Easy Bear Themed Food for Kids!

Within our Rainbow Group we always try to have a night with food based activities.

This particular term it was the Teddy Bear Picnic Challenge, and below are three easy bear themed food activities that all ages are capable of.

The first is perhaps the easiest.

Bear Faced Bread

Needed

1 Slice of Brown Bread

3 Slices of Banana

3 Raisins or Sultanas

Butter

Get the kids to spread butter on to the center of the bread with a blunt knife. In other versions of this  peanut butter or chocolate spreads have been used. However, for the large group there is always the worry of nut allergies, and these spreads are prone for it. Not worth the risk, especially when there is an alternative that is easy to come by and generally cheaper.

If you have the time, the bread can be made darker first through toasting. This is completely dependent on the time you have, and how many kids you are walking through the activity.

Slicing banana is possible with the most blunt knife, and so allowing them to do it themselves can work well for motor skills as well as confidence. For the younger children I would position the knife with their hand and allow them to push it down through the banana.

A piece of banana is placed in each of the top corners, and the third in the center.

The sultanas are then placed as eyes and on the tip of the nose.

Paw Print Cookie

Needed

1 Biscuit

Chocolate Buttons

Icing Sugar

Water

Although this appears very easy and simple, it can become quite a game based on the age of the kids and the thickness of the icing.

Keep one of the buttons whole, and allow the kids to break a few others up. We prepared icing to use for this situation, but of course dependent on the age of the children involved and the time you have, stirring water into icing sugar is something they are more than capable of.

We made the icing sugar fairly thick so as to make it easier for the younger girls. 

Have them place a blob wherever they think the claws should go and then place a shard of chocolate there.

Sometimes these won't immediately stand upright, and the kids will need to hold them in place whilst the icing dries a little. This can become a game, asking the kids to blow lightly on the icing whilst holding the chocolate. 

Sunbathing Teddy Bear

Needed

1 Cupcake

Icing

Butter

Blue Food Colouring

Sweet Rainbow Straws

Gummy Bears

Cocktail Umbrella

This is perhaps the more difficult and most expensive of the three. I wouldn't recommend doing this if you have more than 20 kids in your group.

Once again we prepared the icing beforehand. In order to keep the bear in place we felt that butter icing, being thicker, would be the best idea. However, you can use water and food colouring and have a more silky texture. The kids can spread this all over the top of the cake. Our butter icing was particularly thick, which meant the girls had to use their fingers to push it down. Messy and fun!

The thicker strips that we used as towels or lilos were prepared. The girls selected these and bears, and using a small amount of icing on the back of each, they can stick them onto the top of the cupcakes.

Pick a cocktail umbrella, open it up and push it into the cake. As a warning, be careful with little fingers and these umbrellas. They can be awkward and easy to break.

Have fun and get messy!