To celebrate my new book Step by Step, I’ve been brainstorming ideas for using it in the classroom, such as in this previous post. Recently, while browsing through Instagram, some creative posts under hashtags such as #funfoodforkids and #healthykidsfood inspired me into a flurry of scribbling. Wouldn’t it be fun to munch on some pepperoni paw prints or deer footprints in cream cheese “snow”?
Scribbling down some #funfood ideas for snacks that look like animal tracks.
To briefly summarize the book, each right hand page has tracks made by a variety of baby animals including mammals, reptiles, birds, and invertebrates. Each adorable (or at least intriguing) baby is revealed to young readers on the next page. The simple repetitive text and realistic illustrations make it an ideal informational book for PreK, Kindergarten, and First grade classrooms.
Cover and pages from Step by Step, a book of baby animal tracks. Click image to get freebie pages in my TPT shop.
The appetizing snack examples shown in the photos are duckling, fawn, puppy, and penguin tracks, which are easy to make. The paw prints are cut up pepperoni slices, the fawn track is an almond cut in half, and the penguin’s are pretzel sticks carefully “sawn” with a serrated knife.
Just a few of the yummy snacks you can make to tie in with animal tracks, baby animals, nature, wildlife, and similar themes.
The duckling tracks started as a square slice of cheese. Cut as seen below: gently slice horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. Trim corners off as shown. I also cut off the pointy back part of the duckling footprint.
Duck track cheese cutting diagram (have you ever seen one of these before, lol?!?)
Here are some useful ingredients for making animal track snacks:
BASE LAYER Rice cakes • Crackers • Bread slices • Pancakes • Sliced vegetables such as cucumbers
STICKY LAYER Cream cheese for “snow” • Peanut butter for “soil” or “mud” • Butter “sand”
TRACKS Pretzels • Deli meats • Cheese slices • Salami • Nuts • Pieces of fruits and vegetables
Pretzel sticks, pepperoni slices, and, cheddar cheese make penguin chick, puppy, and duckling tracks.
You’ve probably noticed by now that these examples use non-sugary ingredients. But cookies, frosting, and candies could provide similar results. If you make any animal track snacks, please let me know because I would love to see what you come up with!
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Happy reading!
Loreen Leedy
Children's author-illustrator
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