Wednesday, March 14, 2012

My Many Colored Lunch - Disposable-Style

At drop-off preschool on Tuesday, they read My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. And then at her co-op preschool on Wednesday, it was there in the fun room book shelf too! And the teacher let her borrow it to return next week at our next class. So naturally she wanted a Many Colored Days lunch! And 3,816 re-reads!
Since Thursday was a field trip to the Tacoma Children's Museum, she needed a nut-free disposable lunch. I figured it might as well be a Many Colored Nut-free Disposable Lunch!

Z's Many Colored Lunch
Strawberries, cookies, cabbage-ham-cheese-cheese sandwich, mini orange w/carrots, snap peas w/Goldfish crackers
On Bright Red Days..: I cut up a few strawberries and put them in a red foil cupcake liner.

On My Orange Days That's How I Feel: A mini orange (mandarin?) "ball" with carrot "stars" (cut out craptastically with my V-blade.) In a dotty orange liner.

Green Days. Deep Deep in the Sea..: Green sugar snap peas and a few green Rainbow Goldfish crackers (they use natural food dyes!) in a green (and pink and white) striped cupcake liner (from World Market.)

Happy Pink: Three pink Circus Animal cookies in a mini pink baking cup (no clue where I got it. I pick stuff up everywhere!)

Many Colored Me: Using the second-smallest cutter from a graduated gingerbread man cutter set, I cut brown bread, purple cabbage, pink ham, and orange (cheddar) and white (mozzarella) cheese "Me's." Both slices of bread are hiding underneath. And you can't see the purple cabbage very well either. But it's there! I drew on a face with food pens (I used Wilton, but they're garbage on anything with oils in it, like cheese. Betty Crocker ones work well (and you can find them in many grocery stores,) as do Americolor pens - and they have a wider array of colors!)
Just like the end of the book!
To make it completely disposable, I not only used paper liners (instead of my silicone ones,) but I put it all in a re-purposed plastic strawberry clamshell. To prevent little parts from falling out of the holes in top and bottom, I lined it with paper towels, with a layer of parchment paper over the cheese (so the face colors don't rub off onto the napkin.) I also scrunched up some aluminum foil to fill the space so everything doesn't tumble around too much.
I'm not sure how they're keeping track of whose lunch is whose, and the strawberry farm sticker wasn't exactly adorable. So I used some foam stickers to make my own label! (I wrote her name on it after taking the pic.)
Technically, other than the foil cupcake liner and foam stickers, everything is compostable or recyclable!
Since Baby E got RSV and was in the hospital all weekend, I was told she'd still be contagious for another week. RSV in older kids is just like a cold, but in littler ones can cause breathing problems... which is why we went to the ER on Thursday night! I didn't want to risk getting my friend's little one sick, so I didn't end up going with Z on her field trip. So no pics of her eating, and no clue what she actually ate! I asked her, but she said it was a secret. Hrm.

**Update! The teachers took pictures of her day!
WonderWish KittyGirl not only did her own "make-up," she also didn't lose track of her ears while having fun!

     

8 comments:

  1. Brilliantly executed! LOVE the Many-Colored Me, and so will Z!

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  2. Looks awesome! I've never read that book, which I am stunned by, so it is going on our list immediately! :D

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  3. Great Job Mama :) little miss loves the strawberry container lunches too!
    The "me's" are perfect just like the book!

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  4. I hadn't ever heard of the book before either! It's a really neat one, about different feelings. I asked Z, and she says when she's happy, she feels pink, and when she's sad or angry, she feels purple!

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  5. I so love your lunch! What a wonderful way to extend a book. I pinned this post!

    Thank you for linking to Read. Explore.Learn.

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  6. Love this! Your daughter must be so excited to eat a lunch like this :) Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!

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  7. very cute.. and your girl is sooooo adorable

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