Fun Ways to Serve Lunch to Kids

Enticing Shapes

• An ordinary sandwich can be transformed into fun shapes to make mealtime more entertaining. Simply use cookie cutters to create your child's favorite sandwiches -- like peanut butter and jelly or turkey and cheese -- in several shapes like animals, stars and flowers. For a different approach, turn miniature pizzas into happy faces. Toast English muffins, and spread on tomato sauce before sprinkling cheese on top. Use pepperoni for eyes and a nose and a strip of pepper as a smiling mouth. Microwave until cheese is melted.

Food Bars

• Setting up food bars will allow children to personally assemble their lunch. Lay out all the ingredients for a taco bar. Place prepared and seasoned taco meat like ground turkey into a large bowl. Toppings like shredded cheese, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, corn and salsa can be placed in smaller bowls and spread out on the table. Children can take a hard or soft-shelled taco and assemble a taco with their choice of toppings. Try setting up hamburger and hot dog food bars, or slice fresh vegetables and create a salad bar for your kids.

Indoor Picnic

• An indoor picnic will offer a fresh approach to a traditional setting. Use your living room or den as a picnic area and lay out a large tablecloth or blanket on the floor. Prepare common picnic foods like sandwiches, fruit salads and deviled eggs and place them in a basket and place paper tableware on the blanket. To make the picnic more authentic, play nature music to create the feel of an outdoor setting.

Food Riddles

• Let your children guess the day's menu for a fun lunchtime game. Print or write lunch item riddles on slips of paper and place them in a hat for children to draw out. The riddle clues should include the item's color or shape and should also rhyme. For example, for grapes, write "I'm a purple circle bunch that you will love to munch." As the children correctly guess the riddles, provide them with the food item. Include three or four items for your children to guess.