Healthy and Nutritious Snack Ideas!

My 3 year old loves to have a little baggie of home-made trail mix. I buy raw almonds, peanuts, macadamias, dried cranberries, raisins in bulk. Then I just mix a little up from time to time. Sometimes I throw in a new item for a change, like pumpkin seeds, dried coconut, dried mango or dark chocolate chips. It's pretty healthy and yummy and he never gets tired of it.

shredded mini wheats have always been on my sons yummy list. and flavored tricuits

Grandma is a health nut, and buys my 22 month old al the organic, gluten free, no high fructose corn syrup stuff that she can. We go to Sun Harvest or Henry's and get crackers and cookies and fruit snacks (my son's favorite) by Annie's Homegrown, whole grain granola bars, and wheat chex type cereal. Oh and most kids like Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers - they make them 'whole grain' now too.

She also gets a loaf of "Ezekiel 4:9" bread (in the frozen section) which has organic everything, including wheat, barley, millet, lentils, soybeans, rasins, cinnamon. I use it to make french toast probably once a week. It is great fiber for my son, plus it soaks up a whole egg, so a good protein for breakfast. We use organic maple syrup of course, too.

But another great way to get fiber, is with flaxseed. I sprinkle some on our food, when it's easy to 'hide' in the food, as I don't think the taste is real great. I sprinkle a little in yogurt, toss it on my salad, make it in a smoothie.

Good luck. I can't wait to read more ideas from other posters, as I would love more ideas for snacks too.

My kids like those mini quaker rice cakes They come in salty or sweet flavors and the sweet doen't have much sugar in them ( sugar is a real issue at our house). There's also something I used to get them when they were younger called Fruity Booty , you can get if from Trader Joes. and I THINK I saw them in the snackies section at toys r us.

Cheese sticks, cheerios, ritz crackers, animal crackers, raisins....

hummus makes a great snack. They have pre-packaged ones at Costco that would be great for travel. However, the trader joes creamy hummus is the BEST flavor. It goes great with any of the bread/cracker suggestions from the other people, but is also a great dip for veggies. My daughter eats it by the spoonful.

Hi A.,

Great question! My daughter has some food allergies, so I've had to be creative about snacks...the traditional crackers just don't cut it for us. I have a couple of suggestions for you, depending on how your 1 year old is with chewing.

A friend turned us on to fruit leathers. Costco carries some all-natural (just fruit pureed and cooked until gummy) ones for a reasonable price. I have a few recipes to make them, but haven't tried them yet. You'll probably have to cut them into small bits for your little one. They travel well as they're sealed in individual packages and don't crumble, but they are sticky.

Any dried fruit would travel well and help with constipation. There are also freeze-dried options available, which I personally prefer for texture. I think Trader Joe's and Whole Foods carry them in larger containers. In the regular groceries, Gerber has packages tiny toddler-sized bits (strawberry and banana, I think).

We like cheese sticks, but they tend to contribute to constipation.

We found a product at Whole Foods called "Red Square Flaxmachine Flax Cookies." They are made of rye flour and ground flax seeds...They are FANTASTIC when constipation is an issue. They're expensive, but a little goes a long way. They are very crumbly, so they may not be the best for travel, but I'd definitely recommend them for home. They taste great with banana, too. There's a picture of the label here http://www.rsquare.com/flax.html. What we buy is second from the bottom on the right-hand side.

If you're past the choking-hazard point with your little one, almonds would also be a good snack. We're just starting them with my 2 year old, because she's been a slow teether, but she really likes them.

If you're starting citrus fruits, the little clementine oranges are great for going out. They peel and pull into segments easily and aren't too terribly messy.

A friend buys all-natural yogurt tubes at Costco. She says they don't have the artificial colorings and flavorings of the Go-Gurt at the regular grocery store. Her son loves them.

If you're not too bothered by a little mess, my daughter loves large curd cottage cheese, and it doesn't seem to constipate her as easily as cheese.

Good luck!

go to trader joe's they have the healthest stuff there i am trying to feed myself healthy stuff so i will never get diabeties. you have to go to the doctor and ask them what should i give healthy to my kids instead of junk and they will tell you healthy shops to buy food!

hope this helps!!!!

Angela Golmeen

Besides fiber, yogurt should help with constipation. I like the YoBaby organic yogurt, it comes in different flavors. Trader Joe's also has organic yogurt cups. Or you could buy a large tub of organic yogurt and put them in small jars for individual portions (I do that too).
I also have a hard time finding different snack options for my son. Luckily he loves yogurt, so he has that every day for the afternoon snack. At his daycare, they offer two types of snacks from two different food groups, and I think that is a great idea. So you would offer gold fish crackers with veggies, dry cereal with fruit, green beans and pita, yogurt and graham crackers etc... Some other non-veggie or fruit ideas: cheese, crackers, hummus and pita, whole grain bread cubes.
Hope these help!

Granola bars
rice cakes
peanut butter crackers
peanut butter pretzels
peanut butter squeezies
cheesy crackers
fruit leathers
dried or dehydrated fruit
Graham crackers
sesame balls
nuts ( for the 3 yr old)
popcorn ( for the 3 yr old)

Oh the never ending struggle of providing healthy snacks! It is so tempting to grab a bag of gold fish and go, isnt it. I sometimes have a really hard time with this one as well. I dont eat processed carbohydrates at all, but i am tempted to buy ready made snacks for me kids??? Here are a couple ideas that I have used with success:
1. Ants on a log (celery, peanut butter, raisins)...your one year old will probably suck the peanut butter off and toss the celery but you might be surprised).
2. Yogurt and granola.
3. mini-begals (wheat) with a little cream cheese and fruit, or peanut butter.
4. Smuckers Uncrustables (they are little round premade-frozen sandwhiches that you can toss in a lunch box and they thaw while you are running around. it doesnt take long. They are a great snack size for kids, or they could share one since they are smaller). I also found online that you can premake your own frozen sandwhiches, I havent tried it, but it might be worth a try.
I hope some of these work for you! Good luck!

If you're needing fiber, you can either add fiber to their drinks via FiberSure, FiberOne, etc.

I'm a big fan of the FiberOne products myself (though not so much the yogurt - for that I'd recommend Activia).

Our daughter has constipation issues, so she's on 8 weeks of Miralax (22 months-old) to help train her to go again.

Cheese is a good, healthy portable snack, but it may have a negative effect on the constipation. My kids love cooked edamame. I haven't looked at the fiber, but it is low-calorie, low cholesterol, and low sodium.

You could alway do raisins or prunes as they're both higher in fiber (and high sugar).

My kids love trail mix (Costco has a good one) that you can purchase in bulk or in individual packets (as well as planters nuts).

You already have the perfect snack! Fruits and Vegetables.......wow, I would have killed for that to be my kids favorite snack. Encourage natural foods. Try some dried fruit for traveling. Do your best to find no sugar added, etc.... You might want to buy online at Trader Joe. Good old fashioned non-sugared cheerios too, of course...you probably are already there.

I'm just wondering out loud here, but would your littlest allow a little flaxseed or omega in her diet? Might help the constipation.

Cheese sticks, half pb&j sandwiches and keep with the fruits and veggies. My kids now 5 and 7 still mostly just snack on fruit and veggies.