You plan your child's meals carefully, but don't forget about the vital nutritional value found in her snacks. A healthy snack fuels your child between meals, giving her energy to do the activities that make being a child fun. If your child previously has not responded well to healthy snack options, don't forget to throw in a little whimsy to creating snacks--make smiley faces with food or allow your child to choose between food options for snacks. The more she is involved, the more likely she is to embrace snack options.
Veggie Delights
There are several ways to incorporate vegetables into your child's daily snacks, from cutting colorful raw vegetables sticks from carrots and celery and dipping the sticks in vegetable dip to serving edamame, or fresh soybeans. Most kids love to dip their snacks, so finding dip-worthy vegetable options, such as cucumbers or cherry tomatoes, is a healthy option. Another vegetable snack favorite is a sliced sweet potato lightly toasted in the oven. This alternative to french fries offers your child a healthy option packed with numerous vitamins and minerals.
Fun Fruits
Colorful fruits are a healthy and easily transportable snack for your child. Try apple slices dipped in honey or peanut butter, frozen bananas or dried fruits served with nuts. Kids also love the involvement that can accompany blending a fresh fruit smoothie. Allow your child to choose a few smoothie ingredients to blend and then watch him enjoy his concoction. Another fun option are fruit kabobs--place favorite fruits, such as grapes, strawberries, raspberries and melon, on toothpicks or actual wooden or metal kabobs (nothing too sharp for your child, however). You can also stir in some fresh fruit to a cup of low-fat yogurt or applesauce or serve fresh fruits strips or leathers (but without added sugars).
Great Grains
A number of healthy whole-grain snacks are available for kids that give them a boost of energy. These include making English muffin pizzas using whole-grain English muffins topped with low-sodium tomato sauce and a sprinkling of low-fat cheese. A handful or pretzels or rice cakes covered in peanut butter, pita pockets dipped in hummus or a few tortilla chips dipped with salsa are other good grain options.
Delicious Dairy
Dairy products help your child's body build strong bones. Choose low- or fat-free options, such as string cheese, yogurt, frozen yogurt, and pudding. These items can be served with fruits and vegetables or even whole-wheat crackers.
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