No that  title is not an oxymoron.  It is possible  to have snacks that are both appealing to children and healthy.  I know that it is sometimes tempting to just give in to all the junky snack requests, but the other day when my 4 yr old was whining about wanting a second package of fruit snacks and said, “But they are FRUIT!!” I realized that I needed to step in and do something.  Because just because they are called fruit snacks, doesn’t mean that they are made out of fruit.

I usually have a platter of cut up fruit out for my children to enjoy in the afternoon.  Either a bowl of grapes, cubed watermelon (less messy than having triangle slices), cubed cantaloupe.  String cheese or cubed cheese with crackers is  always available also.  But sometimes I find that boredom has set in and I need to shake things up a bit.

Trail Mix

Have you ever bought those huge bags of trail mix only to have your children eat all the M&Ms out of the bag and leave the majority of the mix which is actually healthy behind?  Try making your own from things your children do like.  Do any kids really like almonds?  I know mine don’t and almost every prepackaged trail mix we have bought has been heavy on the almonds. 

I mix together:

Craisins
Dried apricots, that I snip into smaller pieces
Dried apples, also snipped into smaller pieces
Peanuts or cashews, my kids like both of these
Sunflower seeds

Dip

Don’t all kids like to dip their food into some kind of sauce?  Slice up some fruit like apples, strawberries, bananas and serve with a ramekin of vanilla yogurt.  If you give the kids little toothpicks to skewer the fruit it makes the snack THAT much more enjoyable.

Smoothies

Blend together vanilla yogurt, fruit and ice into a completely healthy, nutritious and fun snack.  Serve in a tall glass with a straw for maximum enjoyment.

Ants on a Log

My children are  insisting that I include this  perennial kid snack of celery, peanut butter, and raisins.  Even though most of them do not actually like celery.  They just like the idea of this snack.

Mini muffins

I like to make bulk batches of mini muffins and then freeze them.  Sometimes if I don’t have time to do all of the baking, I will just freeze the batter in ziploc bags.  We all know that the difficult part is mixing together the ingredients, not the actual baking part.