This Kid-Friendly Breakfast Board is a fun and balanced way to let your children make their own breakfast choices.
Hi Friends!
I hope your 2018 is off to a great start! With all the cold temperatures we have been experiencing, I have had a bit more time to spend in the kitchen. I can’t wait to share some fun creations in upcoming weeks. First, I want to share today’s post for a Kid-Friendy Breakfast Board your family is sure to love. This recipe was inspired by many of the recent cheese boards we have created in our household.
This Kid-Friendly Breakfast Board may be a new way to serve breakfast to your family, including children. With this meal idea, you offer them a large tray of balanced choices and let them chose exactly what they want to eat. The sense of responsibility and freedom to chose the foods they want for a meal will excite your children. Book author, Ellyn Satter, is a huge advocate of this feeding style and describes it as “division of responsibility in feeding.” She encourages parents to own leadership with the what, when, and where of feeding, but let the child determine how much and whether they eat what is provided. This type of feeding style can apply to nearly every stage of childhood.
You may look at this tray and think well isn’t it obvious, the children will load up their plate with donuts and muffins. Over time most parents find the opposite. As they allow their children to feel some responsibility for the foods they chose, the children start making more balanced choices. In our house, we struggle with not asking our child to eat more of a certain food so he can leave the table, get seconds of another food, etc., but we continue to work on how we handle his division of responsibility at the meal table. Below is a picture of what foods he chose from the Kid-Friendly Breakfast try – which does include half of a donut, several kinds of cheese, a slice of bacon, whole grain toast, and one strawberry.
My little one had a blast helping me construct this board. As we constructed the board I made sure to encourage the inclusion of balanced offerings. For amble satiety, several protein options were available like the cheeses, hard boiled eggs, and low-sodium bacon. I also included several fruit choices with apples, grapes, and strawberries, but you could include any of your families’ favorite fruit. One whole grain option was available with the toast, but other options could be whole grain pancakes/waffles, granola bites, or whole grain crackers. Lastly I did include a few sweet treats like the donuts and muffins, but they were not made to be the main attraction of the tray.
This Kid-Friendly Breakfast Board would be a fun idea for a morning play-date or a great way to clean out the fridge or pantry to get rid of leftovers. The day we made this tray we were enjoying leftover cheese from a cheese board I made the previous night and donuts I brought home from an event the previous day. A key takeaway is to use what you have in the kitchen to construct this rather than running to the store to buy anything.
Heres is the beginning of the construction process – the key is to start with the protein sources.
Here is the completed board before any little hands touched it.
And lastly what is looked like after this family enjoyed it! Surprisingly lots of muffins and (some) donuts left!
I hope your family (or friends) enjoy this breakfast option as we did!
Your Family’s Dietitian,
Kid-Friendly Breakfast Board
Ingredients
- 3-4 Protein Choices: bacon, hard boiled egg, small yogurt cups, nuts, bacon, canadian bacon, prosciutto
- 2-4 Fruit Choices: grapes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, sliced apples, sliced pears, dried orange slices
- 1-2 Whole Grain Choices: whole wheat bread, granola bites, piece of granola bar, oatmeal cookies, whole wheat crackers
- 1-2 (optional) Sweet Treats: mini muffins, donuts, pastries
- 1-2 (optional) Spreads/Dips (in small container): jams/jellies, peanut butter, yogurt, butter, cheese spread
Instructions
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Place desired protein sources on board in 3-4 places
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Add whole grain choices to board placing next to protein sources
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If desired place any containers/jars of spreads on board
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Fill in any gaps on board with fruit