Animal Toasts

You were probably told to not play with your food but hey, rules were meant to be broken … amiright?  These adorable animal toasts are SO much fun to make with your kids, and may even get them eating a thing or two they haven’t tried!

One of the best ways to get kids to eat healthier is to involve them in choosing and making the food.  I love letting Charlie and Max pick out a new fruit or veggie at the grocery store and trying it together or creating a meal with it.

Allowing your children to have a say in what is served to them give you the opportunity to talk about healthy foods for your body and the importance of making a good choice (and applauding them when they do!).  As parents we are responsible for offering healthy foods to choose from, and as tough as it is, they are responsible for choosing what they eat out of that selection and how much they eat.

But back to these animal toasts, we used a few simple ingredients here to create 6 different animals with our toast but really, the possibilities are endless.

These are the perfect afternoon snack or healthy weekend breakfast. These little toasts double as an after school activity for when my kids are hungry but it’s too early for dinner. Using healthy, simple ingredients, kids are able to use their imaginations!

To make this as healthy as possible choose a bread that is made with whole grain flour as the first ingredient: I like sprouted best!  You can use any nut butter that your kids like: choose the kind that you have to stir for the healthiest option.  And for the cream cheese, you can use either regular cream cheese or the dairy free version like Tofutti.

Ingredients you’ll need:

• Toasted Bread (look for whole grain flour as the first ingredient, I like sprouted bread best)
• Cream Cheese or Dairy Free Cream Cheese (Tofutti is good!0
• Nut Butter (Peanut, almond – the kind that separates- or No Nut Butter like Wow Butter)
• Banana cut in slices
• Strawberries cut in slices
• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Raisins
• Kiwi cut in slices and half circles
• Cheerios
• imagination!

And now for some inspiration!  Let me introduce you to the mini zoo we created!

Owl Animal Toast

To make the owl we first layered on peanut butter then added banana slices for eyes with blueberries in the centre of each. Half kiwi slices made up the wings, a slice of strawberry for the nose and we used cheerios as a final touch as some feathers on the chest!

Bunny Rabbit Animal Toast

One of the most fruit heavy of them all, the bunny started with a layer of cream cheese and has a full half banana as its ears (we cut it in half length ways then cross ways) and small banana slices as it’s whiskers (you could use kiwi too). Add a half slice of strawberries to the ears to make the insides, blueberries for eyes and a raspberry for the nose.

Monkey Animal Toast

We stayed true to the monkey’s roots with peanut butter and banana! Simply layer on nut butter, add half slices of banana as shown and a couple of blueberries for eyes.  A classic flavour combination that comes together in a goofy snack.

Fox Animal Toast

This sly fox uses both peanut butter and cream cheese! Start with a layer of each as shown (mom may need to start this one!) and add strawberry slices for the ears, banana slices with blueberries for the eyes and a blueberry for the nose.

Teddy Bear Toast

The simplest of them all, the classic teddy bear was the first one of these I did! The raisins make the cutest eyes and nose don’t you think (just press them into the shape you want if your raisins are a bit squished)?

Fish Animal Toast

Bright and colourful with kiwi lips, layered sliced strawberries create the scales and make this fish bright and colourful!

If you’re looking for more healthy kid friendly kitchen inspiration and baking is your jam try out these Sneaky Mommy Muffins, these Orange Hemp Muffins or this Double Chocolate Omega-3 Zucchini Bread.