician in connection with any questions regarding your baby’s health.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If your infant has severe eczema, check with your infant’s healthcare provider before feeding foods containing ground peanuts.