Isn’t it funny how children are much more interested in eating something when it’s has a fun name? I have a hard time getting my children to eat Farfalle Alle Erbe Panna Rosa (a tasty little recipe from my sister-in-law you can find here), but if I call it “Butterfly Noodles”, they’re all over it!
Particularly when we’ve been talking about bugs, I like to serve up some butterfly noodles for lunch or as a snack. You can serve them a million different ways! Ok, a million may be an exaggeration, but you get the point – they’re versatile! You can go with plain, just cheese, sauce from a can, family heirloom sauce recipe, chopped fresh tomatoes and basil – whatever it takes to get the kiddos to eat it, and you to feel like they got something healthy out of the deal!
For some extra fun, I like to mix up a box of farfalle (bow-tie) noodles with a box of fusilli (spiral) noodles for a stellar favorite around here, known by the gourmet name of “Butterflies and Caterpillars”.
Bring your little ones in the kitchen with you for all kinds of developmental benefits as they help prepare their own snack or meal.
With this snack, I often talk to the children about whether or not they would really want to eat insects. Most say no, but then we talk about how, in some places and cultures, insects are eaten! Most children are more than happy to simply pretend. And so am I.
For more bug-themed ideas, check out this brainstorm!
Top photo by Patrick Moore.
The “butterflies and caterpillars” are such a cute idea! Thank you for sharing!
Another great post…thank you for sharing.
Since you are into using bowties as butterflies, you might enjoy doing this with your children…
First, you take bowtie pasta or any other kind of pasta and dump it into little baggies and then, add several drops of food coloring…maybe ten or so…then, add about a teaspoon of rubbing alcohol per bag.
For every color you want to make of the pasta, make a separate bag.
Seal the baggies well and then shake gently…
Then, empty the pasta onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Let dry overnight…
and voila!
These colorful pasta are great to use for art collages, math manipulatives (for counting, sorting, patterning, addition, subtraction, etc.) or even as game pieces.
You can also do color work by making lighter and darker shades of the various colors…just have to tweak the number of drops of food coloring and the rubbing alcohol…
As a math work board, we have two little math boards featuring a picture of a butterfly net…you can have your child do math problems based on how many butterflies they catch vs. how many got away…
If you check out my blog, you will see these two posts there…
http://sunriselearninglab.blogspot.com/2010/02/little-bro-enjoying-being-fournow-no.html
http://sunriselearninglab.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-colored-pasta-for-crafts.html
Well, have fun!
Colleen:)
Great ideas, Colleen!
I love your blog! Full of great ideas, and fully in step with my own philosophies on parenting.
I particularly like your posts related to FOOD, since I blog about ‘the connections between the books kids read, the games they play, and the foods we hope they’ll eat.’ http://dashingbean.com
I’ll definitely be adding you to my blogroll, and very likely will be pinging your blog in the future.
Thanks Tresna! Your blog is beautiful, and full of great food ideas! (Love El Skippito!) I’ll have to explore it further to help with my own finicky eaters! Thanks for stopping by! (BTW- I have another food post coming up tomorrow…..though it does go in the treat column!)