Back-to-School Bento

At the start of this school year, both of my kids faced numerous unknowns. Since we moved over the summer, my daughter was beginning third grade at a new school. My son began kindergarten. Neither child knew any friends or teachers at their school; plus, they were riding the bus, which was a new experience. Although I could not walk through these new experiences with them, I wanted to send a special dose of reassurance from home. Hence, this cute back-to-school lunch.

The 'notebook paper' consists a ham sandwich, made with white whole-wheat bread. I drew the lines on the bread with food markers. (You can find them at Michael's.) The base of the pencil is a cheese stick. With an apple corer, I cut a pink Starburst to make the eraser. For the tip of the pencil, I used a black food marker to color the tip of a Bugle. Both the Starburst & the Bugle were attached with toothpicks.

To round out the meal, I added the produce that I happened to have on hand. broccoli florets, baby carrots, cut-up peaches & raspberries.

My kindergartener told his teacher that the best part of the day was "eating the pencil". I had to interject with an explanation. I guess it was a hit!