When your child comes home from school, chances are he or she is hungry and ready for a snack. It is easy for your child to grab junk food such as cookies, pizza pockets, chips, etc. How about switching it up and making a healthy and fun snack instead? Here are some great ideas:
- Layered Fruit Fun: In an ice cream cone, layer cut-up fruit (such as strawberries, blueberries, peaches or bananas) with vanilla or fruit-flavored yogurt. Add a layer of granola or crushed graham cracker for a little crunch.
- Effortless Apple Crisp: Stir 2 tablespoons of crushed cinnamon crunchy granola bars and a dash of cinnamon into an applesauce cup.
- Frozen Banana Crunch: Slice a banana into four pieces, cover pieces with yogurt and sprinkle each piece with a crushed low-sugar cereal. Wrap them in waxed paper or aluminum foil and place in the freezer.
- Fire Ants on a Log: A twist on the original ants on a log: take a piece of celery and cover the top with peanut butter. Add dried cranberries to the top as your fire ants.
Want something quick or on-the-go? Here are some tasty ideas:
- Monkey Bars granola bars
- Wheat Thins with peanut butter, almond butter or soy butter
- Angie’s Kettle Corn with a handful of grapes
- Kashi TLC soft-baked cereal bars
- String cheese and an apple
Remember the golden rule, parents: It is your job to decide what foods are served, when they are served and where they are served. It is important to offer a variety of foods every day. The child has a job too – he/she decides which foods to eat and how much to eat. If your child gets used to choosing healthy foods, he/she is much more likely to be a healthy individual down the road. And remember to make healthy eating FUN!
- Greta Farley, RD, LD, CLT
Your Worthington Hy-Vee registered dietitian
Thanks for this helpful thread!