This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group®, Rubbermaid, Jif, and Smucker’s, but all my opinions are my own. #aBetterLunch #pmediahttps://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO
Toddlers and meal time. UGH! I remember as a mom with a new baby watching my friends struggle with their kids at meal time and thinking “That will never be me!” Right, I know BIG MISTAKE! Of course now as a mom of a one year old and three year old, I have gone though my share of mealtime battles.
We want our kids to enjoy mealtime. We want our kids to eat a balanced diet and really love healthy food! So how do you balance keeping their attention, giving them healthy options, having them try new things, and having everyone enjoy the meal instead of it becoming battlefield: Lunch?
The key for us has been making mealtime fun! One of our recent successes has been to Eat A Rainbow! My little guy absolutely loves this. The concept is simple and easy for him to understand. Foods of different colors all have different things that help us grow big and strong. This has opened the door for us to talk about what it means to eat healthy, how to make healthy choices AND he has surprised me by eating all sorts of things of things I never thought he would just because he needed to eat that color for his rainbow.
Let me share what we did for our Eat a Rainbow lunch this weekend!
First, I made a fun Rainbow themed bento box using the new Rubbermaid LunchBlox Kids kit, Jif Natural Peanut Butter, and Smucker’s Simply Fruit Jelly. I was able to pick up everything at Target. They even have some great coupons available here! They don’t expire until December 31, so you have plenty of time to make good use of them.
I am loving how this bento style lunch kit makes it easy to create a fun lunch for the kids. The compartments make it effortless to pack many different kids of foods without them touching so you can pack things that are both wet and dry. They all snap into a blue ice pack that keeps the meal cool so it is easy to grab and take with you when you need lunch on the run. Since I am forever forgetting things, it is a lifesaver so I know I have everything I need whether we are eating at home or on the run.
Also, I think it is so easy for kids to get overwhelmed at mealtime when they just have a plate stuffed full of food in front of them. Having the compartments to separate things actually helps my little guy eat more since he can easily concentrate on eating one item at a time. The Rubbermaid Build A Better Lunch campaign is all about making it easy to make healthy meals for kids and the LunchBlox really does!
To start my bento box, I cut my bread into a rainbow shape. I spread the Jif Peanut Butter on one of the pieces of bread. Then using the Smucker’s Simply Fruit Strawberry, Black Raspberry, and Peach Jelly I made a rainbow on the other slice of bread. I set the bread jelly side up in the bento to make it look more fun for my son, although when he actually ate it I flipped it over so he could eat it sandwich style. Once you put it in the large container you can add some clouds made of pirate popcorn and a sun made out of cheese or squash.
In the compartment next to the sandwich I put broccoli “trees” and a few birds I cut out of cheese with a tear drop cookie cutter.
In the long compartment above the sandwich I made another rainbow using lots of different colors of fruits and veggies.
To finish off my bento box I used the cookie cutter to cut flowers out of cheese, squash and zucchini.
When it was finally lunch time my little guy was SO excited! He had helped me pick out all of the colors and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on all of the fun shapes and colors in his lunch.
To help our little guy concentrate on eating all the different types of foods I made him a little game. Whenever he ate a color of food he was able to fill in that color on his rainbow. Once he filled in all of the colors he got to have the treat at the end of the rainbow!
With or without the treat, this is so much fun! It engages your kids in healthy eating and encourages them to eat all different types of food. Because it is a game, they are having fun, they eat better and everyone gets to enjoy the meal.
You know we love Freebies at TPM, so can download your own Eat A Rainbow game free below. Now you can have your own fun and healthy meal with your kids! We would love to see your rainbow lunches! Share them with us on The Pinning Mama Facebook wall, Instagram or Pinterest with the hashtag #TPMEatARainbow and tag us with @thepinningmama!
Download 8.5×11 Eat A Rainbow Printable Here.
(Click link above, then right click image to save)
popcosmo says
What a fantastic idea to encourage eating the rainbow everyday. I think I need a rainbow downloadable to remind me to be more healthy! This is such a good idea 🙂
xo ~kim
Kimber says
Thank you Kim! I know what you mean… I generally eat healthy, but sometimes on a long day I have been known to have ice cream for dinner!
Recreate and Decorate says
how cute! I love the rainbow idea, that is absolutely adorable!
Kimber says
Thanks Wanda! Hopefully it helps the kids continue to eat these yummy fruits and veggies!
Jennifer E. says
I am a huge fan of the bento box approach for school lunches! Just stopping by to welcome you to the Social Fabric Community!
Kimber says
Thank you Jennifer! Bento boxes are really great at all ages. I appreciate the warm welcome!
Cat Yates says
HOW FUN! I have been looking around for lunch ideas for my 2nd grader – they offer no hot lunch at their school this year, so I need a lot of ideas. This is great! I love the rainbow idea. We always talk about the benefits of different colored fruits and vegis. I love the chart!
Kimber says
Thank Cat! My little guy now asks fr the game at every meal! Hope my printer is full of ink haha!
Kristen Jeffery says
This is so pretty!!! Welcome to the #cbias community!
Kimber says
Thank you Kristen! It is fun when it is okay to play with your food!
Therese @ Fresh Idea Studio says
That is brilliant! I love the rainbow idea. And those lunch kits seem to keep everything nice and tidy. I seriously need to go to Tar-jay and grab a few for my cherubs 😉 starting back to school today! yay!
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers
Kimber says
Thank you Therese! I really am in love with this kit. I want to go buy a few more so I can rotate them while they are dirty. I think this has quickly been promoted to “Can’t live without it” status!
Geralin @ Metropolitan Organizing says
WOW – I need to print the rainbow worksheet for my entire family including my 17 + 18 yo boys who don’t get enough dark green, red or yellows.
PS – Your little Superman is adorable!
Kimber says
Haha! I am not sure the rate of effectiveness at that age range, but I am sure they will come around some day 🙂 Thank you for the kind words about my little man.
Megan Chamberlin says
This is AWESOME!! I’ve pinned this, I keep trying to find ways to get my son to eat better, and this looks like such fun!
Kimber says
Thank you for sharing! I am so glad you enjoyed it. I know my little guy did!
Eileen says
This is too cute to eat! 🙂