A Simple Backyard Picnic

SATURDAY'S FOOD TIP - COOKING WITH KIDS



Here's an easy and fun way to keep your kids entertained this weekend. Let them plan a simple backyard picnic for their friends OR older children might want to plan a picnic for their younger siblings and their friends. Either way, all you have to do is supervise. The kids create the invitations, they make all the food, they set up the picnic.

The Invitations

Let the kids create something fun on the computer or simply fold colored sheets of construction paper in half and print out the invitations with a marker. No need to mail the invitations. Just have the kids deliver them to their friends' front doors.


The Menu

Let your children make simple foods that all kids love. You'll have to supervise, but even 8-10 year-olds should be able to make most of these foods themselves.

PB& J sandwiches or simple bologna and cheese sandwiches can be made more interesting if cookie cutters are used to create interesting shapes out of the bread, cheese, and bologna. Stars, hearts, teddy bears - all sorts of cookie cutter shapes can result in a variety of cute sandwiches.

Baby carrots with a little disposable ketchup cup for dipping add a fun and yummy touch to the picnic or have the children fill celery sticks with peanut butter and top with raisins (for, the ever popular, "ants on a log").

Chop up fresh fruit and let your children thread it on wooden skewers (after the skewers are filled, snip off the pointed tips for safety). Apple slices, banana chunks, strawberries, and pineapple are good choices for fruit kabobs. You can also add a few cheese chunks for color and flavor.

Have them pack all the food into plastic containers with lids. Give them plastic tableware and paper plates and cups for the picnic. If you have a large picnic hamper with plastic dishes and tableware, the kids can load it up with all the makings for the picnic and take it out to the backyard. But a large cardboard box can serve as a picnic hamper, too.

Homemade lemonade is a great beverage for picnics and your kids will be proud to tell their friends they made it themselves. Here is a simple recipe.

Dessert can be homemade cookies or fruit pops (fruit juice frozen in paper cups, with a popsicle stick in each pop) or even a big slice of watermelon.


The Set Up

If you have a picnic table in the backyard give your kids a colorful old blanket or bedspread to use as a tablecloth. Let them pick fresh flowers or herbs from the garden and place them in a canning jar or jelly jar to create a fragrant and attractive centerpiece.

If you don't have a table, kids can just spread the blanket or bedspread on the ground, and unload the hamper and arrange the containers of food on the blanket.


That's it. After eating, the children will probably want to play games. Older kids might choose to just sit and talk with their friends while you relax nearby in a lawn chair with an iced cold glass of lemonade!


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