Want to do the best for your kids and feed them with food that will nourish their little growing bodies but often find it overwhelming choosing what to feed them?
I mean every time you try to give them something healthy, they screw their nose up and it doesn’t get eaten. The frustration of more wasted food, sometimes it just seems easier to give them a packet of chips and those chocolate biscuits.
The problem with this, is every time you do this, you make your job even harder. The more they eat a diet that is made up of processed packaged food that is loaded with sugar, preservatives, and flavour enhancers, the more disrupted their taste buds will become. Often loaded with sugar, these types of foods are addictive and are only going to make your child dislike the taste of real wholefoods that are not not loaded with sugar, even more.
Your taste buds adjust to the way you eat. This is the exact same for adults. This is because the types of food you eat can have an affect on the types of gut bugs living in your gut. The more sugar you eat, the more overgrowth of bad bugs occur.
If you would like some help with this, so you can be more confident in choosing healthy food choices for you and your family, learn about healthy food swaps, how to read food labels and what ingredients to avoid, you can read more about my supermarket tour service here.
So what are my top recommendation for healthy kid friendly snacks?
Organic Popcorn
Popcorn is a great snack for kids. Just make sure its organic where possible as non organic corn, is grown in crops that are genetically modified otherwise known as genetically engineered crops. Genetic modification is the process of altering the genetic makeup of an organism from its natural state. There is no real evidence that consumption doesn’t put a risk to human health. 
Cook popcorn according to packet directions in a pan with cold pressed coconut oil and salt with Himalayan pink rock salt or sea salt.
You can also make other savoury popcorn flavours using your favourite dried spices. Cinnamon, cumin and paprika make a great tasting flavoured popcorn. Or for a sweeter option you can flavour your popcorn using rice malt syrup, coconut oil or butter and vanilla extract.
Organic Corn Chips
Corn chips are great, but I don’t mean your good old dorito’s that are highly processed with a long list of ingredients. Instead go for organic and natural corn chips. These will have just a few ingredients, corn, oil and salt. Go for organic where possible as mentioned above, corn is known to be high GMO (Genetically modified).
Savoury Muffins
Muffins are great to pack into the kids lunchbox and while banana and fruit muffins are nice, try going for a savoury muffin to get some more veggies into your kids. A great combo that tastes great is carrot, zucchini and cheese. You could also add nitrate free bacon. If eating at home serve warm sliced and spread with butter or coconut butter. Delicious 🙂
Carrot and Cucumber Sticks with Homemade Dip
Most kids like cucumber and carrot. For the younger kids serve carrot, cucumber and fruit in faces. This will make it fun and more appealing. Carrot and cucumber sticks can be served with homemade dip like hummus, guacamole, salsa or pesto.
Sliced Apple with Nut Butter
Jazz up a regular apple by slicing it up and topping with nut or seed butter of choice. Goes great with a bit of ground cinnamon sprinkled on top, desiccated coconut or lsa mix. Our pick is the yummy Mayer’s spread range. From natural peanut butter, to almond butter, tahini and the chocolate hazelnut spread, these spreads are to die for.
Fruit Skewers
While most kids love fruit, getting the same old apple all the time can get a bit boring. Make fruit more exciting by chopping a range of different fruits and placing on a skewer. This is also a great way to get a variety of vitamins and nutrients into our little one’s tummies. 
Our guts like diversity, so mixing it up with a variety of different fruits on the skewers is a great way to increase your child’s gut diversity.
Banana Nice Cream Soft Serve or Popsicles
Blitzed frozen banana really does make the best ice-cream soft serve and there is no need to add anything else. With its smooth, thick, creamy texture, the kids will love it. Just remove the skin and place banana’s in the freezer. These frozen banana’s can then be blitzed in your blender or food processor until they become like a thick and creamy soft serve.
