Healthy Snacks for Kids and Toddlers

As parents, we often seek ways to provide our little ones with nutritious, tasty and easy to make snacks that support their growth and energy levels. Whether you’re trying to avoid heavily processed options or just need something quick and simple, heathy snacks for kids and toddlers are out there. Read on for a variety of delicious and wholesome snack ideas perfect for busy families, keeping your children happy, healthy, and energized throughout the day.

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Kids of any age always seem to be hungry and asking for a snack. And toddlers in particular always seem to want a snack in hand, especially when going through the grazing phase. Anyone feel me on that?

Tips to Get Kids to Eat Healthier Snacks

1. Start ‘Em Young

It’s super important is to start offering your kids a variety of foods when they are still very young. This can include foods you might not prefer to eat yourself as well as an array of fruits and veggies that maybe aren’t typical to your every day diet. This will help to expand their tastebuds to different flavors rather than just bland foods. If your kids are a bit older and you didn’t start this way, that’s ok! You can start now.

2. Small Changes Over Time

It’s a slow process to begin incorporating healthier foods into your kids diets. You won’t be effective completely overhauling their diets overnight and it’s not practical either. By making small changes over time, you can slowly begin to incorporate new foods, new vegetables or fruits, new snacks into their diets.

3. Eat the Rainbow

Eating colorful foods can be fun for kids and help increase their curiosity about food. ‘Eating the rainbow’ is important because not only does it ensure they get a wide variety of essential vitamins and minerals, but it can also help them become more open to eating foods they normally might not try, simply because it’s a fun color.

4. Involve The Kids

Sometimes you just need to get a meal on the table, but when you can, take the time to allow the kids to join in and make their own food. I’ve found that the more involved my kids are, the more willing they are to eat what we’ve made. It’s great for them to start learning these skills early.

5. Role Model

Modeling to your children by eating the foods you want them to try can be very effective. I know that whenever I make myself a snack, my kids always want a bite, doesn’t matter what it is. Use this to your advantage and eat the foods you want them to eat.

6. Offer a Variety of Foods

Offer a variety of foods, especially when they are young as mentioned above. When my toddler was starting out eating as a baby, we did baby led weaning and I offered foods that I don’t necessarily prefer, like sardines and seaweed. He is 3 now and still eats seaweed as a snack and sardines for lunch! I continue to offer my kids foods that fall outside of the traditional thought of ‘kids’ foods, ie macaroni and cheese, noodles and butter, peanut butter and jelly, amongst others. This doesn’t mean my kids don’t eat these foods ever, but they are just not go-to foods in our home. It’s important to be intentional about broadening their food perspective when they are young by offering a variety of foods.

Whole Food Snacks

Whole food snacks are the best you can offer. They are likely to be more nutrient dense than processed snacks, more fiber-rich and less likely to cause blood sugar spikes. Here are some snack ideas that are a hit in our home that will hopefully inspire you.

Homemade Trail Mix: I make a simple homemade trail mix with different raw nuts, add in some organic raisins or a few cacao chips. Nuts are a great source of healthy fat and protein.

Baby Peppers: We always have a bag of baby peppers in the house for my kids to snack on. They are crunchy and colorful and little to no preparation depending on how your kids eat them. They are high in Vitamin C and fiber.

Guacamole and Tortilla Chips: If you’re feeling motivated, you can make your own guacamole, or you can buy this pre-made guac in individual containers. We usually find these at Costco. Pair them with some Siete tortilla chips and you have a quick, high fiber and yummy snack.

Yogurt with Fruit and Honey – This is a go-to breakfast staple in our home. We start with a base of full fat, plain yogurt (grass-fed and raw is best, but do what you can) for a healthy dose of probiotics and then the kids can add whatever toppings they want. The key is to offer toppings you are ok with. We do a variety of nuts, seeds, berries and a drizzle of honey to sweeten it up a bit.

Fresh Fruit: This may seem super basic because it is, but think a littler broader here. Do you stick with the typical banana, apples and oranges? Those are always great options, but try to utilize seasonal fruits and ones you might not normally buy. Some atypical fruits to try include kiwi, dragon fruit, pears, melons, grapefruit, pomegranate seeds, plums, mangoes, etc. There are so many choices and can open your kids up to some new flavors and nutrients!

Fruit & Nut Butter: You can really be creative here, but our go-to’s are apple & almond butter and banana & peanut butter. We sprinkle some hempseeds on top and it makes for a healthy, satisfying snack.

Cottage Cheese with Tomatoes: One of the more recent snacks we’ve tried is cottage cheese (a great source of protein) with cut up cherry tomatoes on top. I add some Nothing But Bagel seasoning and my kids love it.

Soft Boiled Eggs: I started soft boiling our eggs and my kids love them so much better than hard boiled. Could be the cook, but my hard boiled tend to be more dry and so prefer them a bit less boiled. It’s so easy to do, just cut down on your boil time and you’ll have the perfect soft-boiled egg! Again we sprinkle our Nothing But Bagel seasoning on the eggs and the kids eat them right up.

Raw Organic Cheese & Almond Flour Crackers: Love this snack not just for the kids, but for myself as well! I mean, who doesn’t love some cheese and crackers?

