Healthy Snacks for Kids: Satisfying the Munchies

Whether at home or at school, snacks are part of most kids’ lives&#151and they want them at least twice a day. Most snacks that line the grocer’s shelves are packed with high levels of sugar, trans-fats, artificial coloring and flavoring, and other ingredients that contribute to the expanding of your child’s waistline but not to their health.

A stroll down the aisle of your local health food stores will give you more than enough choices of snacks that are made of organic, healthy food. Read labels to be sure of the ingredients. Many of these snacks are imitations of their unhealthier counterparts, but they figure if they look kind of the same, but not really, your kids will notice that. Experiment to see which ones they like.

Go a step further, and avoid the use of resources involved in packaging, shipping and marketing store-bought snacks by baking homemade cookies and breads made with whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs or nuts.

Check out these recipes:

Finally, fresh fruit and veggies are always great options. Check out this list of the top 10 foods to eat organicallyin order to avoid produce known to carry a heavy pesticide load.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a calculator that will help you determine the recommended daily fruit and veggie intake for your child based on his/her age and level of activity.

Read more: Family, Children

By Terri Hall-Jackson, contributing writer to Care2's Green Living

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Anne G.

9:24AM PST on Dec 21, 2011

Thanks, great stuff if you have the time and the kids will eat it.

send a green star

Robert O.

1:27PM PST on Dec 20, 2011

Thank you Terri. These are much healthier than typical snack treats or processed food.

KS G.

4:56AM PDT on May 12, 2011

Thanks for the article.

Mary Beth M.

11:44AM PDT on Apr 14, 2011

Anything is probably better than chips and high fructose corn syrup. Volunteering at my kids' school and watching what the other kids' eat makes me believe my own kids are health food fanatics! It's incredible what parents actually send in school lunches!!

Carey X.

9:47AM PDT on Apr 10, 2011

WE HAVE CELERY STICKS AND PEANUT BUTTER AND CARROT STICKS AND RANCH DRESSING AND APPLES SLICES AND ORANAGES AND BANANNAAANANANANAN

Past Member .

9:19AM PDT on Sep 4, 2010

I was so excited when I found candy that is actually non-allergenic, certified organic and much to my surprise it tastes awesome and the kids love it. They didn't even get a sugar rush when they ate it! The candy is made by a company called Pure Fun and all they do is make organic candy that they call 'better for you' and I can see why. They have over 30 kinds of candies including cotton candy (kids went wild for it), lollipops, hard candies and even candy canes

Spelling Games

Terry B.

7:04AM PST on Feb 28, 2010

TYVM

Abo r.

10:44AM PST on Feb 26, 2010

Noted

Teresa W.

9:48AM PST on Feb 26, 2010

Interesting!

Judith C.

10:07PM PST on Feb 25, 2010

What happened to simple snacks like a piece of toast or an apple or a milkshake for a snack. There are a lot of products we can do without, they are expensive too.