Make this insect themed food for a healthy snack. This is an easy bug themed activity for toddlers and younger kids.
This insect themed food is cute and easy to make for a healthy snack
When it comes to snack time, I love finding ways for my kid to help me in the kitchen. Since we have been learning about insects this week, I helped my kid make this bug snack.
The two main things I wanted my kid to learn from this activity:
- Identify the parts of an insect
- Basic kitchen skills
This bug themed snack shows all the parts of an insect to help kids learn and identify
So yes, I'll admit, this isn't the cutest insect shaped food you can find. There are a lot of cuter ones on Pinterest, and I do love a super cute bumble bee snack.
But my kid is currently learning about insects, and we wanted to make a snack that showed all the insect body parts clearly. Using our bug snack, it's easy to identify the insect's:
- Head
- Thorax
- Abdomen
- Six legs
- Antennae
- Exoskeleton
- Eyes
The exoskeleton is the outer shell of the insect, represented by the shiny apple skin and the glossy hard raisins.
Kids can prepare this insect snack just about by themselves
Since this insect snack idea is so easy to make, my preschooler just about prepared it all by himself. He had a big proud moment when he was finished.
I always have to restrain myself when it comes to making food with my preschooler because I often over prepare for him. However, once I slow myself down and think about how to get him involved, I find that there's usually a lot that he can do.
Steps that a preschooler can do in the kitchen when making this bug snack
These are the steps that a kid can do for this activity:
- Wash the apple and dry it
- Wash the blueberries in a colander
- Dry the blueberries individually
- Take out enough raisins from a pack
- Take out 2 chocolate chips from a bag
- Open the pack of fruit yoyo (the antennae)
- Arrange the insect on a plate
The steps that I needed to do to help my kid in the kitchen
The only step that I really needed to help with was to cut the apples. This photo below shows how I cut the apple to get the 3 insect body parts.
I used a golden delicious apple so we had a light green color for our bug. But of course, insects come in all sorts of different colors so other types of apples would work too.
We prepared all the ingredients before getting started assembling the bug snack
When I make food in the kitchen with my kid, we always set everything up first before the "fun" part. That way, once he gets into making the recipe, there are fewer distractions.
So, here are all the ingredients that we set out before my kid started assembling his insect shaped snack.
Ingredients you'll need
- 1 golden delicious apple
- about 25 blueberries
- 1 pack of fruit yoyo
- one handful of raisins (we used golden raisins)
- 2 chocolate chips
My kid making his bug themed snack
Here he goes making his bug shaped snack! We included a lot of pictures because he wanted to clearly show other kids how to make this insect snack.
First, he set out the apples. Then he started placing the legs. Remember, all of an insect's legs are attached to the thorax.
Next, he finished setting on the exoskeleton with the raisins. The raisins were supposed to give the insect a bit of a camouflage look too.
As he was making this, we discussed how insects are considered invertebrates because they do not have a backbone. Instead they have a hard shell like the skin of an apple.
Then, he added 2 chocolate chips to make the insect's eyes.
At this point, we paused and learned about insect eyes. Insects have compound eyes. That means, they see things differently than us. Some insects have thousands of lenses in each eye.
Last, he arranged the antennae.
Again, we stopped to discuss what insects use their antennae for: sensing. They are sometimes called feelers and they help insects sense things around them by feeling them, determining if something is hot or cold, smelling, feeling for wind, etc.
And voila! Here is the completed insect themed snack my kid prepared! He was very proud of his accomplishment, and I was very happy he was able to learn all about insects too.
And here goes, time to start snacking! Blueberries first!
One last tip: For smaller kids, it might be easier to cut the head and abdomen into slices instead of leaving them whole. If you arrange the slices horizontally, it will make the insect look like it's striped.
Hope you enjoy making your own insect shaped snack!
If you make insect themed food, we would love to see it! You can find us @hometimeactivites to share.
Here are a few other kid-friendly fun animal-themed snacks that you may love: silly frog shaped apple snack, veggie dip shaped as a crocodile, eat like a bird snack platter.
Insect Themed Snack
Ingredients
- 1 whole golden delicious apple
- 20 whole blueberries (approximate)
- 2 chocolate chips
- 10 golden raisins (approximate)
- 1 pack fruit yoyo (see notes)
Instructions
- Assemble your insect shaped snack accordingly.
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