5 Heart Shaped Foods for Kids on Valentines Day

Kids love the fun that goes along with holidays, and Valentine's Day is no exception. School aged children appreciate class parties, and distributing and receiving valentine cards. Toddlers love coloring hearts and picking out special goodies for Mom and Dad, as well as for siblings. There isn't the excess that's associated with Christmas, but there is an element of fun, and kids enjoy doing anything that's outside of the day to day routine.

Foods are an important part of most celebrations. With a little creativity, you can make heart shaped foods to add to the VDay fun, whether it's for a nice lunch, a cheerful breakfast, or dinner and dessert. Following are some ideas for making your food fun, heart-shaped for Valntines Day meals.

If you want to start your day off with Valentines fun, try making heart-shaped pancakes for the family. Youngsters love innovation, especially when it comes to fun foods, and pancakes make it easy to create cute Vday fun. You can track down a pancake form in a heart shape, and do your pancakes one by one. However, if you are feeding a crew, try a pancake pen, which allows you to squeeze your batter into the form you want. Not only can you make heart shaped pancakes this way, but you can make them in varied sizes. For your youngest kiddos, a stack of dollar-sized, heart-shaped pancakes is perfect. Add a little whipped cream and some strawberry preserves for something unique. Or, try softening some strawberry flavored cream cheese! What a fun start to your day, and theirs!

On a similar note, you can go for a little more luxury, and make heart-shaped waffles for Valentines breakfast.  There are many selections at stores such as Amazon, and heart waffle makers can be used year-round. 

An easy way to make lunch a loveable venture on Valentines Day is to use a sandwich cutter, heart form, of course!  Whether it's a sandwich or a quesadilla, make it, then cut it, and presto!  It's really that simple.  Of course, if you are cutting out a grilled sandwich, or a quesadilla, there are a couple of options.  You can cut before you cook, or after.  Just let a cooked sandwich have time to cool before it's cut to heart form. 

Do you need a fun dinner idea?  Make biscuits, and cut them out using a heart shaped cookie cutter.  You will want to use a sturdy metal cutter, preferably not a short one, as thicker biscuits will need to be cut through, anywhere from 1/2" to 1".  You can easily do this with a biscuit mix, or with from scratch biscuit dough.  You can also use pre-made canned biscuits, and cut out.  The kids will love the unique approach to an old favorite.  Use them as a side to a soup or stew, or serve up a biscuits and gravy dinner.  Make them miniature sized, and float them in the soup, dumpling style!

If you want a heart formed dessert for the kids, try jello! 3 oz. box of Jello, 2 1/2 cups of boiling water, mix well until the gelatin is dissolved nicely. Spray heart shaped molds, cups, or an 8x8 nonstick pan with cooking spray, and fill with the mixture, allow it to gel. Overnight, ideally! If you have used the pan method, use a metal cookie cutter to cut out your shapes. Loosen the gelatin by placing the pan, or mold, briefly in boiling water, just to heat the bottom and the sides of your mold or pan for a moment. 

For a fun way to serve, nest the hearts in whipped cream. Or, for a fun stained glass dessert, mix up a Mexican flan mix by Jello, or a vanilla pudding, and mix the heart shaped jigglers in. Give it all time to chill! Need a different idea? Incorporate a cherry or strawberry jello mix into a thawed tub of Cool Whip. Mix in a bag of mini marshmallows, and your mini jigglers. There are many ways to make your heart shaped jello treats into a unique dessert experience for the kids.

Of course, there's always the old and familiar, yet fun and beloved, heart-shaped cake or cupcake! Make it a cupcake/cake decorating time, providing the kids with sprinkles and icing galore, and they'll do the rest. Not only will it be tasty, but it will keep them occupied with creative pursuits!