Healthy Kid Snack Tangerine Butterfly

QUICK HEALTHY KID SNACK

Sometimes it’s easy to feel stuck in a rut when it comes to preparing snacks for our kids. We’re busy and tired, and snacks are often thrown together out of desperation at the last minute realization that our toddler is having a meltdown out of hunger, not because he grabbed the yellow car instead of the red one. That’s why I LOVE this tangerine snack. It gets all five points in my self judged mommy awards.

What makes the best kid’s snack?

1. It’s healthy.
2. It’s ridiculously easy. We’re talking ready in about two minutes easy.
3. It’s cute. SO cute!
4. It’s educational. B is for butterfly.
5. It’s cheap. Seriously cheap.

Oh, and of course, the most important point. Kids LOVE it!

Corban asked me every day for a week for tangerine butterflies the first time I made this for him.

EDUCATIONAL SNACK FOR PRESCHOOLERS

I really love that this is such an easy snack to use as part of homeschool time. It’s a fun way to turn a tangerine into an alphabet lesson. You can see how he immediately recognizes the letter B and butterfly.

After he has his snack, I give him a coloring page with the letter B and a butterfly, and we practice the B sound. We use this coloring page, but you can find so many with a Google image search.

Now, whenever Corban sees a butterfly, he shouts, “B is for butterfly! Buh buh buh.” I’d say it’s working!

We also read the book Butterfly Colors and Counting together. I love this book because it gets kids excited about colors and counting. The art is gorgeous, and each butterfly in the book is based on a real butterfly.

Easy butterfly snack

If you make this cute healthy kid snack for your little one, we’d love to see a photo of them enjoying it! Post it on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, and then you can tag me or put a link in the comments below. Happy snacking!

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Yield: 1

B is for Butterfly Healthy Preschool Snack

Print

An easy way to turn a tangerine into a cute alphabet lesson.

Prep Time 2 minutes

Total Time 2 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tangerine
• 1 baby spinach leaf

Instructions

1. Peel the tangerine and separate the segments.
2. Lay two of the pieces out, round edges together, to form a butterfly.
3. Arrange the rest of the pieces into the letter B. I found this was easiest to do with 8 pieces.
4. Use a paring knife to carefully cut out the stem of the spinach leaf and then split the widest part of the stem in half. This forms the butterfly body with antennae.
5. Place the butterfly body between the two tangerine segments.

Notes

Approximate cost/serving: Tangerines come to about 30 cents each for me at Costco. That made this snack just 30 cents!
Vegetarian/Gluten free: Yes to both. It's also vegan and paleo!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

1

Serving Size:

1 Servings
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 37Sodium: 1mgCarbohydrates: 9gFiber: 1gSugar: 7gProtein: 1g

If you like this recipe, you’ll love our freebie of 5 Cute, Quick and Healthy Snacks for Kids!

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