Uncured Pepperoni & Raw Cheese: I try to offer processed meat minimally, but my kids love pepperoni. Uncured is a bit healthier without the chemical preservatives, and paired with cheese is a protein-filled snack, so it’s nice to have on hand.

Applesauce with Cinnamon: My son is obsessed with applesauce and cinnamon. This is such a simple snack, but kids love it! Just be careful to watch out for added sugar in the store-bought brands of applesauce.

Veggie sticks with Hummus, Nut Butter or Guac: Here is an opportunity for some creativity. You can make your kids a non-fancy charcuterie tray with a wide variety of colorful veggies and ‘dips’ like hummus, nut butter and guacamole. Kids love options and this is a great way to add a new veggie they haven’t tried before in a safe way.

Fermented pickles: Fermented foods are associated with improved gut health and digestion as well as being helpful for supporting the immune system. My kids adore pickles so to get them to eat fermented food, I buy these.

Sauerkraut: Sauerkraut is another fermented food I love. I add it to my breakfast, dinner or on top of a salad to get it in once a day. My kids aren’t fans, but I continue to offer it. Experts at Healthy Eating Research note that repeated exposure is the single most effective way to get kids to eat healthy foods and that it can take 10-15 times! Keep on offering the healthy foods, mamas!

Chips (Kale, Sweet Potato, Plantain): There are chip options that can satisfy the salty crunchy craving while still maintaining some health benefits, or at least being a ‘better’ option. There are also healthier potato chip options made with avocado or olive oil called Boulder Canyon.

Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds: Dark chocolate with a high cacao content contains antioxidant properties and if you can pair a sweet with a protein like a nut and a dollop of nut butter, it actually makes a great sweet treat.

Dark chocolate chips: Sometimes my kids want a small chocolate snack. Giving them a few dark chocolate chips is a something I can feel better about and it satisfies their sweet tooth.

Minimally Processed Snacks

Solely Fruit Jerky/Gummies: I love these gummies because the ingredients are simple fruits. There are no added ingredients, including sugar. If you’re going to give a gummy these are a great choice because they have no added junk.

Once Upon A Farm Bars: I like this brand in general and purchase many of their products. They always contain good ingredients and no added sugar and they are kid approved! If you’re going to do a bar, this is a great choice.

Skout Bars: Both of my boys love Skout bars because they are yummy. I love them because they have minimal ingredients and no added sugar. I’m always looking at the packaging for these types of snacks. Check out the ingredients for the Blueberry Blast Skout Bar below!

Lesser Evil Popcorn: Lesser Evil was just purchased by Hershey’s so as of today the ingredients haven’t changed on this light snack, but this is why it’s important to read labels for yourself. Hershey’s may keep the ingredients the same, but they could also change them up or add ingredients that might make this a snack you want to skip.

Chomps Beef Sticks: This is a great snack for hungry kiddos to tide them over before a meal or to eat before a sporting practice. These are so easy to stuff in my purse or a bag and take along and are a great source of clean protein. Both my kids love them!

That’s It. Fruit Bars: We get these in bulk at Costco. The ingredients are simply whatever fruits the bars are made from and they have many different combinations. The only thing I’m not super thrilled about is that they are not organic. The majority of what we eat is, so I don’t worry too much about non-organic food here and there.

Mama Chia Pouches: These pouches are convenient and contain chia seeds which are rich in antioxidants, fiber and omega-3’s, They do have 3g of added sugar, but it’s minimal so I generally don’t worry about one or two snacks a day with a few grams of added sugar.

Don’t Forget!

Read Labels For Ingredients/Added Sugar

When choosing snacks for the kids, it’s important to look at the added sugar content. The American Heart Association, amongst many others, note that children should not have more than 24 grams of sugar a day because their bodies cannot process more than that properly. The recommendation for children under 2 is no added sugar. If you start looking at the foods in your pantry, you might be shocked at the numbers you are seeing. Most of the snacks on the market far exceed this number with just one serving.

Make Small Changes

Similarly to how we make small changes to create a healthier home for our family, we want to make small changes to encourage our kids to begin eating more whole foods and healthier snacks overall.

Add Hemp Seeds To Everything

I love hemp seeds. They are so great for a variety of reasons, but the main reason is because they are a complete protein source. Many children tend to steer more towards carbs and sugars, so adding them to your child’s food is a great way to up their protein intake. You can add them to virtually anything your child is eating. We’ve added them to toast and whatever it’s topped with, yogurt, applesauce, hummus or ranch dips, macaroni & cheese, etc. The list is endless so be creative!

Give Yourself Grace

Most of us are just trying to do our best and make good, healthy choices for our families. Be kind to yourself and give yourself grace. Your kids aren’t going to like everything you prepare for them. Keep trying, be consistent and don’t give up!

Final Thoughts

We all just want to provide our kids with healthy snacks that they’ll eat and enjoy. You can see that with a little out of the box thinking and planning, snack time can be both healthy and yummy! These small changes can make a big difference in your child’s health and energy. Thanks for stopping by and diving into the world of healthy snacks for kids!

Got a go-to healthy snack your kids love? Share it in the comments below!