starter ideas for children

[mareseatoatsanddoeseatoats]

am doing a smoked salmon/prawn type thing for the adults, but we have dc attending that won't eat this.

Does anyone have any ideas of a simple starter idea that can preferably be made in advance?

Thank you

My two love dough balls as a starter, 5 minutes in the oven, very easy.

Do you know they won't eat it or are you assuming? It's not uncommon for children, even small children, to really like prawns and smoked salmon.

No i know they won't, i checked.

My dd will eat it, ds won't, if it was just us i wouldn't bother doing anything else and let him just eat the bread. But as we have guests i would like to have something else to offer. My ds suggested cheese strings, which wasn't quite what i was after!

Dough balls could be a good idea - they are quite inoffensive! Will do a dip seperately.

Melon with a bit of sauce made from frozen berries.

I think a very small starter like a tiny amount of crudites with a couple of tortilla chips/breadstick and a small amount of dip. So they will still be hungry for the main course.

Agree with crudities.
My two love a bit of bread sticks cucumber and grape action before a meal.
Something fun to dip into and you are winning.

My DS has corn on the cob as a starter at Xmas.

Cucumber and hummus goes down well here.

Soup

Honeydew melon here.

Melon boats with a cherry/orange slice sail always went down well with the youngest in our family.

I keep bags of frozen winter berries in the freezer. Arrange in a circle on a plate with plain yogurt in the middle. It looks very Christmassy.

Mine always have melon or vegetable sticks.
Dough balls is a great idea though, might copy it!

Philadelphia on melba toast, that's pretty inoffensive. Add chilli sauce if you like it spicier.

My dc love a really nice flavoured bread with butter. We can serve it to the adults with their prawns too. They also eat bread sticks.

DoUgh balls are very filling! Eating dough for a starter isn't conducive to them eating any main course. I either wouldn't give them a starter or just a small piece of melon.

Pate toast and cucumber

When we have prawn cocktail I do the kids fish goujons with lettuce and mayo/ketchup and make it look the same
Or if we have pate I do them the same but with Dairylea
I like it all to look the same, but I'm a bit weird like that
Otherwise I agree with cucumber/carrot/pepper sticks & dips

My toddler is absolutely nuts for both prawns and smoked salmon but assuming you're don't like either then another vote for patê with Angel toast and cranberry jelly or something.

You don't have big plates full of doughballs, 2 or 3 each is plenty. We don't do starters at all mind you because I don't want to take the edge off the main course, have you considered just not doing starters OP?

I'm making mini "pitta pizzas" as a starter for the kids and one stupidly fussy adult.
Star shaped cookie cutter into a pitta bread (will probably get two from each) with a teaspoon of pizza sauce, a few bits of pepper and some sweetcorn and a wee sprinkle of cheese. Under the grill for 2minutes til cheese melts. Sat on a small bed of salad leaves.

Mini pizzas?

Little blinis with creamed cheese (Philadelphia) and a bit of ham and thin cucumber slice artfully arranged, bit of salad on the side. Looks pretty and not too filling.

You could possibly add a blini with the creamed cheese and smoked salmon, just to see if they might actually like it. My kids loved smoked salmon from a very young age.

great thread, i had never thought about child friendly starters before but am going to attempt something this time. I think toddler likes SS but only with scrambled eggs. Older is not that keen.

I loved it as a child and still do.

We have prawn cocktail and my 5yr old n 13mth old will have plain prawns with cucumber sticks ds1 has already chosen some huge king prawns!