Bento boxes: Before and after

A few weeks ago, we were reading a few books about the Netherlands.  One was about a cat, and the story inspired me to make this:

We had minestrone soup that day, with sandwiches.

Half-way into the meal, the plate was looking like this:

According to the boy, the bread slices represented the dike, and he had flooded one side with soup to represent the ocean.  On the other side was Amsterdam, with a dinosaur nest containing eggs (the beans).

Ah, yes.  We are still working on getting him to eat properly and not make a mess, but this also taught me that meals can be springboards for learning too!  So instead of just trying to make the food look interesting, I've been linking up his meals to what we are learning or reading at home... will share more next week!

Do you include your child's meals as part of their learning?  Do share!