I know I keep talking about this, but my kiddo tends to be a picky eater (unless it’s something sweet… she’ll eat all the candy… but that’s not really food). This picky eating means I need to get creative. Even though I know it’s a little extra work, my kiddo loves it and it makes me happy to see her smile. Win/win/she eats her veggies. That’s why I’m sharing these fun kid snack ideas today. I know my kid can’t be the only picky eater.

In July, I made a few faces for the kid’s dinner and now she pretty much requests a face for dinner/snack time almost everyday, so it’s definitely a special treat whenever I make these for her (since I don’t make them everyday). They’re not a ton of work, but I like randomly surprising her with these little bits of food art. I use strips of carrots and black olives for almost every food creation. The carrots are PERFECT for hair and face shapes, and the olives work for hair/eyes/noses/everything. If you’d like to make one of my cute snacks, check out what I used and how I made them below.

Lovely Carrot Lady:

• To make this lady you’ll need a peeled carrot, peeled string cheese, and 2 California Black Ripe Olives.
• Make a “corner” of carrot hair. Just pile it on. Use two carrot strips to shape the face.
• Add the peeled string cheese over the hair and around the face, then use a circle of string cheese for the cheek.
• Cut a black olive into 6 pieces and arrange on the “corner” of carrot hair to make a little hair bow.
• Cut out 5 segments from the second black olive. Use two for the eyes and three for the mouth.
• The eyelashes and nose are made from little carrot pieces.

Monster Kitty Eating Raisins (a request from my daughter):

• For this meal you’ll need: raisins, 2 California Black Ripe Olives, a baby carrot, and a bagel sandwich (this is a peanut butter/honey sandwich).
• Make your bagel sandwich and cut it in half. Place in the center of the plate and make the bagel open it’s “mouth”.
• Cut 2 large triangles, 1 small triangle, 5 tiny triangles, and two semicircle segments out of the black olives. Arrange the eyes, ears, nose, and teeth with the black olives.
• Peel 6 pieces off of the baby carrot and arrange as whiskers.
• Toss a couple of raisins in the center of the bagel (those raisins are in the monster kitties belly) and arrange the raisins around the plate.

The bearded fellow:

•  For this snack you’ll need a half a can of California Black Ripe Olives, 2 raisins, and a couple strips of peeled carrot.
• First, arrange the beard using all but one of the black olives (be sure to leave a space for the mouth).
• Cut one black olive into 4 slices. Use these slices for the sideburns and eyebrows.
• The two raisins are eyes.
• Use one long strip of carrot to make a bald head, three small pieces for the mouth, one strip for the nose, and two small folded pieces for the ears.

Rosy-Cheeked Girl:

• For this snack you’ll need a half a can of California Black Ripe Olives, one carrot, one small basil leaf, two small cherry tomatoes, and string cheese.
• Cut the half can of black olives into quarters. Arrange these olives as the hair to make a bun.
• Peel the string cheese and make the face, ears, neck, and hair bow.
• Two small black olive pieces make up the eyes, with little dots of carrots for the pupils.
• Place the cherry tomatoes as cheeks, and the mouth will be an angled basil leaf.
• Cut a small section of carrot into a heart shape and place in the center of the cheese bow.
• Peel the carrot and place the strips around the face for the “background” of the food art.

You don’t have to use the exact ingredients I used, get creative! Explore this hashtag, #CalOliveCrafts, on twitter/facebook/pinterest to get some more food art inspiration. Happy snacking!

– Chelsey

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.