The arrival of spring make us a little giddy and puts us in a playful mood. It is no surprise then that many cultures find reason to celebrate at this time of year. The variety of springtime holidays, including those customarily celebrated in the Mediterranean, like Easter, Passover, and the Persian New Year Nowruz, all celebrate rebirth and renewal in some way. They also all have a culinary tradition in common: the use of eggs!

Eggs have been enjoyed as part of the Mediterranean Diet for thousands of years in a variety of ways. Regardless of whether you are celebrating a specific holiday this year, or are just happy that the sun is shining and the grass is getting greener, beautiful decorating and playful plating make family meals fun for everyone.

With help from our friends at the American Egg Board/Egg Nutrition Center and The Kitchn, we offer you a variety of ways to make your eggs beautiful in celebration of spring. We have also rounded up some ideas for playing with other foods to help inspire you and your family to have fun and eat well!

Things to consider when playing with your food:

• Use whole and minimally processed foods to keep your snacks and meals as healthy as possible. Consider using fresh or canned fruits and vegetables, canned beans, cooked pasta, whole grain bread, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and shelled nuts.
   
• Eat what you make. Playing is great fun, but eating your creations is just as important as making them. Avoid wasting food by using only ingredients you want to eat.
   
• Paring knives, vegetable peelers, apple corers, cookie cutters, toothpicks, and skewers all make great tools for food creations, but they are also sharp. Consider who in the family is allowed to use different tools and what level of supervision is required.
   
• Examine the shape of whole fruits and vegetables to see if they resemble something else. Does your zucchini look like a penguin body? Does your apple have a facial expression? Turn the fruits and veggies around and look at them from multiple angles.
   
• Use whole grain pizza crust, pancakes, or thinly sliced bread as a canvas for "drawing" pictures with sauces, vegetables, fruits, and cheese.
   
• Some foods lend themselves very well to certain applications:
  • Use cauliflower florets to make lambs (cut up black olives for eyes and legs)
  • Use thinly sliced carrot rounds as fish scales
  • Make a bird's nest out of toasted coconut
  • Use pretzel sticks for animal legs, antennae, or tree branches
  • Cut flower shapes out of watermelon and cantaloupe
  • Use black beans, olives, or blueberries for eyes
  • Peanut butter, other nut butters, and cream cheese make excellent adhesives
  • Make grass out of chives
  • Sculpt 3-D shapes with sticky rice

So invite the entire family into the kitchen, do a little brainstorming to get the creative juices flowing, and have fun!