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Looking for easy snack ideas for kids? This is the ultimate collection of easy kid-friendly snacks! Whether you need an after-school snack, an on-the-go snack, a snack for lunch boxes, or a bedtime snack, you will find something for every child with these parent-approved healthy snack ideas!
Kids need to eat more than snacks! Check out my Easy School Lunch Ideas and Healthy Family Dinner Recipes to round out your day–and save your sanity!
If your kids are like mine, snacks are an inevitable part of their day.
So why not use snack time as an opportunity to get some extra nutrients into your child’s diet?!
- No veggies at lunchtime? What about a slice of zucchini bread or veggie sticks with a side of ranch or hummus?
- Need a dose of dairy? Try yogurt topped with fresh fruit or nut butter. Or sliced cheese with crackers.
- Need some whole grains? Enjoy a peanut butter oatmeal bar or slice of wheat bread with cinnamon sugar or nut butter.
But it can be tiresome to come up with snack ideas your kids will actually enjoy and you will feel good about serving them. That’s why you are going to LOVE this list of easy, healthy snacks.
The Easiest Snack Ideas for Kids
Need a last minute, simple snack for your hungry child? Keep them fueled with these simple healthy snack ideas that require little to no prep and little to no adult supervision. These are the options I keep on hand for little (or big) kids to grab on their own.
- Fresh Fruit: Any fruit your child likes; apples, pears, oranges, banana, grapes (cut in half for younger children), berries, etc. It helps to wash the fruit if needed at the start of the week so it is ready to go for your kids!
- Fruit Cups: Don’t dismiss canned fruit or fruit cups, like fruit cocktail, diced peaches, and mandarin oranges, packed in 100% fruit juice. It is an easy option for kids–no washing or slicing required!
- Applesauce: Homemade Applesauce, Instant Pot Applesauce, or store-bought applesauce is another great quick healthy snack idea for kids.
- Cottage Cheese: A great source of calcium and protein.
- Yogurt: Plain Greek yogurt is the best in terms of calcium and added sugar. Top with berries to naturally sweeten.
- Cheese: Cubed or sliced cheese is a satisfying grab and go snack packed with calcium and protein.
- Nuts: Pistachios, almonds, walnuts, dry roasted peanuts, you get the idea.
- Whole Grain Toast: Avocado toast, peanut butter toast, or even toast topped with chia jam makes a great wholesome kid-friendly snack–especially when you start with whole wheat bread.
- Sandwich: Sandwiches are for more than just lunch! A half a PB&J or turkey and cheese is a great snack for younger kids and a whole sandwich helps to fill up a growing teen.
- Edamame: Steamed, served cold, or roasted, edamame is loaded with protein and fiber.
- Snap Pea Crisps: Salty and savory, this snack is packed with protein and fiber and gives you the same salty satisfaction that comes with enjoying potato chips.
- Dried Fruit: Raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricots, apple chips, are all kid-favorite snack options. I typically look for unsweetened options if possible.
- Peanut Butter Rice Cake: Spread peanut butter or nut butter on a whole-grain rice cake. Feel free to add sliced bananas or raisins to the top as well.
- Pita and Hummus: Serve wedges of whole grain pita bread with hummus for a kid-friendly snack loaded with whole grains, protein, and fiber.
- Veggies: Serve raw carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, cucumbers, and/or cherry tomatoes with ranch dressing, dill dip, or hummus, and watch your kids dip away.
- Cereal: At our house, cereal is not breakfast. It just doesn’t keep my kids full for long at all. But whole grain, lower-sugar cereals make a great snack option!
- Whole Grain Crackers: Serve whole grain crackers with sliced cheese, hummus, or slices of turkey for a simple balanced, snack.
- Salsa: Salsa is packed with nutrients from fresh tomatoes. Just keep on eye on sodium levels in the salsa you purchase, or make a batch of blender salsa to keep on hand for snacking. Serve with whole grain tortilla chips, crackers, or bell peppers for a satisfying snack.
No-Cook Snack Recipes
When you want to make something for your kids, or your child wants to make a snack themselves, the following are great options. No oven, microwave, or stove required!
- Guacamole with Mini Bell Peppers: Instead of tortilla chips, serve guacamole with halved mini bell peppers, for a kid-friendly snack that features veggies and healthy fats.
- Ants on a Log: Fill the cavity of celery sticks with nut butter or cream cheese and then top with raisins to make it look like ants on a log.
- Smoothies: Smoothies are an all-time favorite snack with kids and provide a great opportunity to pack in fruits, veggies, and calcium! Check out our favorites: Sweet Potato Smoothie, Cottage Cheese Smoothie, Tropical Kale Smoothie, Pina Colada Smoothie, Blueberry Smoothie, Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie, Berry Smoothie, and Mango Smoothie.
- Homemade Yogurt Parfait: Top store-bought or homemade plain yogurt with chopped nuts, homemade granola, and or berries for a snack kids love.
- Healthy Banana Spilt: A favorite snack with kids is to split open a banana, top it with scoops of plain yogurt, and then top it with diced strawberries, pineapple, and a few chocolate chips or nuts for good measure.
- Trail Mix: I always have a trail mix of some sort on hand for snacking and love to vary up ingredients week to week. Wholesome options include unsweetened dried fruit, nuts, Cheerios, pretzels, roasted edamame, pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate chunks, etc.
