Toddler Snack Ideas
Thursday, February 26, 2009 Posted by Jolly Mom
Lucas has decided to not eat AGAIN. He literally eats a couple of bites during meals and then he is ready to play. There's no way to get any food into him at that point. Ugh! Seriously, it is so frustrating. I mean I spend time cooking him healthy, balanced meals and then he eats TWO BITES-LOL! I don't know why I'm laughing because it's really that not funny.Anyways, I've realized that I'm going to have to use snack times to get the healthy stuff in so I have been scouring the web looking up ideas. I thought that I'd list them here for you guys to use and for me to have handy when I do my menus and grocery lists. Here's what I've found so far.
- Yogurt dip with bananas (or any type of fresh fruit)
- Mini Bagels with various soft cream spreads
- Yogurt Frost (Combine yogurt and fruit juice and add pureed or very soft fruit)
- Potato skins sprinkled with shredded cheese, broiled and topped with either yogurt or sour cream
- English Muffin "Pizzas"
- Raw vegetable strips served with small amounts of cream cheese.
- Cooked vegetables served with a yogurt based dip
- Mini Muffins (healthy variety made with whole grains)
- Pita Pockets filled with tuna or chicken salad
- Stuffed Mini Tomatoes (stuff with a mixture whole grain rice, light mayo, and shredded chicken or tuna)
- Sweet Potato "Fries" with yogurt dipping sauce (peel & cut sweet potatoes into "fries" and roast)
- Deviled eggs or hard boiled eggs
- Whole grain crackers with hummus
- Orange Creamsicles made from orange juice, yogurt and water
- Cut flour tortillas into triangular sections ( like a pie ). Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake until crisp. Dip in applesauce and enjoy. The sweetness of the applesauce eliminates the need for any added sugar on the tortilla crisps. (Submitted by Dawna from A Kiss and a Peck)
- PB & J Sandwiches cut out with cookie cutters. (Submitted by Pretty Pink Momma)
- Celery, cut into bite sized pieces with hummus or natural peanut butter. Mini pretzel sticks dipped in natural PB. (Submitted by Heather at Grab Bag Reviews and Kristen at My Art and the Mom in Me)
- Quesadillas: melt some cheese in a tortilla and cut it up with a pizza cutter. (Submitted by Sharon at The Good, the True, and the Beautiful also check out Sharon's post HERE for some great recipes.)
If you have some toddler snack ideas, please send them to me and I'll add them to the list.
Technorati Tags: Toddler Snacks, Snacks
February 26, 2009 7:26 AM
My kids are a bit older but even they would get excited about your ideas. You rock!
February 26, 2009 8:41 AM
They sounds great...wish with my picky kid I could get him to eat those(maybe one out of the list). We have to stick to the simple things, apple/applesauce and lots of milk.
February 26, 2009 9:25 AM
Hey there! Found your blog thru Entrecard and love it. I hope you wont mind if I follow along.
Please feel free to stop by Fort Thompson anytime. You are always welcome.
Love and Prayers,
Tim
February 26, 2009 12:25 PM
Those are some great ideas! I have resorted to making a lot of PBJ sandwiches and then I have four different large cookie cutters and I let my boys choose which shape that they like the best to make their sandwich - I also offer a freehand square or triangle. My little tip is dont get one shaped like a star, my kids figured out pretty quickly that it was the smallest shape, so less for them to eat.
Good post idea!
February 26, 2009 12:45 PM
Oh I feel for you. My 22 month old is the same way! I cook for him a nice meal and he won't eat it. Lately, I just try a ton of different things and once he takes to something I let him eat as much of that item as he wants. By doing this, he will now eat most fruits. He loves blueberries, strawberries, bananas and oranges. I also found that I have to keep offering him stuff AND if it's something I am eating he'll want it even more!
February 26, 2009 12:59 PM
ah, this is perfect. I have a picky toddler that happens to like some items on this list. I am printing it out and hanging it the kitchen!
February 26, 2009 1:33 PM
These are some great ideas! My kids also love celery, cut into bite sized pieces with hummus or natural peanut butter. We also do mini pretzel sticks dipped in natural PB.
February 26, 2009 3:34 PM
Hey now... I was about to add what I see Heather just did.. My 3 year old had celery with peanut butter and raisins at a friends house.. I never thought she would do good with the celery cause it is kind of hard to bite into..but she did great with it, and LOVED it.. I guess her teeth are sharper than I thought, lol. Now, I know this snack wouldn't be a winner for my 21 month old.. she needs more teeth still! =)
February 26, 2009 4:43 PM
Brilliant! Thanks!
February 26, 2009 4:57 PM
Thanks a lot for sharing all this list, i think this would help me too, coz my buckaroo is in the stage now where in he refuse to eat baby foods, he turned his head away during feeding time. I gave him bread or cheerios to munch on every now and then.
February 26, 2009 9:27 PM
My son will eat Quesadilas -- just melt some cheese in a tortilla and cut it up with a pizza cutter. He's only 11 months, but he loves it!
I wrote a fun post about banana guacamole if you're really brave!
http://goodtrueandbeautiful.blogspot.com/search/label/Bringing%20up%20Baby
February 26, 2009 10:23 PM
Good idea with cream cheese... Graham likes all sorts of "dips"!! LOL!! Cream cheese is probably better than ranch?? I don't know!
February 28, 2009 11:38 PM
My kids love eating frozen peas. And they love canned baked beans, black beans, kidney beans.
March 3, 2009 1:17 AM
My toddler turns two this month. I've completely given up on variety (is that bad?) and am simply happy if he eats ANYTHING for dinner. Breakfast and lunch are never a struggle, but dinner always is. He does a little better if I don't give him any snacks after naptime, but he still doesn't eat much at dinner.
Have you tried avocado? We had avocado chicken for dinner last week and I shared with my son, thinking he'd only eat two bites and I'd have the rest. He ate half of my chicken! I was so impressed.
October 30, 2009 8:51 AM
Good tips on Children healthy eating