Healthy After-School Snacks for Kids

Many kids are going back to school in August and not just via Zoom.  Kids need snacks after school – but healthy snacks. Some parents won’t give their kids snacks thinking snacks are unhealthy, snacks spoil a kid’s appetite, or that kids just don’t need snacks.  But kids do need snacks. Pre-school kids need snacks twice a day -morning and afternoon.  School-age kids need an after-school snack.  One reason kids need snacks is because they have small stomachs and eat smaller amounts at meals and then get hungry between meals.  They also need snacks to meet their daily nutritional needs. If you give kids healthy snacks, the snacks contribute nutrients and good nutrition that kids need to grow.  Snacks should be small enough to help curb hunger pains but not too filling the child eats less at meal time.

Deana Hildebrand, a nutrition specialist with the Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Services notes:  “The trick is to provide snacks that are just filling enough to curb hunger pangs until dinner is ready. It also is a great idea to have snacks readily available that kids can get on their own.  Fruit, string cheese, low-fat yogurt, cereal bars, graham crackers, whole-grain crackers, pretzels, light microwave popcorn, no-added sugar fruit bars are quick and easy snacks.  Be sure to keep these snacks visible and easily accessible in the kitchen.”

Some ways to keep portion size in control and focus on healthier options for snacks (adapted from  Make healthy choices for after-school snacking)

• Single serving – put a single serving of whole grain crackers, whole grain chips, pretzels in a baggie.  Purchase foods in a single-serving size like a 4-ounce yogurt cup, a small container of applesauce with no sugar added, or individually wrapped cheese sticks.
• Focus on fruits and vegetables – many kids aren’t eating 5 fruits and vegetables a day. Snack time is a great time to add to their fruit and vegetable intake.  Think fruit kabobs, veggies and dip such as hummus and carrots.  

Make some mini fruit kebobs.   

• Peanut butter – a very healthy choice and peanut butter goes with so many foods – peanut butter on apple slices, on celery, on rice cakes, on whole grain crackers.
• Dips – kids love to dip veggies and fruit.  Dip fruit slices in vanilla yogurt, veggies in hummus, or veggies dipped into some low-fat Ranch dressing.  My kids loved the cheese that came in a can – they could “spray” crackers with the cheese and make designs.  They got some protein, calcium and a serving from the grain group and had fun making their own snack.

The Oklahoma State University Extension Services has some easy tips for after-school kids snacks (adapted from Tips for Making Snack Time Healthy.)

• Keep snacks visible and easy to grab – have some cut-up veggies in baggies in the fridge. Have fresh fruit on the kitchen counter.  Have small, 4-ounce, size yogurts in the fridge.  Have cheese sticks in the fridge. In the pantry have peanut butter, whole grain crackers and bread.
• Time the snacks – After-school means after-school, not a few minutes before dinner time.  Aim for snacks about 2-3 hours before meal time.  Then your kid will still have an appetite for dinner.  Try to have snacks ready the same time every day.  When my daughter was young, she got off the school bus, came in to the babysitter’s house, washed her hand and the sitter had a healthy snack ready for her every day. 
• Offer snacks routinely after school and not as a “reward”.  Using food as a “reward” can teach kids to overeat.
• Snacks can “fill the gap”.  A kid that doesn’t eat fruit or vegetables at lunch may eat them at snack time.  But serve them snacks they can manage.  At school I watched kid after kid throw a whole apple away. The apple was hard for them to eat.  Serve apple slices or apple sauce to make it easier for them to eat.
• Make snacks “fun”.  Fun shapes, colorful, come up with a funny name for a snack.  One study found that putting a funny sticker on a piece of fruit got more kids to take and eat the fruit.

• Desserts – when serving cookies or other “dessert” foods as a snack, choose wisely.  Offer oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips or oatmeal and raisin cookies and serve with real milk.  You then add some whole grain and a dairy serving to the kid’s day.  Offer pudding made with real milk.  An easy way to get more calcium and vitamin D into your child’s day.

Serve some oatmeal raisin cookies with real milk.

•  Cereal – this can make a great after school snack.  Choose any General Mills cereal and you add whole grains to your kid’s day.
• Fruit pops – my daughter loves the no-sugar Outshine frozen fruit pops. They come in many flavors, made with real juice and taste good.
• Beverage – many parents think water is the healthiest choice at snack time.  But so many kids are lacking real dairy and real juice in their diets.  Snack time is a great time to serve some real 100% juice to add fruit to the child’s day and some real milk to get in the calcium and vitamin D they need to grow. 

 Let your kids enjoy some healthy after-school snacks this year.  Make snack time fun. 

Sources:  notes , Make healthy choices for after-school snacking , Tips for Making Snack Time Healthy  Image Sources:  Fruit Kebobs , Fun snack toast , cookies