- No-Bake Granola Bars: Not only are these granola bars super simple to make, but they are also naturally sweetened, vegan-friendly, and gluten-free, making them a healthy snack option, that both big and small kids enjoy!
- Copycat Larabars: Dried fruit and nuts are all you need to make snack bars that are high in healthy fats, fiber, and nutrients.
- No-Bake PB Oat Bars: These delicious no-bake bars are naturally sweetened, packed with whole grains, and feature both healthy fats and protein from the peanut butter.
- Frozen Yogurt Bark: Made with naturally sweetened yogurt and Greek yogurt, this frozen dessert is packed with calcium, protein, and lower in sugar than most desserts. It is easy to make, fun to top, and delicious to eat!
- Homemade Gogurts: If your kids love flavored yogurt tubes, they will love this healthy homemade version. You need fruit and plain yogurt to recreate a store-bought favorite into a healthy snack.
- Creamy Fruit Dip: Make a batch of this naturally sweetened cream cheese fruit dip to serve with apple slices, grapes, berries, graham crackers, and/or pretzels.
- Banana „Sushi„: Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Sushi is the most delicious play on sushi around! Bananas are coated in peanut butter and dipped into a crunchy coating for a fun kid-friendly dessert „Sushi.”
- Cottage Cheese Sundae: My mom used to serve a scoop of cottage cheese over a canned pineapple rings, topped with a maraschino cherry to entice us to enjoy the cottage cheese. It worked!
- Butterfly Snack Bag: These snack bags, made with fresh fruit and cheese sticks are shaped to look like an adorable butterfly. These are always a hit with young kids.
- Energy Balls: Made with oats, dried fruit, flax, and nut butter, these no-bake oatmeal balls are filled with whole grains, healthy fats, fiber, and minerals!
Minimal Cook Snack Recipes for Kids
These snack ideas for kids require a bit of minimal cooking, but still come together in under 10 minutes. Most are easy enough for older children to make with minimal supervision.
- English Muffin Pizza: Toast whole wheat English Muffins and then top them with pizza sauce and cheese for a quick savory snack kids love.
- Popcorn: Popcorn can get a bad rap due to microwave-bagged popcorn or movie theater popcorn, as they are often high in fat and sodium. However using my recipe for stovetop popcorn or microwave popcorn, popcorn makes a delicious, healthy option for a snack. It is whole grain, gluten-free, and has no added sugars.
- Pinwheels: Think sandwich, in pinwheel form! Make a veggie wrap or turkey wrap and cut into pinwheels for a simple, yet fun snack option.
- Air Fryer Pizza: Use the air fryer to make quick work on a simple bagel pizza or French bread pizza.
- Pita Pizza: Use leftovers in creative ways or keep it basic and whip up a simple pizza that is the perfect size snack for teens.
Make-Ahead Snack Recipes
These recipes require a tiny bit of effort, but are still quite easy! And because these snacks store and freeze well, they are great snacks to prep in advance and keep on hand for your kids to have a variety of options available.
- Muffins: When made with whole grains and naturally sweetened, muffins are an exceptional snack for kids. Make a big batch of Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins, Carrot Cake Muffins, Chocolate Zucchini Muffins, Pumpkin Muffins, Applesauce Muffins, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins, or Peanut Butter Banana Muffins and store in the freezer for up to 2-3 months OR in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Baked Oatmeal Cups: Oatmeal is NOT just for breakfast. These baked oatmeal cups make a delicious and portable snack. They freeze well, reheat well, and taste delicious cold, at room temperature, and warm.
- Quick Bread: After making quick bread, like Apple Bread, Lemon Bread, Zucchini Bread, or Pumpkin Bread, let the loaves cool fully. Slice and place the slices on to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Freeze until solid. Place the frozen slices of quick bread into a freezer-safe bag and pull out a slice at a time as desired. Wrap in a paper towel, place on a heat-safe plate, and warm for 30-60 seconds in the microwave.
- Whole Wheat Waffles: Waffles aren’t just for breakfast! You can pop a frozen waffle out of the freezer (I always make extra!) and top with nut butter and fresh berries for a kid-favorite snack.
- Homemade Cheese Crackers: With just a few ingredients and a food processor, you can easily whip up homemade cheese crackers that are rich, buttery, flaky, and oh so tasty. These crackers can be frozen up to 3 months as well.
- Homemade Fruit Roll-Ups: Made without any special equipment and just 3 wholesome ingredients, Homemade Fruit Roll-Ups are a kid-friendly, parent-approved snack that are quite easy to make!
- Banana Chocolate Chip Bars: Naturally sweetened with bananas and honey, the only refined sugar added comes from the chocolate chips. And because the base of these bars is made with peanut butter, no additional oil or butter is needed.
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars: Made with whole grains and naturally sweetened, these healthy oatmeal bars are filling, chewy, and packed with chocolate, which makes them a favorite snack with the kids!
- Hard-Boiled Eggs: Filled with protein and nutrients! And couldn’t be easier to batch prep with my recipe for Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs.
- Banana Breakfast Cookies: Yes, cookies can be healthy! These Banana Oat Cookies are made with bananas, dates, applesauce, and oats. They are naturally sweet, and full of whole grains and fiber.
I hope these healthy snack ideas for kids helped to give you inspiration! And that you find several wholesome treats here to share with kids you love.
