Now he cannot wait to open his packed lunch every day and tuck into his favourite characters.
With the help of a few cutters and moulds, former accountant Mrs Hall has turned sandwiches into Spiderman, hard-boiled eggs into sheep and melons into Easter chicks...while making hundreds of healthy lunches.
Her blog, showing photographs of the culinary creations, is followed by 7,500 other mothers.
Grace Hall, 32, creates works of art - such as this Angry Birds-inspired one, a current favourite - for her son's packed lunch
Grace was worried about her son's appetite and started preparing to the pretty lunches in an effort to get him to eat more
The
32-year-old, from Winchester, was inspired by the bento-style lunch
boxes seen in Japan, traditionally created from sushi rice, meat and
fish and sometimes turned into fun characters and cartoons.
The
artistic mother goes to incredible lengths to delight her six year old,
turning sandwiches into Spiderman, Santa and the Very Hungry
Caterpillar.
Grace says she usually spends only a few minutes on each lunchbox
Grace says that she spends a little longer on lunchboxes for special occasions, such as this Easter one
Grace says she never buys specialist ingredients and just uses what's left around the house
She
fashions snails from a bread roll decorated with cheese for eyes,
carrots carved into flowers and a cheese and ham toastie that looks like
a pig.
Other characters creations include Elmer
the Elephant, the Gruffalo, Thomas the Tank Engine, Goldilocks and the
Funny Bones skeletons.
For
Grace, the novelty lunches come to her naturally as she remembers her
own mother using fruit to make faces in homemade bread when she was a
child.
Although
this may sound like a lot of time and effort, Grace says they can suit
mums in a hurry as she never spends more than 15 minutes creating the
lunches.
Grace
insists that she enjoys the daily tasks and has turned a potential
chore into something she looks forward to doing. She has even admitted
to actually missing her creations during school holidays.
Above all, Grace tries to make each lunch as healthy as possible
Since she started creating the lunch boxes, Grace's son has gained much more of an appetite
Grace asks her son to make special requests to give her inspiration
'I could see years of endless lunch-packing stretching ahead of me.
'But I soon found they were a great outlet for my own creativity - as a full-time mum I get very little time for myself.
'So making lunches is a way for me to turn an everyday chore into an opportunity to get creative.'
Grace,
who had been worried about her son's lack of appetite, says that since
she has created the bento-style lunches she has seen a real improvement
in his eating.
Grace was inspired by the bento boxes of Japan, which are broken up into different compartments
Her creations, posted on her blog, have gained the former accountant a loyal following of 7,500 readers
Grace's husband has even been involved in the project, helping her out after the birth of their second son
'My son was never a big eater before.
'I
used to worry about the amount of food he ate - or rather didn't eat -
but since I started making bento-style lunches, his appetite has grown.
'These days he is much more enthusiastic about his food and will eat pretty much everything - except celery.'She says that her artistic lunches have also helped other mums who have had trouble getting their kids to eat their lunches.
'The best comments on my blog come from mums who say their children have started eating foods they wouldn't touch before.
'To think that I am inspiring others and helping them to get their children eating healthy food makes me very happy.'
Grace's son is, unsurprisingly, thrilled with his lunches and Grace asks her son - nicknamed 'Small Child' in her blog - for ideas and requests.
Grace has created more than 300 different lunches - such as this football-themed one - for her son
Grace uses leftovers from the family dinners to make sure nothing goes to waste
Grace gains inspiration from her son's story
books - this one has a knight's theme, complete with sandwich cut to
look like a castle and cucumber and carrot 'shields'
His
current favourite lunches feature Angry Birds, dinosaurs and cats and
will now happily polish off veg, including striped beetroot and purple
carrots.
'My son really loves the lunches.
'I
make them while he is eating his breakfast and he is always peering
over my shoulder, interested in what I am making for him each day.
'I know I've made a good one if he says it's cool.'A set of themed lunches, like those based on her son's favourite tales for World Book Day, St George's Day or Comic Relief, requires extra thought and may take longer than her 15-minute time limit.
Grace remembers her mum making her novelty lunches when she was younger
Grace has inspired other mothers who are having trouble getting their children to eat
Staff at her son's school keep a keen eye out for the latest creations
'Occasionally I give a lunch a little
extra time if it's a special theme or occasion but I truly believe it's
not much more than traditional lunches.'
Rather
than buying special ingredients, Grace just keeps a good variety of
fresh fruit and vegetables in the house, making the lunches healthy for
her son.
A
list of food ideas stuck on the family fridge helps ensure each lunch
has at least one portion of vegetable, fruit, dairy, carbohydrates and
protein.
Leftovers
such as spare tortilla wraps or potatoes from a dinner are put to good
use in the lunchboxes, and sweets and crisps are kept to a minimum.
Grace's son eagerly watches his mother prepare his meals every day
Grace says she knows when she's made a good lunch when her son describes them as 'cool'
Creativelu used Babybells, as above, are a regular theme in the lunchboxes
Grace's husband has even jumped aboard the project, helping to make the lunches after their second son was born.
'My
husband made a brilliant lunch that was farm themed. I loved the fact
he had a style of his own, despite using the same supplies and
accessories as me.
'My son was very pleased, I think he was impressed by Daddy's efforts and really enjoyed the novelty.'
It
comes as no surprise that staff at Grace's son's school said they loved
seeing what was in his daily lunch box and they have inspired parents
at the school gate to follow her lead.
The project has inspired Grace to study nutrition in the future.
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