8 Healthy Snacks Your Kids Will Love
Kids always seem to be hungry. Whether they’re pointing at the pantry every five minutes, banging on the fridge door, or have mastered the word “snack”, feeding kids between meals becomes a game of trial and error. Do you give them something fast and unhealthy, just to save time? Or do you make them wait so you can whip up something more substantial that might hold them over until dinner? I’ve found a happy medium with these eight healthy snacks that are quick to prep, make, and eat, and won’t spoil your kid’s appetite!
1. Peanut butter, banana, and honey roll-ups
Credit: Nutrition Expert
This recipe uses flatbread instead of a tortilla wrap like you might expect, but the result is still a tasty, sweet snack your kids will love. Simply spread some peanut butter on one side of the flatbread, fill the space with slices of banana, and drizzle honey on top. Roll up, cut up, and enjoy!
2. Mango “nice” cream
Credit: Super Healthy Kids
I’ve made strawberry frozen yogurt before, and it’s healthy, delicious, and dairy free. And because it’s homemade, you know exactly what’s in it, and that means no added sugars, weird colors or flavors. Simply throw chunks of frozen mango in a blender or food processor with some bananas (and a dash of soy or almond milk if you like) for creamy, mango “nice” cream.
3. Fruit kebobs
Credit: By Stephanie Lynn
Quick, easy, and healthy, the hardest thing you’ll have to do is pick what fruit you want to use on the kebob! Chop up your selection of fruit into bite sized pieces, and arrange them on a kebob stick to create a colorful rainbow of fruit. Melon, pineapple, strawberries, bananas, and kiwi offer a great colorful range with different flavors and textures.
4. Frozen yogurt bites
Credit: Eating On A Dime
There a few ways to enjoy frozen yogurt, including just freezing yogurt tubes, or making frozen yogurt pops by putting yogurt into popsicle trays (or pudding pops). This recipe creates multi-colored mini bites that are an easy, sweet snack, with little to no prep time that you can pull out of the freezer for an on-the-go snack. All you have to do is spoon little dots of yogurt onto a tray covered in wax paper and pop the tray in the freezer. When the bites are properly frozen, put them in snack-sized sandwich bags for later.
5. Lunch kebobs
Credit: Little Dairy On The Prairie
Another colorful kebob variation, this time using ham, cheese, and cherry tomatoes. You can easily use other lunch meats, like turkey, or other cheeses, like edam, depending on what your kids like. You could even use chunks of cucumber if your kids don’t like tomatoes. Simply alternate slices of lunch meat and cheese chunks on the kebob stick or toothpick, and top each end with a cherry tomato.
6. Easy apple chips
Credit: Paleo Leap
These are easy to make, store, and bring out when your kids are getting peckish and you want them to eat something healthy that doesn’t take a lot of prep time. The best thing about this recipe is it is designed for kids in mind – they can throw the apple slices into a bowl to get covered in the cinnamon sugar and place them on the baking sheet all by themselves. All you have to do is handle the oven.
7. Snack mix
Credit: Julie’s Eats & Treats
Snack mix (or trail mix) is a genius way to throw a bunch of different healthy and healthy-ish edibles together in one bag and sneakily get your kid to eat some protein and fiber. This recipe in particular is great for the last little bits of cereal left in the bag! It uses Cheerios, salted peanuts, m&m’s, peanut butter chips and chocolate chips. Simply combine in a sandwich bag and voila! Or if you want a slightly healthier version (less chocolate, more fiber) check out this Toddler Trail Mix recipe.
8. Coconut popcorn
Credit: Jen’s Favorite Cookies
I am in love with coconut popcorn. It’s a sweet alternative to the bags you can buy in supermarkets, and you can quickly make it at home in a batch, eat some now and save some for later (if you have the willpower, which I usually don’t). My own recipe is already on the blog, but you could easily make this snack with olive oil instead and sprinkle with cheese for a more savory popcorn alternative or with “strawberry dust” for a fun pink snack.
