Healthy Snacks for Kids

After a long day of school or a quick ‘perk me up’, snacks are what kids want. Yummy food to munch on, but you don’t want to give them just any snack… You want to make healthy snacks for kids and avoid unhealthy treats like sweets, chocolates, crisps and biscuits. Besides, they don’t provide any nutrition either or fuel them with energy to go about the day! instead, they’re pumped with unhealthy sugars that will make them crash later on in the day. But of course, you can get around that by adding healthy snacks into the day! Snacks that provide nutrition and the energy to fuel their adventures, vitamins and minerals to make them strong inside and out and to satisfy their cravings. 

If you struggle to think of healthy, but yummy and satisfying snacks, then we can help you out!

Why not take advantage of seasonal fruits? We love making our own homemade smoothies! Especially when it’s summertime, as they are so easy to make and offer lots of nutrients! But you can make them any time of the year and you can make any kind of flavour!

Combine both fresh fruit and veg for the ultimate ‘super food’ smoothie that will satisfy your little one’s sweet tooth and provide them with a pick me up in the middle of the day. Plus if you have children who really like sweet things – try sprinkling some raisins or dried apricots on top of the smoothie before cooling down to make them even more delicious!

A grab and go snack for your kids if they’re too much in a rush to get back to playing! Packed with ingredients to keep them full for longer, protein and fruit to make a healthy snack for kids! Perfect to keep their energy levels up too…

You’ll need:

• 1 apple – peeled and chopped
• 200g of rolled oats
• 100g of natural peanut/nut butter
• 100g of whole pitted dates
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1bsp of chia seeds

1. Simply combine all these ingredients together in a food processor and blend!
2. Once they’ve all been combined, roll them into balls.
3. Place the balls on a tray and put them in the fridge to chill! 
4. When your kiddies need a healthy snack packed with energy, give them a couple of these oat balls!

Simple, easy and healthy. There’s nothing better!

credit – snackinginsneakers.com

Who doesn’t love turkey? It’s yummy, filling and it’s a great source of protein! And avocado is oh so yummy, packed with vitamins B6, C, E and K, as well as a source for healthy fats (designed to keep you full for longer!). So, why not combine the meat and veg and create a yummy (and underrated) snack combination. It’ll make for a super quick snack and it’s easy too! 

Simply cut some avocado slices and wrap some turkey (or any meat slice your kiddies love) around the avocado and that’s it! If you want to spruce it up, you could spread some kind of sauce on the slice, to make it extra tasty!

This is one of those ‘try it before you knock it’ types of treats. Most trail mixes come with raisins which some kids don’t necessarily like and may refuse to eat, or they’re just sweet trail mixes. But how about a savoury one? And the ingredients are house staples, so shouldn’t be difficult to make! 

All you need is:

• Shreddies
• Cashew nuts
• Peanuts
• Mini cheese crackers
• Seasoning – garlic powder, salt, Worcestershire sauce and some butter.

1. Preheat the oven to 120°C, melt the butter in a pan and mix all the seasonings together. 
2. Simply coat the cereal and nuts evenly with the mix, then place in an oven bake tray and bake for 45min – stirring occasionally.
3. Once that’s done, let the trail mix cool down for 15 mins and then place in airtight containers!

And there you have it. A healthy, savoury trail mix that your kiddies will definitely love. And you can always swap, change and add ingredients to whatever they like more!

I know, it’s kinda an odd one…who freezes grapes? But they make the perfect healthy snack for kids, that even they will find cool.  They’re packed with vitamin K (which helps build bone density), B6 (needed for energy production) and manganese (involved in building immunity). Add slices of banana from time to time too and they will be extra healthy! An innovative way to cool down your children when it gets a bit hot!

Healthy fruit? Check! Chocolate? Check! What can go wrong? Sure it has chocolate, but a little is fine and you’ll know the kids will like it. It’s a healthy balanced snack. 

So, what do you do?

