Crafting healthy, delicious, and kid-approved lunches can sometimes feel like solving a culinary puzzle. We know the daily struggle: finding the right balance between nutritious and enticing, all while ensuring your child actually eats their lunch at school or daycare. Fear not, because we’ve gathered a fantastic lineup of 17 Lunch Ideas for Kids that will not only tantalize their taste buds but also provide the essential nutrients they need to power through the day. Say goodbye to lunchtime woes and hello to a lunchbox full of smiles!
Tips for Lunchbox Success
- Plan Ahead: Prepare lunches while cleaning up after dinner. It’s a time-saving trick that ensures you have ingredients at your fingertips and less morning rush.
- Prep in Advance: Consider batch cooking and storing individual portions of items like chicken, pasta, or veggies in the freezer. Thaw and use them as needed for lunches.
- Get Kids Involved: Let your child participate in packing their lunch. When kids have a say in what goes into their lunchbox, they are more likely to eat it.
- Variety is Key: Rotate through different lunch options to keep things interesting. Kids can easily get tired of the same lunch every day.
- Use Leftovers: Don’t hesitate to transform last night’s dinner into a tasty lunch. Leftover chicken, pasta, or stir-fry can be reinvented into a delicious lunchbox option.
Lunch Ideas for Kids
And now, without further ado, let’s explore 30 scrumptious Lunch Ideas for Kids, each with easy-to-follow recipes that you can find online:
Crispy Chicken Wrap
Tender chicken strips wrapped in a tortilla with lettuce and ranch dressing. Recipe Link.
Mac and Cheese Cupcake with Ham
Creamy mac and cheese baked into a muffin shape with diced ham. Recipe Link.
Mini Pizza Bagels
Bagel halves topped with tomato sauce, cheese, and mini pepperoni slices. Recipe Link.
Hummus and Veggie Wraps
Whole-wheat tortilla filled with hummus, shredded carrots, cucumber, and spinach leaves. Recipe Link.
Turkey and Cheese Pinwheels
Deli turkey and cheese rolled up in a tortilla and sliced into bite-sized pinwheels. Recipe Link.
PB&J Sushi Rolls
Peanut butter and jelly rolled into a whole-wheat tortilla, then sliced into sushi-style rolls. Recipe Link.
Veggie Quesadillas
Whole-wheat tortilla filled with shredded cheese and sautéed bell peppers, onions, and zucchini. Recipe Link.
Chicken and Veggie Skewers
Skewers with grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber slices, served with a yogurt dip. Recipe Link.
Pita Pocket Sandwiches
Whole-grain pita pockets stuffed with turkey, lettuce, tomato, and a dollop of Greek yogurt dressing. Recipe Link.
Mini Bagel Sandwiches
Fill mini bagels with cream cheese and turkey slices or peanut butter and banana. Recipe link.
Chicken Quesadilla Slices
Make simple chicken and cheese quesadillas and slice them into wedges. Recipe link.
Mini Meatballs
Bake bite-sized meatballs with a side of ketchup or marinara sauce for dipping. Recipe link.
Pasta Salad
Toss cooked pasta with veggies, cheese, and Italian dressing for a delicious pasta salad. Recipe link.
Pancake Pizza
Make mini pancakes and pack them with a side of syrup for dipping. Recipe link.
Waffle Sandwiches
Use mini waffles to create sandwich fillings like peanut butter and jelly or cream cheese and fruit. Recipe link.
Pigs in Blankets
For this lunchbox favorite, wrap mini sausages in crescent roll dough and bake until golden brown. Serve with a side of ketchup or mustard for dipping. Recipe link.
Egg Muffins
Create savory egg cupcakes by whisking together eggs, cheese, and diced veggies, then pouring the mixture into muffin tins and baking until set. These protein-packed treats are perfect for a lunchbox! Recipe link.
These lunch ideas are just the beginning of our tasty journey into lunchbox creativity. Stay tuned for more delectable options that will keep your child’s lunchtime exciting and nutritious. With a little preparation and a dash of imagination, you can transform lunchtime into a delightful adventure for your little one’s taste buds!
Toddler and Preschooler Curriculums, Books & TV Show!
Play2Learn Toddler & Preschool Programs for Curious Toddlers
There is no limit to your toddler’s energy and curiosity. That energy and curiosity although a joy can be challenging at times. Their interest in just about everything around them is what makes them great learners. One and two year olds can soak up so much just from their senses!
But as a teacher or parent that thirst for learning can be exhausting. That is why I created this toddler and preschooler program. To help you get the most out of this time with your curious toddler without having to come up with creative ways to play and interact with them.
Play2Learn for Toddlers includes 20 Units for toddlers. Each 2-week toddler unit has 20 super easy to set up and engaging activities for toddlers 18 months to 3 years.
Play2Learn Preschool which includes 20 Units for preschoolers. Each 2-week preschoolers unit has 20 unique and easy to set up and engaging activities for preschoolers 3 years to 5 years. That’s over 800 learning activities for your toddler and preschooler at your fingertips! So many ideas you and your child will never be bored again!
These toddler and preschool lesson plans and activities will definitely keep you and your toddler and preschooler busy playing and learning!
Click here for more information: Play2Learn
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Find out more and grab your copy here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles tha. t show them how to think outside the box.
- 350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
- Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
- Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.
TV Show: Curious Crafting
I’m so excited to share my crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched in July 2022 on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube! Season 2 aired in August 2023! My show was also nominated in 2023 for Best Live Action Preschool Series by the Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence.
Curious Crafting Season 1 is also now airing in Australia on ABC! Watch it here!
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.
The Best Sensory Play Kits for Kids
Play is at the core of learning during the early years and it can take many forms. One of the most important of these is sensory play because it engages all of a child’s senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing) and has a enoumous positive impact on brain development.
Our Sensory Play Kits are some fun and easy ways to keep your child engaged while at the same time using sensory play to nurture their mind!
Shop our ready made play kits here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
MAKE LUNCH TIME EASY. PIN IT FOR EASY ACESS LATER!
