When my kiddos come home from school they are famished, and we still have a few hours until dinner. Instead of them rifling through my pantry grabbing tons of junk food, I plan out some healthy options. These snacks work well because I can customize to my kiddos preferences. And with BeBe now in elementary school, she can make many of these snacks on her own after I show her how to do it.
Fruit Salad – Obviously this is one of the healthiest option and I generally offer this first. I let the kids pick out the fruit they want to buy for that week, so we are constantly switching up the fruit salad. We have a few variations everyone likes:
- Sliced Apples with honey drizzled over the top
- Bananas, Strawberries and Blueberry in a bowl
- Watermelon, cantaloupe and/or honeydew pre-sliced in a large bowl
Cracker platter– If I know BeBe has soccer practice, gymnastics or some activity when we won’t have time to eat until later at night. I set this out for her to eat after school. This snack gives her enough energy for practice and take the edge of her hunger. There’s many combinations with crackers, cheese and fruit, but our preference is:
- Triscuit crackers topped with Gouda Cheese and blueberries usually served on the cutting board to save on dishes. But you can choose your favorites.
Chex Mix Variety– We often have pretzels, cereal, and Cheese-Its in the pantry. BeBe pours a little of each into a bowl and makes her own chex mix snack bowl, or into a big zip lock bag to have for the week.
Customize Trail Mix– Our kids rarely eat all of the store – bought trail mix, and after wasting money I learned my lesson and make our own. We always use a base of unsalted peanuts and add any or just one of the following:
- Craisins (My kiddos get burned out on raisins and I buy this instead).
- Almonds (The fill the kids up for long time and our great for long road trips).
- M&Ms (I rarely add these because they will only eat the chocolate, but every once in a while, they talk me into it).
Veggies and Hummus – We chop up celery stalks to put in a container with baby carrots and the kids can grab this with hummus. During the summer we pick vegetables from our garden (peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes) and they can eat with hummus.
These snacks are little more effort to put together, but it’s worth not to hear “I’m hungry” one million times before dinner.
pomegranate / 3768 posts
I want to eat these snacks!
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
My kids LOVE fruit salad! It’s so much more appealing to them than just 1 fruit variety lol.
I haven’t really served nuts/celery/carrots because my younger one can’t really eat them, but I totally feel you about the snack time! My older one gets home just before 5 and she’s always hungry. It’s SUCH a fine line to give her something that enough to satisfy her but won’t ruin her appetite for dinner in another hour!
persimmon / 1380 posts
Great suggestions!
apricot / 364 posts
Good suggestions. My kids are much more likely to be excited about a healthy snack when I put it on a platter and they can help themselves. Broccoli never goes quickly unless they are competing with each other to get the most!
grapefruit / 4903 posts
Love it! My kids’ favorite snack is “apple nachos.” We slice apples thinly, drizzle with melted peanut/almond butter and sprinkle with toasted coconut and sprinkles. They also love homemade popsicles with fruit purée and Greek yogurt.
cherry / 119 posts
These are great suggestions. With the new school year around the corner, and now two school aged kids, this will come in handy. I remember those famished afternoons.