Bento Box Lunch Ideas For Kids

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It’s always a struggle to find inspiration for packing a colorful, fun, and healthy school lunch, but bento boxes make my job a lot easier. However, staying creative every single day is impossible without some cool bento box lunch ideas for kids.

My kids love some of these ideas, and packing their school lunches has never been easier than now. Even my picky son is cleaning up his every meal, which was never the case before.

In this article, I will share some of the greatest kids bento box lunch ideas that are easy to pack and fun for kids!

Healthy Bento Lunch Box Ideas For Kids

Getting kids to eat healthy isn’t always easy, especially if your child is a picky eater. Try these healthy lunch ideas for a kids bento box to get your kid interested in veggies!

1. Dipping Bento Box

Pair fruits with Greek yogurt mixed with sunflower seed butter, agave, and cinnamon. Use veggies paired with ranch dressing for sides and add mini sandwich skewers to the mix for a healthy lunch.

2. Butterfly

Use cookie cutters to make a butterfly-shaped sandwich that can be filled with jelly, peanut butter, or sunflower seed butter. Use cookie cutters to shape fruits and veggies into stars for a more visually appealing lunch.

3. Easy Lunch Stackers

Your kids will love to use their imagination and cooking gifts to build their own stackers with cheese, whole wheat crackers, meat, and veggies. For sides, add a banana, more veggies, and a dip.

4. Sandwich Kabobs

Kabobs are a great way to take an ordinary sandwich and transform it into something your kid will actually eat. Add an apple and beet chips for increased vitamins.

5. Apple Zucchini Mini Muffin

Use healthy ingredients like apples, zucchini, and Greek yogurt in your muffin recipe. Add a peach, baby carrots, and low-fat cheddar cheese cubes for a healthy lunch packed with calcium and proteins.

6. Turkey Hummus Pinwheels

Spread hummus and turkey meat on a whole wheat tortilla and then wrap and cut it into pinwheels. On the side, add snap peas and a banana for a nutritious and healthy meal.

7. Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad

Transform a traditional chicken salad by using Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise and by adding seedless grapes for extra flavor. Pair with strawberries, whole wheat crackers, and popular ants on the log.

8. Taco

Use shredded chicken, shredded cheese blend, corn, and chopped lettuce as toppings. On the side, place two whole wheat tortillas, black beans, and yellow cherry tomatoes.

Fun Bento Box Lunch Ideas For Kids

These fun and colorful bento lunch box ideas for kids are ideal for preschoolers and kindergarteners. Most of all, they are super easy to pack and will fit into a toddler backpack.

1. Spiced Sweet Potato Mini Muffins

This bento box is all about different colors and delicious flavors. Pair spiced potato mini muffins with cherry tomatoes and add blackberries, chopped pears, and peach chunks as sides.

2. Veggie Rainbow

For a super healthy and colorful lunch, pair beet and apple hummus with rainbow veggie dippers. On the side, treat your kid with multigrain crackers, yogurt covered pretzels, and dried pineapple.

3. Spinach Pita Pizza

Pair spinach pita pizza with pesto as the main dish, and treat your kid’s sweet tooth with chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. Add mandarin oranges, blueberries, and pineapples as sides.

4. Rainbow Fruit

Use strawberries, mandarin oranges, pineapple, avocado, and blackberries as your rainbow fruit. Pair that with granola and Greek yogurt with honey and chia seeds for a healthy and sweet meal.

5. Turkey Wrap

Spread lean turkey meat, pesto, and yellow pepper, and roll it into a wrap. Pair the wrap with trail mix, grapes, a dried apricot, and snap peas with a dip for a colorful and tasty lunch meal.

6. Curry Egg Salad Sandwich

For a protein-rich and tasty meal, pack a curry egg salad sandwich into your child’s bento box. As for sides, pair watermelon, blackberries, and mandarin oranges. And for an extra kick, serve celery sticks with peanut butter.

7. Meatballs

Pack pasta and meatballs into a bento box thermos and fill the side compartments with graham crackers with goat cheese, blueberries, and pear slices.

