Here is an article I wrote for Jaleesa a few weeks ago, that I thought you’d like to read!
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Every mom knows how hard it is to vary those snacks you give your toddlers when it’s tempting to hand them a banana or biscuits every day. To make life a tiny bit easier, we’ve decided to compile a list of basic snack ideas for your toddlers – nutritionist-approved! Here goes:
1- Starting with the most basic and natural ones: fruits. It’s all about how you present the fruit that is essential. When your baby finally learns to eat unmashed food, you must still be careful to cut everything into small pieces or thin slices. Grapes, peaches, bananas, strawberries, pears, cherries, melon, watermelon, and oranges, are all fruits a toddler will learn to love.
The key here is not to worry about the mess they’ll make. This is actually one way for them to enjoy it.
If it’s summertime and your kids really want that ice cream, blend your own fruit mix (say strawberries and bananas) and freeze them in popsicle molds. You’ll be sure to look like a fun parent and they’ll have eaten their daily fruit portion.
2- Another basic one: yogurt. Now if your toddler likes to eat alone (and most of them do), here’s a little trick. See, what they really enjoy is the yogurt box. Just empty the box, leaving just a bit of yogurt in it and hand it over with a spoon. Every now and then, slip in a teaspoon of yogurt from the rest. Also, you can add yogurt to that homemade fruity ice cream!
3- For on-the-go snacks, here are 3 top choices:
- Fruity rice cakes
- Plain animal-shaped biscuits
- Sugarless corn flakes
4- If you’re at home and want to have fun cooking with your toddler, pancakes can be a great snack idea! Choose a healthy, sugar-free recipe and make as many pancakes as you can. You can even include fruits like blueberries, raspberries or bananas to the mix. When they’re done, cut them into slices – they will look like fun finger food – and hand them to your little one. They’ll absolutely love it!
5- For something a little bit more savory, you can boil carrots and hand them over as finger food. It sometimes works, and sometimes they just crush them and play with the paste (which is also great for sensory development!)
Mamas, please do share your healthy snack ideas – there are never enough!
