Queen of Hearts
Create: Make food faces
Hard Level
Use fruits and vegetables to create silly faces and fun designs on your plate!
Let your imagination run wild by arranging foods like cucumber slices for the eyes, a cherry tomato for the nose, and a slice of bell pepper as a big, smiling mouth.
This playful activity not only encourages kids to eat healthy foods but also turns snack time into an artistic adventure.
Plus, it’s a great way to spark creativity and make eating nutritious foods something to look forward to!
- Choose a variety of colourful fruits and vegetables with different shapes, sizes and colours.
- Grab a clean plate and start with the basic face shape, or even use something bigger like a slice of lettuce or rice cake to make the head.
- Then add different foods to make facial features like eyes, nose, lips and hair!
Making food faces with fruits and veggies is more than just fun – it’s a cool way for you to get to know healthy foods better!
By playing around with different colours, shapes, and textures, you’ll get comfortable with fruits and veggies and maybe even find some new favourites to eat.
Plus, you get to be super creative and make silly, unique faces that no one else can copy.
And when you make your own snacks, you’re in charge of your food, so you’re learning how to make healthy choices all by yourself!
Studies have shown that being creative with your food can lead to:
- Exploring your senses, like taste, smell and touch.1
- Getting creative and making eating more fun.2
- Learning about the foods you’re eating it, like what vitamins and minerals it has.3
- Being independent with your food choices and making healthy decisions.4
Small changes CAN make a big difference – that’s what The 1% Kids’ Club is all about.
Making food fun for kids
https://normallifemom.com/make-food-fun-for-kids/#google_vignette
Food with faces that kids love
https://www.kidspot.com.au/kitchen/galleries/food-faces-easy-recipes-kids-love/u6gv186k?page=4
- Use food faces as a fun way to teach about nutrition and discuss health benefits of the different foods used.
- Have students work in pairs or small groups to create food faces, encouraging teamwork.
- Display photos of the food faces made by students to celebrate their creativity and remind the school of healthy eating options.
- Link to other subjects like art, by getting them to draw their creations or have them write a short story about their food character.
- Allow for reflection time! Get the students to talk about what they liked or didn’t like about the foods they have used.
- Get involved together and make this a family activity – get your kids to help gather ingredients and make them feel more included and excited about their food.
- Use seasonal fruits and vegetables to teach kids about what is fresh and healthy at different times of the year.
- Create fun stories around the food faces you and your kids make to engage their imagination and make eating health feel more adventurous.
- Make it a “food face contest” and see who can make the “silliest face” or the “most colourful”, making the experience more exciting and involving all the family.
- Show your enthusiasm for healthy eating by creating your own healthy food faces alongside your kids, to inspire them to try new foods without feeling pressured.
- Birch, L. L., & Fisher, J. O. (1998). Development of eating behaviors among children and adolescents. Pediatrics, 101(Supplement 2), 539-549.
- Dazeley, P., & Houston-Price, C. (2015). Exposure to foods’ non-taste sensory properties: A nursery intervention to increase children’s willingness to try fruit and vegetables. Appetite, 84, 1-6.
- Miller, D. (2018). The importance of creativity in the kitchen. Food Education Journal, 12(3), 34-40.
- Nutritional Science. (2020). The role of fruits and vegetables in a healthy diet. Journal of Nutritional Health, 15(2), 100-110.