Teddy Bear Lunch Box and Forest Friends Lunch Boxes

This teddy bear lunch box is a fun way to bring a cuddly friend to lunch time. These forest friend lunches are perfect for back to school lunches – fun and super simple. From a fox lunch box to an owl lunch box, your kids are going to love bringing the great outdoors into their fun school lunch. Plus, add even more fun recycling a honey bear into a fun drink.

I grew up in a classic NJ suburb. Slow street, houses relatively close to one another, tons of kids our age in the neighborhood – I loved it. The closest we really got to ‘wilderness’ without going to a county or state park was the park down the street where my brother and neighbor, and I would ~observe~ ski bugs and try to find the right rocks to hop on to get to the other side of the brook without getting wet. As I grew up, I spent a lot of time at my mom’s house at the Jersey shore, went to school there and then lived in a tiny beach town as a newlywed and while pregnant.

And then we bought a house and I was kind of in for a huge shock.

This post was sponsored by Nabisco as part of an Integrated Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

On 3 sides of our house, we are completely flanked by forest. As someone who grew up with 2 trees on our property, it’s very cool to watch an entire forest grow every summer and then turn vibrant with fall colors come September. (NOT awesome: the freaking leaves. THE FREAKING LEAVES, you guys…)

I remember when we were in the process of getting the house inspected and our realtor mentioned something to me about how the owners kept their garbage cans in the shed until garbage day because of bears. I thought it was super weird because it’s not like the shed was necessarily close to where garbage would be picked up and also, ew, the smell in your poor shed. I fully blame the fact that I was 9 months pregnant for the fact I never put 2 + 2 together.

Because there are bears here, you guys. I remember the first time I saw one going through our trash. Just a normal old bear, next to my car, trying to get scraps from last nights dinner.

Some of you are probably rolling your eyes – bears + forests seem like the obvious inevitability right? Or maybe you get REAL bears, rather than ones who just dig going through your trash and dragging your leftovers into the woods, but as a suburb girl through and through who saw, at most a raccoon (TBH I don’t think I ever heard/saw a racoon until I moved here, either..)

A few weeks ago we had a bear come a few days in a row – it started when I looked out the front window one evening and saw the bear just strutting down the street with a big ol’ bag of garbage in his mouth as if nothing was weird about it and ended a few days later with him literally sitting down for a meal up against a tree in my driveway for 30 minutes while we watched from a safe distance and Cooper lost his mind barking.

Since then, Ry has been obsessed with bears and forest animals. In addition to ‘our’ bear, there is also a deer that comes to our backyard a lot that just gives me the most understanding looks all the time, like, “yass mama, I feel your pain” who I have named Lady Jane. It’s basically Bambi in my backyard, minus the guns. So with this forest obsession in mind, I’ve been trying to teach him more about the animals that live in the woods and making him fun lunches to bring to school.

Learn all of my favorite ways to make edible eyes for fun lunches here: DIY Edible Eyeballs for Fun Food

As a kid, one of my favorite snacks were Teddy Grahams. I would munch ’em and make up little scenes in my mind with the bears. Once Ry was old enough to eat them, I grabbed a box and he too is obsessed. (I’ve definitely caught him making them dance before munching off their heads more than once.) I was so excited when I saw these TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks at the store. They’re individually packed, which makes them perfect for lunch boxes, and the little bears go with the new bear obsession we seem to have.

But then I needed some lunches to go with them – which is how we get here – 3 super simple forest friends themed lunch boxes your kids will absolutely adore!

Teddy Bear Lunch Box and Forest Friends Lunch Boxes

Teddy Bear Lunch Box

Using a large round cutter, cut a circle out of your sandwich made on some kind of brown bread. (I used plain old whole wheat.) Cut a smaller circle out of a slice of white bread (could use wheat again) and ‘glue’ it to the sandwich using some kind of nut butter or cream cheese. Cut 2 slices out of a cheese stick and a black olive. ‘Glue’ and stack to create eyes before ‘glue’ing to the sandwich. Add a halved black olive for the nose and 2 whole olives for the ears. I’ve also used round crackers for the ears and the tip of a strawberry for the nose for a teddy bear sandwich

Write a sweet message on an orange and pair with your kiddos favorite snacks as sides.

Fox Lunch Box

Remove crusts from your sandwich to create an even square before removing bottom corners of the sandwich, leaving about 1 inch of space in between. Cut a slice of orange cheese to fit the remaining sandwich and cut a triangle shape to the longest side (top) before laying on top. Add whiskers in between the layers of sandwich with pretzel sticks. Using sliced olives and cucumber, ‘glue’ eyes to your fox using nut butter or cream cheese before doing the same to a halved olive as the nose. Finally, add 2 slices of strawberry to create ears.

Make apple ‘leaves’ by cutting off the cheeks of an apple and slicing the pattern of leaf veins into the skin with a paring knife. if concerned about browning, dunk cut apples into a solution of lemon and water and allow to soak for a few minutes before removing and drying.

Owl Lunch Box

make your sandwich and cut the bottom two corners off. (If your bread is rounded on top, make that your ‘bottom’ so that you have the pointier ends to create your owl’s ears.) Cut a small chunk off the wings and return to where you cut them. ‘Glue’ sliced cucumbers and olives to your owl’s face as eyes. Create a beak and feet using an orange tomato or carrots. Finally, layer cereal to the belly to create texture/feathers.

For cute bear snacks to join your owl friend, take a round cracker and spread a layer of nut butter on top. (cream cheese makes for an adorable polar bear!) Add a mini pretzel twist to the lower half and top with a raisin. Add eyes and cereal for ears!

Looking to take your forest friends lunch boxes to the next level? Pair them with the perfect dessert and a fun drink! Empty out a bear honey container and fill with the drink of your choice. I’ve found that most normal sized straws are a perfect, spill-free fit. I used fun paper straws here, but normal plastic bendy straws work as well.

For the perfect snack, make sure you grab TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks to add to your lunch boxes. They’re super cute and the perfect size for little hands. I love them because they’re a special treat for my little guy, and they have no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial flavors and no artificial colors.