1. Grab some bananas, peel them and slice them in half diagonally.
2. Insert some popsicle sticks into the banana and place them on parchment paper in a tray. Place the tray into the freezer for 30 minutes.
3. Melt some chocolate (milk or dark is fine) over low heat water. When melted, take the bananas out of the freezer.
4. Simply dip the banana into the chocolate (not all the way) so you have some exposed banana left. 
5. If you want, add some chopped nuts or pieces of freeze-dried fruit, onto the melted chocolate and pop back into the freezer. Because the bananas will be cold, the chocolate should harden pretty quickly!
6. Whenever your kids are ready for their healthy snack, take them out of the freezer and watch them enjoy it!

Blueberries pack an antioxidant punch – with vitamin C, folate, fibre, manganese, copper, niacin, iron and potassium found in each 100g serving (I know, it’s a lot!). They are also just incredibly yummy and a great way of packing some nutritiousness into every bite! Why don’t you encourage your kids to help make them? That way it’ll be a treat to taste something they made!

Turn veggies into something fun. Instead of plonking them on a plate and hoping your kids will eat up, put them on a stick! Impressive right…(sarcasm). But it may work because it looks different! You can choose any veg you want, but for these healthy afternoon snacks for kids it’ll be:

• Fresh mozzarella balls
• Baby spinach
• Cherry tomatoes
• Balsamic vinegar

1. Grab some kebab sticks and start placing each ingredient one at a time, ie – cherry tomato first, then a mozzarella ball, then baby spinach and repeat as much as you want.
2. After you’ve made your kebabs drizzle some balsamic vinegar over the kebabs to give them some zingy flavour.
3. Place them on a plate or tray and pop them in the fridge. Perfect for summer days when they need something refreshing and healthy to cool down. 

A healthy snack for kids, that provides them with a low-fat cheese packed with probiotics, yummy veg packed with vitamins and nutrients and a splash of flavour!

Popcorn is a popular snack among many families, but one that gets overlooked due to the traditional way people eat popcorn (with sugar or butter). But popcorn doesn’t have to be topped with unhealthy ingredients. In fact, it’s a very versatile snack – depending on the taste and preference of your kids or the family. You can simply sprinkle salt over the popcorn, maybe even a little paprika (if your kids love a bit of spice). If not, try some parmesan cheese! What makes popcorn a healthy snack for kids, is that it’s low in fat and high in fibre, it also contains small amounts of iron, magnesium, B vitamins and zinc. So, you can’t really go wrong with it – pop over to your supermarket and buy some popcorn seeds and make it at home!

A savoury treat that will surely go down in your kid’s good books. A healthy snack for kids too! Made with simple ingredients and packed with veggies that are nutritious. It’ll make for a perfect breakfast or afternoon snack!

You’ll need:

• Oil, for greasing
• 1 small carrot, cut into small pieces
• ½ small courgette, cut into small pieces
• 25g peas
• 6 eggs
• 25g feta cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and grease the holes in a muffin tin.
2. Place the veggies in a microwaveable dish with 2 spoons of water, cover it with clingfilm and cook until tender (or 2 minutes). Once they’re cooked, drain the veg.
3. Beat the eggs and stir in the veg and feta cheese. 
4. Pour the mixture into the holes of your muffin tray and bake for 15 minutes.
5. Once cooked, leave them for a few minutes, then carefully scoop them out.

All done! Your kids can now munch on them. And the possibilities are endless because you can swap and change the recipe with anything you want, so your kids won’t get bored with the same one. 

Here’s the recipe!

It can be tricky to find a new healthy snack that your kids will like, some may not like veggies or eating fruit – but if you make them fun and interesting, it may just change their minds!

So, we hope you’ve found your next best DIY healthy snacks for kids here, encouraging healthy eating but also delicious snacks that will fuel them with energy. Whether you try them out for morning breakfast, mid-afternoon treat or just for snack time. Some of these are also healthier versions of snack ideas your kids may already like, so it’s a win-win for parents trying to encourage healthy eating!