A Wonderful List of Fun Snacks for Kids - Easy to Do, Healthy to Eat

Making tasty, healthy, fun snacks for kids not only has many great health benefits for boosting your kids' brain and body, such snacks will also indirectly teach them that healthy foods can actually taste really, really good.

Your kids will learn that 'healthy' doesn't necessarily mean 'boring', and that 'sweet' doesn't equal 'sugar'. Breaking such associations from an early age just makes it so much easier to prepare a broad and varied diet for your kids. 

Unfortunately snacking has a really bad reputation. It is very often associated with sugary, salty or fatty treats that are not only unhealthy in so many ways, but when it comes to kids, also tend to steal their appetite from the main meals.

However, when done right and healthily, snacking is actually recommended by many health authorities. E.g. The Center for Science in the Public Interest believes parents should view their children's after-school snack as their "fourth meal".

But what kinds of healthy snacks for kids should you make then, and how do you go about making them?

Well, on this page I'll present you with a few ideas that I hope may be of inspiration.

Bon appétit 😊

---

A Fun List of Healthy Fun Snacks for Kids
- No Added Sugar

Below you'll find a list of fun snacks for kids that are not only easy to prepare, but also fun to do - especially if you can get your kids to play along, too.

Funny Face Crackers

These fun snacks for kids are easy for your little one to make, and are guaranteed to raise a giggle or two.

• All you need is a small whole-grain cracker base, cream cheese, assorted vegetables, fresh and/or dried fruits and nuts.
  
  
• Cover the crackers in cream cheese.
  
  
• Cut out or shred some of the vegetables and fruit.
  
  
• Encourage your child to add eyes, hair, a beard, teeth, and whatever else they can think of using pieces of the fruit and vegetables.

As you can see here, I've just used what was available in my house at the time: cucumber, bell pepper, carrots, raisins, almonds, cream cheese and whole-grain crackers.

You can use whatever you have on stock, too. 😊

---

Stuffed Apples - A Sweet, but Healthy Kids Snack

These stuffed apples are great as an afternoon snack for kids. They are sweet, yet with no added sugar.

Here is the ingredients list:

Apples (obviously), plain yoghurt, honey (I prefer plain yoghurt, because then I can add natural sweetness myself in terms of honey and dried fruit), raisins, dates, walnuts, oatmeal, and shredded coconut.

• Core the apples yourself. You don't need any fancy tools to do it. Just use a sharp knife. As you can see, the hole doesn't have to be pretty. It will be covered anyway!
  
  
• Have you little one mix the chopped up fruit, nuts, oatmeal with yoghurt and fill the apples. Sprinkle some coconut on the top and finish off with a small drizzle of honey.

  Tip: Because apples can be hard on little teeth, you may try microwaving the apples for ten seconds before stuffing to encourage them to soften a little.

---

Delicious Date Bombs as Sweet Quick Snacks for Kids

Here is another example of sweet, fun snacks for kids.

These small nutritious snack balls really stand to win a prize for being the easiest and quickest after-school snacks to do.

• All you need is three ingredients: dates, almonds and shredded coconut.
  
  
• Chop up the dates and almonds and mix them well. Make sure there are enough dates as the dates work as glue preventing the balls from falling apart.
  
  
• Roll the mix into small balls and press and turn the balls in the coconut.
  
  

And there we have it! 😊

---

Orange Oracles: Carrot Sticks with Potent Peanut Dip

Okay, this kids snack may perhaps compete with the one above when it comes to being easy to prepare. Just for fun, I timed it and it took me less than 3 minutes to do. How about that?

• Basic ingredients are: carrots, peanut butter (and soy and honey - although not strictly necessary - but does give the taste a nice twist).
  
  
• Scrape and cut the carrots into very thin sticks, which will prolong the fun of eating for your kids.
  
  
• Take a table spoon of peanut butter and mix it with water until is has a nice 'dip' texture. Add a few drops (no more) of soy and a little bit of honey and mix well. The soy brings a nice saltiness to it.
  

That's it. Enjoy!

---

Organic Fruit Ice Lolly / Popsicle - Healthy Frozen Snacks for Kids

For this fun snack for kids you need a juicer.

• Just find whatever fruits you have available and maybe a bit of vegetables and juice them.
  
  
• Here I used: apples, grapes, raspberries, carrots and ginger. Don't forget GINGER. Just a small amount really does the trick.
  
  
• Pour the juice into lolly holders and freeze them until solid.
  
  

My son and his friends are just crazy about these lollies. The first thing his friends actually do when they come here is to go in my freezer looking for lollies. 😉

---

Banana Swiss Roll - Healthy Snack Recipe for Kids

Yes, we already know how well banana and peanut butter go together, so why not make a banana peanut butter party out of it?

All you need is a banana (not too ripe, as it will be too difficult to work with), peanut butter and some shredded coconut.

• Peal the banana, and smear peanut butter all over it and roll it in the coconut. A good tip is to do one side at a time: smear peanut butter on one side, and then roll it in the coconut. In this way the coconut prevents the side from being too sticky, and you can more easily do the other side.
  