8. Mini Bagel

Pack a whole wheat mini bagel with pumpkin cream cheese, tri-colored carrots, and hard-boiled eggs. Put kiwi, blackberries, and grape finger salad on the side.

9. Sandwich

Spread cream cheese and apricot jam on sandwich squares and put snap pea chips as sides. Pair this with tri-colored carrot sticks and a dip, peaches, and dark chocolate.

Easy Bento Box Lunch Ideas For School

For when you are in a hurry, here are nine super easy bento box lunch ideas that you can pack even on the most hectic mornings.

1. Mini Pizza

Cut an English muffin, spread sauce on each half, add mozzarella cheese, and bake. Pair with apple slices, cherry tomatoes, and a fruit and nut bar.

2. Turkey & Cheese Sandwich

Make a classic turkey and cheese sandwich and pair it with carrot sticks, strawberries, and grapes.

3. Chicken Wrap

Wrap up some lean chicken, diced cucumber, lettuce, and a bit of ranch dressing into a tortilla or a sandwich wrap. Pair this with extra cucumber slices, grapes, and sweet potato crackers.

4. Cheese & Crackers

Slice up some cheese and add crackers to your kid’s bento box. For more fun, pair it with celery sticks, a packet of ranch dipping sauce, and some chocolate chips.

5. Ham & Cheese Rollups

Roll up slices of ham around mozzarella sticks and pair them with celery sticks with nut butter. Add a bagel and sliced banana to complete the meal.

6. Hard-Boiled Eggs

Hard-boiled eggs are filling and very easy to make, so pair them with sliced cucumbers and bell pepper. As a surprise, pack a granola or fruit bar.

7. Hummus Platter

Kids love to dip so throw in some sides like pretzels, cucumber slices, and carrot sticks to be easily dipped into a packet of hummus. Pair this with some fruit like grapes or a nut bar.

8. Waffle Dippers

Make waffles and cut them into strips for dunking into a vanilla sauce. Add two hard-boiled eggs for protein and a side of strawberries.

9. Grilled Cheese

Add two to three pieces of cheese between two slices of bread and spread butter on the sides, before toasting for three minutes. Pair it with cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, and blueberries.

Cool Bento Box Lunch Ideas For Kids

And once you have tried everything else, check out some of these cool bento box ideas:

1. Fall Flavors

Make a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce, and pair it with rainbow carrot strips, fig cookies, and edamame. Add pineapple and pomegranate seeds to satisfy your kid’s sweet tooth.

2. Pasta Salad

Make a pasta salad with cherry tomatoes, cheese, and green beans. Pair it with a hard-boiled egg, bell pepper strips, and mango.

3. Soft Pretzel

Combine a soft pretzel with cheese, green beans with sesame, trail mix, and berries.

4. Dippin’ Delight

Pair apple wedges and whole-grain cereal with a caramel dip. Add cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, nectarines, and feta cheese.

5. Mini Pancakes

Prepare mini pancakes with peanut butter for extra protein and a small cheese. Add some fruit like strawberries and grapes to round up the meal.

6. Rollups On A Stick

Make turkey and cheese rollups with tomatoes on a stick with ranch dressing. Put kiwi, blueberries, and pomegranate seeds in another compartment, and add purple carrot sticks as sides.

7. Superhero

Made on a whole wheat sandwich, which round and cut with a bat-shaped cookie cutter, this sandwich will look appealing even to the pickiest of children. Add cucumbers and cherry tomatoes on the side, and create four mini skewers using pineapples and blueberries.

8. Southwestern Pasta Salad

With fiber-filled beans and protein-packed cheese, this pasta will become an instant hit and one of your regular kids lunch bento box ideas. Pair it with a few healthy sides for a nutritious and healthy school meal.

Conclusion

You don’t have to be super creative or have a ton of free time to try any of these bento box lunch ideas for your kids. While they may seem tricky to pull off, any of them will cut your meal prep time in half, and your kids will no longer get back hungry from school.