Election day snack

[eepster]

Tuesday Nov 4 is DS's day to bring in snacks for his preschool class. I was hoping to do something patriotic/voter themed for election day, but the restrictions make it hard. It has to be completely peanut and nut allergy safe, so I can't bake or prepare it at home. It can't have a ton of suger (no candy, no cookies, etc.) It needs to be in a sealed clearly labeled package from a peanut/nut free facility. Fruit has to be whole, not cut up.

Any suggestions? Or do I just need to stick to my usual snack ideas.

[somanyjoys]

Maybe go with red, white, and blue patriotic ideas -- blueberries, strawberries (my dd won't eat strawberries, so I'm not sure if LOs can eat these without them being sliced...). Maybe packaged string cheese for the white. You could even lay it all out on a white platter to look like a flag.

[Momily]

Can the kids participate in making snack? You could send in bread, pre sliced cheese and donkey and elephant shaped cookie cutters and the kids could make shaped cheese sandwiches.

Could you do a red, white, and blue theme? Strawberries, blueberries and little cups of vanilla yogurt to stir them in?

Of course both of those are expensive choices.

[Momily]

Or you could serve 2 snacks and have the kids "vote" for which one they liked best.

When we vote at my preschool we use "voting blocks" -- basically each child gets a square wooden block (either a math manipulative or from the block center) and they stack them up in front of the item of their choice (we vote for books a lot). It really gives the kids a representation of "more" and "less" and helps them understand the concept.

[mommy68]

Originally Posted by Momily

Or you could serve 2 snacks and have the kids "vote" for which one they liked best.

That's a great idea. That way you aren't trying so hard to figure out a colorful snack to fit the theme. If you have some red/white/blue bowls to use that would tie in to the colors or maybe buy some plastic plates that are those colors.

[octobermom]

OT but umm why can't fruit be cut? I can see the no nuts sugar thing but why no sliced fruit?

Deanna

[Momily]

Originally Posted by octobermom

OT but umm why can't fruit be cut? I can see the no nuts sugar thing but why no sliced fruit?

Deanna

In some areas it's a health code violation for a school to serve anything that isn't prepared in a "certified" kitchen. Crazy but true, and not something the school has control over.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by octobermom

OT but umm why can't fruit be cut? I can see the no nuts sugar thing but why no sliced fruit?

Deanna

Since those of use who don't have peanut or nut allergies use our knives and cutting boards at home to prepare things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chop walnuts to put in our brownies, etc, so to make sure there is no possibilty of cross contamination fruit must be brought in whole and cut at the school by one of the staff using their own knives and cutting boards. They are very strict about it, b/c it isn't just a blanket policy like at some schools, they have actual student with allergies.

Another class at DS's school has an even stricter snack policy, b/c they have kids with nut, peanut, and dairy allergies. Since no one in DS's room has a dairy allergy, I can do things with dairy like cheese.