When planning snacks, it is a good idea to plan to bring a prot

When planning snacks, it is a good idea to plan to bring a protein, a complex carbohydrate and a fruit or vegetable. Children need to eat more often than adults, consider snacks to be a small meal, not just empty calories to tide them over until the real meal. School snack time is a great opportunity to introduce new foods.

This is just a start on the list of possible snack ideas. Some healthy options such as shell fish or beets were omitted due to either allergy or mess concerns in a group setting but would be great for most children at home.

Safety Considerations:

All food is a potential choking hazard. Always supervise children while eating, ensure that they remain seated and are not overfilling their mouths.
To minimize choking hazards, cut cheese, fruit, etc. into small enough pieces so that they are easy to chew and if they are accidentally swallowed whole, they will not get stuck in the child’s throat. ½ inch cubes or less. (this includes cutting grapes larger than this size)
Cut carrots and anything shaped like a carrot into lengthwise strips, not in circles. Strips less than the diameter of your child’s fingers are appropriate for children over 2 yrs (1-2 grate hard foods such as carrots)
Some light foods such as sunflower seeds are more of a risk for aspiration (breathing into the lungs) with the potential for infection. To minimize the risk, serve small quantities at a time so that a child can’t stuff handfuls into their mouth.

Protein:

This group includes meat, dairy, eggs, and legumes (beans, peas,tofu) + grains (legumes + grains are a vegetarian complete protein).

Complex Carbohydrates:

Whole Grain breads & crackers, root vegetables, and Legumes

Ingredients to avoid:

Excessive sugar, hydrogenated fats, excessive salt, chemical preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, nitrates and nitrites, sulfites, MSG and artificial sweeteners. In General foods that are less processed and closer to there original form are healthier than more highly processed foods.

Cholesterol:

Young children under the age of 2 need more cholesterol in their diet for proper brain development. Good sources are whole milk, cheese, egg yokes, and avocados. After the age of two, this need diminishes significantly and lower fat dairy options should be chosen such as 2% milk and low fat cheese to promote a healthy heart later in life.

New Foods

Introducing new foods frequently will increase your child’s chances of accepting other new foods
New foods often need to be offered several times before a child will decide that they want to try it.
When children see someone else accept or reject a food, they often do the same.

Additional information:

USDA Nutritive Value of Foods http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/HG72/hg72_2002.pdf
Current science on nutrition http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource
List of 130 Healthiest foods with links to their nutritional and other information - http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php
Oklahoma State University document “Food and Young Children” - http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2472/T-3155web.pdf

Snack Presentation Ideas:

Teriyaki Tofu
Fruit Smoothies
Cucumbers marinated in rice vinegar
Sliced raw veggies and a dip made of yogurt or low fat cream cheese mixed with salad dressing
Sliced fruit with a vanilla yogurt dip
Jicama peeled and sliced into bite sized pieces
Small rice balls rolled in sesame seeds and crumbled nori
Small Sushi roll made with tuna fish, avocado cucumber etc. inside
Lightly boiled sliced purple cabbage (fantastic purple color)
Dried cuttle fish