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Healthy Snacks for Toddlers

Finding healthy snacks for toddlers that they’ll actually eat is a challenge that most parents face.

While it may be tempting to give your little one a cookie when they are acting up and you need to calm them down, making a seemingly insignificant decision like this can be the start of a lifetime of bad habits.


It may start out as a cookie here or there, and a candy bar in a pinch, but giving your little one unhealthy foods to eat will start to formulate eating habits that they could keep for the rest of their lives.


Now, this doesn’t mean that an occasional treat isn’t okay, it just means that the majority of their diet should include healthy foods.

Why Do Healthy Snacks For Toddlers Need To Be A Priority?


There are a number of reasons that you should always prioritize healthy foods for your little one.

The first one was mentioned above, it helps them to start developing healthy eating habits from a young age.

This can help to build a foundation for healthy eating that will give them a better chance of enjoying good health for the rest of their lives.

You also need to remember that your little one’s tummy is tiny, so allowing them to eat empty calories is simply taking up valuable real estate for foods that should be helping them to grow and develop.

Getting your child to each healthy snacks is more work than just handing them a cookie, but it’s work that will definitely benefit them now and in the long run.


What Types Of Healthy Snacks Should You Be Looking To Feed Your Little One?

EASY!


  1. 1. Fresh Fruit

Healthy Fruit for Toddlers


If you tried really hard and spent a lot of time looking for one, you probably still wouldn’t be able to find a toddler that likes sweets.


This is what makes fresh fruit such a great snack idea for toddlers. Fresh fruit is sweet, but the natural sugars that give it a sweet flavor are so much better for you than the processed high fructose corn syrup, or even processed cane sugar that is used in most candy.

From grapes to watermelon slices, to apples and oranges, most toddlers will take to fruit like they would to a piece of candy.

The best part is that while they are eating fruit they are not only getting the sweet taste that they love, they are also getting healthy vitamins and fiber.


While fresh fruit is a great healthy snack, it’s important that you don’t give your child too much of it because it is high in sugar, so give them fruit as a snack, but do so in moderation.


  1. 2. Dehydrated fruit


Toddlers are just starting to learn to be more independent, which means that they are starting to want to feed themselves more frequently.


This is what makes dehydrated fruit just as great of a snack as fresh fruit. Like fresh fruit, it is also loaded with healthy vitamins and fiber.

The big difference here is that dried fruit is much easier to transport, and it’s generally easier for your toddler to eat as well.

You can easily throw a back of banana chips or a box of raisins in your purse or diaper bag, then you have an instant snack for your little one that they will love.


  1. 3. Yogurt With Fruit In It

yogurt for toddlers as a healthy snack


While yogurt can be a messy snack, especially if your little one likes to feed themselves, it is still a very healthy snack that you should offer to your toddler.


If you decide to try yogurt as a snack for your toddler, make sure that you give them the low-fat kind that has fruit in it.

Yogurt with fruit is a great choice as a snack because it is sweet as well as nutritious. It has lots of protein and calcium, which will help your little one to grow up and be healthy and strong.


  1. 4. Cheese

Cheese Block


When it comes to healthy snacks for toddlers cheese is another great option you should consider.

Much like yogurt, cheese has a lot of protein and calcium which will help your toddler to develop strong bones and muscles.

If you are trying to help them to become more independent you can even get string cheese that makes an excellent and easy to eat snack that they can eat by themselves.


Because cheese is high in fat make sure that if you do give your little one cheese as a snack that you don’t give it to them all the time.


  1. 5. Cut Vegetables

Cut Vegetables as Healthy Toddller Snack


While getting your toddler to eat veggies isn’t going to be as easy as getting them to eat fruit, if you start from a young age they will be much more likely to be fans of vegetables as they get older. If you opt for vegetables as a snack then try baby carrots and celery.


These are both finger food type snacks that your toddler can eat on their own, and as an added bonus they go great with a low fat ranch dip, which will make them all the more appealing to your little one.


By getting your toddler used to eating veggies from a young age you can avoid having to fight with them and trying to force them to eat them when they get a bit older.


  1. 6. Eggs

healthy snacks for toddlers


For years eggs were unfairly treated by the public as a food that was bad for you due to their high fat and cholesterol content.


The truth is that while eggs do have a lot of fat and cholesterol, they are predominantly the healthy kinds that should be included in any diet.


They are also loaded with protein which makes them a great choice for toddlers that are still developing.

When preparing eggs scrambling them is often the best choice because it’s easy to do, and it’s how most kids like them.

Just scramble them up, then serve them in a small bowl with some ketchup and you are probably going to make a hungry toddler quite happy.


If you want to avoid the messy clean up of using a bowel you can also make eggs into a great finger food by hard boiling them.


What about you?


What Healthy Snacks have you been feeding YOUR toddler? Shout out below, and let us know! 



Jeff & Yvette


This article is a guest post by Jeff and Yvettte from Snugbaby.net. Check out the original article here and go visit Snugbaby.net for more awesome, engaging content surrounding parenting! 

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