I am so blessed , after giving birth I have had so many wonderful friends offer help and guest posts for No Time For Flash Cards. This one is from a dear friend Amanda from ohAmanda and Impress Your Kids , she is sure to impress you with this cute and tasty edible activity!
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Is this the yummiest, cutest and most fun thing you have ever seen?! I saw this idea in a magazine and knew I had to try it. Well, after the panda-monium and panda-venture in the kitchen, I knew I had to share it with you! It’s an easy fun snack (or a full meal when coupled with some stir-fry) that introduces kids to new tastes and flavors, helps them with handling a knife and opens up conversations about pandas, other countries and cooking!
All you need is 1.5 cups of uncooked sticky/sushi rice, some celery stalks and a can of pitted black olives.
Cook the sticky rice according to directions. (We actually made ours with long-grain white rice by adding 3tb of rice vinegar, 1tb of sugar, 1.5tsp of salt after it was cooked)
While you’re waiting for it to cook, set aside a few whole olives for your panda’s ears. Then, give kids a butter knife and let them work on slicing the olives around its’ equator. My 4 year old could get about 3 cuts total on the olive.
My almost 2 year old? Well, he tried!
Then take a 1/4c or 1/2c measuring cup and firmly pack rice into it. Turn them over on a plate or waxed paper and carefully remove to leave a mound of rice!
Use your whole olives as the panda’s ears. Then take your slices and use as eyes, an tiny down nose and an upturned smile! Cut a few pieces of celery to resemble bamboo and you’ve got your own panda playmates!
My kids loved eating their pandas for dinner (along with soy sauce, broccoli and chicken). While they ate I read them two panda books that I just happened to have in our stash:
Panda Cakeby Rosalie Seidler
This is the cutest story about a Mama Panda who is making a special panda cake “that only pandas can make”! She sends her two sons to the market to buy the ingredients. The oldest panda decides to steal the ingredients from his animal friends (cherries from the birds, eggs from the duck, etc.) and then runs off to the fair to spend Mama’s money. While he’s gone, the animals visit Mama and demand their food back. But it’s too late—the panda cake has been baked. So, they all sit down to tea and cake! The animals are happy but when the young panda returns home, he’s sad to see his cake eaten up! This book has sweet illustrations and a fun cadence. It looks like it is out of print but I found it at the thrift store a few weeks ago and couldn’t pass it up!
Panda in the Park by Anna Milbourne
This was my daughter’s very first book. It’s an Usborne Look-Through book and tells the story of a panda playing hide-and-seek with his animal friends. It’s perfect for toddlers because of the bright colors, the bold questions and the fun holes and layers on the pages. It’s still one of my favorite books to read!
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Amanda is a former Children’s Pastor turned stay-at-home mom. She blogs her crafty parenting endeavors at Impress Your Kids and her daily life at ohAmanda. She is also a 2010 Disney Mom, a bibliophile and long time lover of purple!

oh amanda says
Thanks for letting me post, Allie! This one was so fun!
.-= oh amanda´s last blog ..Why I Didn’t Have Time To Post Today =-.
Jenae says
Thanks for all your great ideas!
Check out this racecar snack idea at http://www.icanteachmychild.com.
And be sure to enter the giveaway!
Amber says
I love this! It’s like kid-friendly bento. 🙂
.-= Amber´s last blog ..Dining Alone =-.
Leigh says
SO cute! I love it!
Rebecca says
Ok this has to be the cutest snack ever!
.-= Rebecca´s last blog ..Connor’s Past Year 2009-2010 All Alphabet Posts =-.
vanessa @ silly eagle books says
yay for Amanda! I love this idea and I love her! 🙂
.-= vanessa @ silly eagle books´s last blog ..owl books for kids and freebie! =-.
Tara @ Feels like home says
I love these! We just got some bento rice molds from the Muffin Tin Swap, and they do something similar. I never thought to use black olives to make their faces, though. That looks really cool.
.-= Tara @ Feels like home´s last blog ..Happy Birthday to You! =-.
v says
Thank you so much for posting this! I used to read Panda Cake all the time when I was little and I had forgotten about it until I saw it here. I’ll be looking for it at the library.
.-= v´s last blog ..going in a different direction =-.
Ichi Tokyo says
Wow so cute. I love it!
Fuji says
So helpful! Thanks for sharing!
Ramen says
Looks like a great. Thanks so much for sharing with us!
Fuji Sushi says
I really enjoyed your page. Thanks so much!
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