20 Ideas for Healthy Kids Snacks

As a responsible parent, one of our main concerns is to supervise what our kids eat. As obesity becomes more common, its important to ensure that we feed them healthy food, and that includes healthy snacks too! A growing child has higher metabolism, and snacks often add up to the regular meals. Unfortunately, that means a lot of extra calories, sugar, and fat. So the next time you are searching for lunch-box ideas, take a look at the list below. With these healthy kid-friendly snacks, you can not only prevent the risks of childhood obesity, but also keep cavities at bay!

Here's a list of 20 Healthy Snacks for yourself and your kids to fight off the snack attack in a healthy nutritious way. Plus, these are SO GOOD, they are great for adults too, so you don't binge on junk food anymore!

[Adapted from an article originally printed via EatRight.org & Fun and Food Cafe

1. A Banana by itself, or dip one yogurt, then coat with crushed cereal and freeze.
2. Stuff a whole-grain pita pocket with ricotta cheese and apple slices, and sprinkle a dash of cinnamon.
3. A bag of ready-to-eat cereal, dried fruit and nuts, all tossed together.
4. A bowl of vanilla yogurt topped with crunchy granola and berries.
5. A small serving of baked potato with reduced-fat cheddar cheese and salsa.
6. Fruit Kebabs, made with fruit cubes and cheese on toothpicks.
7. A whole grain waffle topped with fruits and honey
8. A PBJ sandwich or smoothie
9. A sandwich on wholegrain bread with cilantro, cheese and tomatoes.
10. Mini Pizza on corn tortilla base and topped with salsa and veggies.
11. Instant oatmeal topped with craisins and chopped nuts.
12. A cup of tomato or vegetable soup with whole-grain or cheese crackers.
13. Fill a waffle cone with frozen yogurt and cut-up fruit for a healthy ice cream cone.
14. Toast an English muffin, drizzle with pizza sauce and sprinkle with low-fat mozzarella cheese.
15. Rocky Road - Break a graham cracker into bite-size pieces. Add
to low-fat chocolate pudding along with a few miniature marshmallows.
16. Banana Split with a banana, low-fat vanilla and strawberry
frozen yogurt, topped with walnuts or pecans.
17. Whole grain cereal with otas, almonds and dried fruit.
18. Homemade Granola Bars
19. A simple cheese sandwich with a glass of Orange Juice
20. Celery sticks and cherry tomatoes with cheese cubes.

In addition to getting snacks with a lot of sugar and fat, getting too many snacks or snack serving sizes that are simply too large unhealthy for kids. Snacks like Cookies, chips, candy, doughnuts, fruit drinks, soda, etc. are indulgencies, and should not become regular habits. Limiting snacks to just 100 to 150 calories per serving is a good ballpark.

This is not a fool-proof list; I'm sure there would be tonnes of more ideas that you moms out there would be using! Care to share some with our readers? It's necessary to prevent childhood obesity, and you can do it! Hope this list helps you whip up a healthy, nutritious yet delicious snack for your kids the next time they cry out "Mommy, I'm hungry!!"