  
• When done, cut the Swiss roll into nice pieces.
  
  

---

Healthy Mango Dippers as a Quick After School Snack

Mangos are some of my son's favorite fruits. They are sweet and have a lovely consistency - there's a good chew to the meat.

Here is a quick recipe that he can do by himself when he comes home from school.

All you need is mango and plain yogurt (if you want to avoid sugar or sweeteners).

• Just peal the mango and cut it into small pieces.
  
  
• Add a toothpick and there you have it - small delicious mango pieces to dip in yogurt. (note: if the toothpicks are pointy like the ones I had, don't use them with smaller kids as they may end up hurting themselves).

---

Making a Main Meal of Snacks...

No matter how much thought and effort you put into healthy fun snacks for kids, all your good work will be undone or at least not as healthily consistent, if you don't ensure that their main meals are relatively healthy too.

Below you'll find a couple of snack recipes that are ideal for a main meal too. 

---

Cool Chicken Pieces and Sweet Potato and Beetroot Chips with Avocado Dip

Most kids love chicken nuggets and fries, and you have to admit that while this may not be the most nutritious meal for little ones - it is certainly the easiest.

However, if parents knew what the average chicken nugget contained, it wouldn't even make it onto the menu. As well as containing around 18-grams of fat, the average nugget contains 478-milligrams of sodium.

Therefore, if you have spent time and effort on making nutritious kids snacks, it will all be in vain if your kids are having nuggets and fries for their evening meal.

Chicken nuggets are made from formed chicken, which is a product made to look and taste like chicken. So if you are going to give your kids something that tastes like chicken, you may as well give them chicken.

• Simply cut an average-sized lean chicken fillet into bite size pieces and add a bit of soy, garlic, honey and ginger.

• If you have the time, let it sit in the fridge for a while to let the marinade do its work.
  
  

• In the meanwhile cut thin slices of sweet potato and beetroot and lay them on a baking tray, before drizzling with olive oil and salt.
  
  
• Ten to fifteen minutes in a medium-heat oven and you should see them turn crispy. However, all ovens are different, so you may need to experiment a bit the first few times you do this.

While the chips are in the oven and the chicken is being fried, now is the time to prepare the avocado dip or guacamole.

There are many ways to do it, and I never do it the same way, but here I used two avocados, half an onion, a clove of garlic, a bit of lemon juice and some plain yoghurt to mix it up.

And here is the end result:

---

Mini Potato Whole Grain Pizzas

These fun snacks for kids are also great for quick light meal.

All you need is: pita bread (I always use whole grain), a few potatoes, sour cream, salt, thyme and a bit of shredded cheese.

• Smear some sour cream onto the pita breads
  
  
• Cut the potatoes in slices and arrange them onto the pita bread (even better, let your kid do it).
  
  
• Sprinkle with thyme and salt and finish it off by adding the cheese.
  
  
• Put them into a preheated oven (medium-heat) and keep an eye on them, and take them out when the cheese has turned golden.
  
  
• Cut the pita breads into to handy pieces before serving (if your child prefers it that way).

---

The Secret to Healthy Eating for Kids:
- A Packed Fridge and Food with Long Shelf Life

Keeping your kitchen cupboards and refrigerator packed is the key to success when it comes to being ready to magically create fun snacks for kids when needed.

Because fruit is packed with essential nutrients, it's a good idea to ensure that there is plenty of fruit on offer. I usually keep organic apples, bananas, blueberries and grapes on hand at most times, so my kid can help himself when he feels like it.

Nuts, pita and whole-wheat crackers also have a long shelf life and make ideal kids snacks.

If you keep a selection of lean meats, cheese and eggs in your refrigerator too, you will always have something to make great fun snacks for your kids.

When it comes to making healthy eating for kids interesting, try asking your children to combine different things to come up with something a little different.

---

Drinks?
- Milk with Fruit Pieces Will Do Wonders as a Milk Cocktail

If your kids are like most kids, they will be drawn like bees around honey to sugary drinks. But fortunately drinks don't have to contain refined sugar to be sweet.

Milk is ideal with healthy kids snacks, as it is high in protein, vitamin D and calcium.

And add fruit pieces, just a little, to make your own version of a sweet healthy milk cocktail your kids will love.

---

I hope you enjoyed and found some inspiration in some of the healthy recipes for kids above. If you desire more recipes for fun snacks for kids, please dive into one of my other pages below.

Your Positive Parenting Ally,
Birgitte

---

---

Parent Coaching

- For Inner Peace, Clarity and a Deeper Connection to Your Child

Being a parent can feel like a double-edged sword. Life with kids may feel like the greatest gift you have ever received, while at the same being hugely challenging, often leaving you confused, stressed and overwhelmed.

When we feel like this, we've lost touch with ourselves. We can't hear our own inner voice, and it's difficult to know what is 'right' for us and how to act.

I offer in-depth parent coaching to help you regain your balance and get back in touch with yourself. From a place of inner peace and clarity, your will find your own answers which will help you reconnect with your child from a place of unconditional love and acceptance.

Read more about my parent coaching here.