mandarin orange paper dolls: dress up your food

 

 

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of making mealtime more fun for my kids.  And if we can sneak in some sort of learning along the way, even better.

So whether I’m having them do some note-reading, cooking, baking, shopping, trying new foods, or taste-testing, it all counts.

But this is a little different.  Lately, on top of the holiday hustle and bustle, I’ve been busy making some super-silly paper dolls for lunchboxes.  But these are not your average paper dolls.

No way.

These paper dolls are made to dress up our food a bit.  Namely, those sweet and tiny, unsuspecting mandarin oranges.  Halos mandarins.

I’m almost positive that dressing up your kid’s tiny oranges will yield some serious snacktime laughs.  Life is too short for our kids not to play with their food. Right? Let’s get ’em started now.

Here’s the skinny. . .

• Halos Mandarin Orange Paper Dolls–Dress Up Your Food: I laugh every time I look at these.

Halos are easy enough for kids–seedless, easy to peel, and totally sweet.  So they really don’t need much as far as dressing up is concerned.

But because I send my kids to school with lunchbox love notes every day, I wanted to somehow incorporate something fun along with one of their favorite lunchtime foods.

So I took some basic measurements of the Halos, knowing that they’d vary slightly from fruit to fruit.

I put that number into a very basic design using PicMonkey.  I knew that I wanted an open circle in each character’s design so that the Halo could shine through.

Because Halos’ season runs through winter, I wanted some winter-themed paper dolls. I made a Santa, a gingerbread boy, a penguin, reindeer, and two elves–a girl and a boy.

All I did was cut out around the basic shape and cut out the hole in the center.

In order to make sure that the Halos fit in the center, I had to cut little slits at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock areas of the circle.

No biggie.

Still fun.

Halos Mandarin Orange Paper Dolls–the snacktime funny faces and friends

And the super fun part? Adding faces–eyes, nose, mouth–with a permanent marker once the little mandarin is in place.

Want to download the Halos Mandarin Orange Paper Dolls–the snacktime funny faces and friends –so that your kiddos can play with their food? Sure you do!

Honestly, they make me crack up.

Maybe I need a little pre-holiday vay-cay. Or maybe I just really like playing with food. . .

Either way, what do you think? Will you use them? Will your kids totally heart them?

Shhhhh. . . I’ve already made a second and third set.  Monsters, aliens, and funny guys and then some really fun flowers and more.  I need a break.

Fruit is fun! Get your family excited about fresh foods with sweet, healthy reminders all year long and activities they’ll love. Check out the FREE HalosFun kids’ app on Android or iPhone for more ways to get them cheering about pure goodness. You can learn more about Wonderful Halos on Facebook, Twitter or HalosFun.

fyi: This is a sponsored post, written for Halos. As always, my opinions and ideas are all my own.