4 Ways to Make Toddler Meals Fun

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4 simple and easy ways to make toddler meals fun. Ideas for picky eaters or toddlers who need a little help getting excited about meal time.

Are you wondering how do I make meal time fun for my toddler? How do I get my toddler to eat more? How can I get my picky eater to eat different foods?

I’m a mom of two toddlers and I’m sharing 4 ways I get my toddlers to eat better at meal time by making their meals fun. These are simple steps that you can take, including serving food in fun shapes and colors, using fun utensils and serving all their favorite healthy snacks.

Below you will see a few things that you can buy to help make your toddler meals fun, but also there are many options that are totally free and take little effort by you. Keep on reading to find out how!

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Cut Food Into Fun Shapes

Cutting food into fun shapes or even just cutting the food differently than what your toddler is used to could be all that is needed to keep meal time exciting.

For free – Try cutting sandwiches and toast into triangles instead of squares (or vice versa). Or slice fruit and veggies long ways into strips instead of bite-sized pieces.

Sandwich & Food Cutters – Food cutters make it really simple and easy to cut food into fun shapes. You can uses these on sandwiches, toast, fruits, veggies, and even cheese. Let your toddler help pick out their shape so that they can be involved in the process, which makes it even more fun for them.

Crinkle Cutter – a crinkle cutter is a great way to add texture and make food look different than normal. Its great for slippery foods like avocado and also fun for making sweet potato fries.

Buy Foods That Come in Fun Shapes – you can even buy foods that come already cut into fun shapes. That means one less step in making your toddler’s meal fun. Some of our favorites are Dr. Praeger’s Broccoli littles and Perdue Chicken Plus dino nuggets.

Use Fun Shaped Plates – sometimes a fun shaped plate can be just as effective as fun shaped food in getting your toddler excited about meal time. Two of our favorites are this EZPZ Mini Play Mat and EZPZ Sesame Street Elmo Mat.

Serve Colorful Foods

Another fun way to make toddler meals fun is to serve a wide variety of colorful foods. Your toddler will love that their plate looks like a rainbow and foods of different colors can be fun to talk about, describe, taste, and compare.

Some colorful food ideas:

Red: strawberries, tomato, red pear, red bell pepper, ketchup
Orange: mandarin oranges, carrots, orange bell pepper, sweet potato, cheddar cheese
Yellow/white: bananas, cauliflower, mozzarella cheese, plain greek yogurt, yellow bell pepper, eggs, corn, yellow tomatoes
Green: avocado, peas, zucchini noodles, pears, grapes, broccoli, kiwi, green bell pepper, cucumber, spinach
Blue/purple/black: grapes, blueberries, olives, black beans, chia seeds, blackberries, purple carrots
Pink: raspberries, beets

Mix it in – If your toddler mostly likes tan or beige foods, try mixing in colorful fruits and veggies to make those foods look fun too.

Add raspberries to French toast or pancake batter to add a pop of pink.
Stir in smushed avocado to turn quesadillas, grilled cheese or pulled chicken green.
Add shredded carrots to oats before cooking to make yummy orange carrot cake oatmeal.
Fold in smushed blueberries to pancake batter to make blue pancakes.
Add tomatoes, carrots, and peas to mac ‘n cheese to make rainbow mac.
Use different colored fruit to make a colorful yogurt or smoothie bowl.

Use Picks, Sticks, and Fun Utinsels

Sometimes fun utensils can make all the difference in getting your toddler excited about eating. If your toddler normally uses their hands or a plain fork or spoon, try using themed silverware made just for toddlers, food picks, or serve food that comes on a stick.

Dinneractive Utensil Set – this is our favorite silverware set for times when my toddlers get in a rut and aren’t super interested in food. They are shaped like construction vehicles and they both get so excited when we bring them out. They enjoy pushing them around the table and making truck noises before putting the food in their mouths.

GO Fresh Food Picks – food picks work great for sides like fruits, veggies, and cheese. This set has cute little animals and come in fun colors. These are great for older toddlers.

Food on a Stick – Everything tastes better on a stick. Instead of a hot dog, try a corn dog (or veggie corndog, we like the ones from MorningStar Farms). Make fruit pops with popsicle sticks, serve corn on the cob instead of cut off, or toddler kabobs using wooden skewers (be sure to cut off the sharp end).

Serve A Snack Tray

Finally, my favorite way to make toddler meals fun is to serve snacks as a meal by making a toddler snack tray or mini charcuterie board. Use all your toddlers favorite fruits, veggies, proteins/healthy fats and healthy snacks and serve it together on a plate, small cutting board, or muffin tin.

Some snack ideas for your toddler snack tray:

Fruits: blueberries, raspberries, grapes, strawberries, watermelon, mandarin oranges, kiwi, pears, apples, peaches, nectarine
Veggies: peas, carrots, tomatoes, avocado, broccoli, cauliflower
Protein/healthy fats: string cheese, chopped nuts, turkey, seeds, salami, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, lunch meat
Snacks: crackers, granola and cereal bars, dried dates, dry cereal

For more ideas for your toddler snack trays, check out this related post: 50 Toddler Snack Tray Ideas

This mini mat is another fun option for a toddler snack plate:

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