[Last Bento of Preschool Life] Surprise Your Child! Character Bento and Side Dish Ideas
Many parents probably feel that making bento lunches was a challenge during their child’s time at the preschool/kindergarten.
You’ve been preparing lunches with your child in mind, thinking about nutrition and color balance.
Once they move up to elementary school, there will be school lunches, so bento-making can take a break for a while.
For the last days of preschool/kindergarten life, let’s make a wonderful bento that will be a fun surprise.
Even if it’s a bit clumsy, it’s okay as long as it’s filled with a parent’s love.
Try packing a bento themed around your child’s favorite character or with stylish side dishes.
It will surely become a memorable keepsake.
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[Last Bento of Preschool Life] Surprise Your Child! Character Bento and Side Dish Ideas (1–10)
Piplup bento
Character bentos are special lunch boxes packed with everything kids love.
For the final bento, be sure to include your children’s requests! To finish the rice balls as character onigiri, it’s handy to use items that can safely add color.
Once the base of the onigiri is ready, make the face using nori or the edges of a rolled omelet.
If you place the nori on a thin layer of mayonnaise, it helps prevent it from falling apart.
In addition to the main character, pack plenty of side dishes your child likes.
Sumikkogurashi Bento
Sumikkogurashi is a popular character series among children.
Try making your child’s favorite character and packing it into their bento.
Characters like Shirokuma, Penguin? and Tokage can be made with rice balls if you capture their key features.
Creating the ears, hands, and body patterns as separate pieces gives a more three-dimensional finish.
If you find it difficult to cut nori for facial expressions, using a nori punch—available at 100-yen shops—can be very handy.
Let’s make a bento that puts a smile on your child’s face when they open the lunchbox.
Thank you, teacher bento.
As a way to say thank you to the teacher who watched over your child with so much love during their time at preschool, making a special bento is a great idea.
If you’re used to making portrait bentos, why not create one with the teacher’s face alongside your child’s? You can shape the faces with rice balls and use nori to mimic their hairstyles for a convincing look.
After arranging side dishes around the rice balls, finish by adding a small flag with a short message.
It’s the perfect bento to show your appreciation to the teacher.
[The Last Bento of Preschool Life] I want to surprise my child! Character bento and side dish ideas (11–20)
Cute side dishes
How about giving your usual side dishes a little twist and making them cute? You can almost see your child’s smile when they open their lunch box.
For example, separate two eggs into whites and yolks; cook the yolks first, then cook the whites and wrap them around.
Once cooled, cut into triangles for cake-style tamagoyaki! For another idea, grill a ring of sliced green pepper, crack a quail egg into the center, and cook it through.
Finally, add a face to the yolk with nori to make an adorable mini sunny-side-up.
Try experimenting with different side dishes!
Cutout cheese
The last bento of preschool life.
For those who want to pay attention to every single side dish, we recommend cut-out cheese.
For a striped pattern, layer ham and sliced cheese alternately, slice thinly, then use a cutter to make your favorite shapes.
For a checkerboard pattern, stack cheddar and sliced cheese, cut them into thin strips, bundle them, and alternate the bundles.
Before cutting or using cutters, let them rest in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.
The checkerboard pattern is cute enough even just cut into slices.
Brighten up the final bento and turn it into a wonderful memory.
Peacefully Sleeping Miffy Bento
How about decorating your child’s last preschool bento with a peacefully sleeping Miffy? First, make Miffy’s face and ears with rice balls.
Shape mashed potatoes into a little bear sleeping next to Miffy.
Line half of the bento box with a thin layer of rice, and fill the other half with side dishes.
Arrange Miffy and the bear on the rice, then use a thin omelet as a “blanket” to hide the side dishes.
Create patterns with decorative food chips or arare crackers.
Hopefully they’ll enjoy this final bento, too.
Totoro bento
My Neighbor Totoro is a work that is immensely popular among children.
Many kids probably wish they could meet Totoro.
You can make a cute Totoro by shaping a rice ball into a round form, wrapping it with nori (seaweed) while leaving the belly area uncovered, and using cheese and nori to create the eyes and ears.
It would also be nice to change the colors and line up a Blue Totoro (Chū-Totoro) and a Small Totoro (Chibi-Totoro).
Another plus is that, since it’s an onigiri, you can get creative with the fillings.
Totoro is said to be someone you can only meet when you’re a child.
For parents who are happy about their child’s growth but also feel a little sad about graduation from kindergarten, this could make for a special bento.