To make banana popsicles cut a banana in half and place on top of a popsicle stick. Before putting in freezer, you can even dip your banana in melted dark chocolate or make your own chocolate sauce. My recommended healthy chocolate brand is pana chocolate , loving earth chocolate or Pico chocolate
Bliss Balls
Bliss balls are great as they are so easy to make. Investing in a good blender or food processor is key. I also find soaking the nuts in particular the harder nuts like almonds beforehand for a few hours. This just helps to soften them, making them easier to blend and breakdown. 
If you are making them for the kids school lunch box and they need to be nut free, you can make your bliss balls using oats.
If you are time poor and after a recommendation for bliss balls you can purchase from the supermarket, that doesn’t involve putting something together yourself, we are absolutely loving Health Lab protein balls in our house at the moment. Just be cautious they all contain nuts so may not suitable for school lunchboxes) For anyone who lives in Australia these can be found at your local supermarket in the health food aisle.
Trail Mix of Nuts, Seeds, Sultanas, Coconut Flakes
Trail mixes are great because you can prepare them in advance, and they are simple and nutritious. Mix a whole lot of nuts, seeds, sultanas and coconut flakes together and serve as a healthy fat, protein packed quick and easy snack. You may also like to toast your trail mix in the oven and mix with a little sweetener to get a nice crunchy golden snack.
Homemade Muesli Bars
While your regular commercialised muesli bars you find in the supermarket, are generally loaded with sugar, making your own at home can be a healthy choice and a great school snack. If you are going to make them for school, omit the nuts and add more seeds.
Check out my homemade rice puff muesli bar recipe here or you can also make our family favourite granola recipe into muesli bars by adding a little bit more sweetener so they stick together.
Healthy Chocolate Crackles
Chocolate crackles are a party favourite that the kids love. By swapping out a few of the regular ingredients and exchanging them for a few simple healthier ingredients, chocolate crackles can be a great treat for the kids, without the excess refined sugar.
To check out how I make my chocolate crackles you can find the recipe my chocolate crackles here.
Sweet Potato Chips
Sweet potato chips are the bomb when done right. 
It took us a bit of trial and error before we came to the conclusion, that to make the best crunchy chips, investing in a good mandolin is key. Cuts them all nice and thin and when fried in coconut oil, the come out perfectly crunchy.
Making your own sweet potato chips is also not the same as buying a packet of frozen sweet potato chips in your freezer aisle at the supermarket. Many people have moved over from regular potato chips to the sweet potato craze thinking they are a healthier option. Sadly they are not much better if they are processed and out of a packet.
These are highly processed, full of a whole lot of added additives, preservatives and wheat. So while sweet potato chips sound like they would be gluten free, packet sweet potato chips are deep fried with wheat flour, making them not a gluten free option unless homemade.
Watermelon and Watermelon Granita
What kid doesn’t love Watermelon?
A great snack to keep the kids hydrated. The natural sweetness is paired with a good dose of vitamin C and vitamin A which are important nutrients to support a healthy immune function.
Watermelon is great on own as a snack or for a warm summers day can be great frozen. For a quick and easy watermelon recipe, check out my deliciously refreshing watermelon granita that is sure to impress the kids and have them coming back for more.
Raspberry Smoothie
Its something about the pretty pink colour of berries. Make this into a smoothie and it becomes very attractive to a child. Add frozen raspberries, coconut or natural Greek yoghurt, cashews and milk of choice for yummy and delicious drink. 
To make the smoothie into a smoothie bowl just add less milk or add in a frozen banana to make a thicker consistency that can be poured in a bowl and topped with your favourite toppings like nuts, trail mix, muesli and fruit. You could even drizzle over my peanut butter choc orange sauce for something extra fancy. Get the recipe here.
You could also use blueberries, strawberries or mixed berries. Berries are a great fruit for kids as they are low in sugar, high in fibre and antioxidants.
Do you have any other kid friendly healthy snacks that I didn’t mention? I would love for you to share below.
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Happy Snacking 🙂
Here’s to good health and happiness x
Sarah
