Snacks for Toddlers

Is your child picky about food? Does your child have an aversion towards specific food? Well, there's nothing unusual about it. A lot of toddlers go through this picky phase. So what can a parent do in such situations? One solution is to prepare tasty and nutritious snacks, which will not only satiate their taste buds, but will also furnish their bodies with the necessary nutrients. Let's have a look at some simply ways to prepare mouth-watering delights for your little ones.

Apple-Arrowroot Sandwich

Ingredients

• Thinly sliced apple, half cup
• Arrowroot cookies, 1 package
• Cream cheese, 1 package

Directions

• Place arrowroot cookies and spread them with cream cheese.
• Top the cream with a little apple puree.
• Add another cookie on the top to make it look like a sandwich.

You can also puree of any fruit or vegetable, depending on your child's taste preferences.

A few other snacks that you can make for your kids include:

• Peanut Butter: This is one high fiber snack which is commonly loved by children. It is also rich in protein content. Apply some peanut butter on a cookie. You can also add a little apple sauce to the peanut butter applied cookie. This makes a good tea-time snack.
• Whole Grain Cereals: A bowl of whole grain cereal with milk and slices of fruit of your choice would be an energizing snack for your kid. These days there are several cereals specially made appealing for kids. Buy a packet and give it to your hungry child before playtime.
• Yogurt: Frozen yogurt whipped with granola is often loved by little ones. Even simple flavored yogurt can be given to them as a snack. You can also add diced fruits to the yogurt to increase the nutritional content.
• Egg: Eggs prepared in the traditional sunny-side up or omelet fashion may not be appealing to kids. Try different preparations. Take a heart-shaped cookie cutter and cut out the central portion of a slice of bread. What remains is a heart-shaped cavity. Place this slice on a pan and break open an egg into the cavity. Allow it to cook. You will get a slice of bread with the egg in its center. This different appearance will prove appealing to kids. Scrambled eggs rolled in a flour tortilla is also another good idea.
• Snack Mix: A mixture of whole grain cereal, popcorn, pretzels, banana chips and nuts can make a tasty and quick healthy snack for your toddler.
• Whole Grain Waffles: Waffle filled with low-fat cream cheese and fruit jelly as toppings would make a snack enriched with vitamins and iron, and your little one will just love it.
• Oatmeal: Low-fat oatmeal crackers with apricots, raisins and cranberries make a snack difficult to resist. It is also enriched with nutrients. You can also add honey and dates to enhance the flavor.
• Quesadillas: Tortillas lightly buttered on the outside, with veggies like bell pepper and tomatoes stuffed inside, and cooked on a frying pan with sour cream as a dipping is one of the best snacks for people who are allergic to eggs and nuts.
• Baked Snacks Baked snacks such as potato skin splashed with shredded cheese, baked and topped with sour cream are great titbits for kids. Muffins and bagels with different soft creams spread on them are also good snack ideas.

It's your responsibility as a parent, to teach your child to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Eating ice cream and candy bars occasionally is fine, but surviving on them is totally forbidden. Avoiding extremes is the key. As Hippocrates has said "The wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings. Let food be your medicine." I hope you find these ideas on snacks for toddlers helpful.