These are the easy snacks that our toddler loves and we use weekly to keep him nourished and full.
There’s something about putting together snacks for your toddler that can be tough. We’re so focused on getting healthy meals on our kids’ plates, that we often have no energy left for snack time. We turn to the same snacks for our kids over and over again, just because that’s what’s easy and saves time.
I felt the exact same way up until a few weeks ago, when I started looking at snack time for my toddler differently. I remembered a principle from the Feeding Littles Toddler Feeding Course (use code INSPIRALIZED for $10 off!), which was this: think of snack time for your kid as a time to squeeze in any missing nutrients from meal time. That is, say you gave your toddler Yogurt, Fruit, and Waffles for breakfast. However, the toddler didn’t eat the yogurt. You’re missing calcium, fat and protein, so try giving your toddler some dairy at the next snack – cottage cheese or string cheese.
Also, the Feeding Littles team says to make snack time for your kids like mini meal times – you don’t necessarily need to give “snack food” to your toddler. You can use leftovers from a previous meal. As you’ll see in my list below, one of my go-to snacks for my little ones is a leftover Blender Muffin from the day before (assuming he didn’t have them for breakfast that same day.)
Now, I’m not going to share a bunch of toddler snack ideas I found around the Internet. I’m sharing all of the snacks that actually worked with my toddler. Thus, this isn’t a complete list of possible snack ideas – it’s just what works for our little one, and I hope it works for yours! Luca’s only 13 months old at the time that I’m writing this post, so things will definitely change (they always do!), but for now, this is what’s working for my toddler!
Toddler Snack List
- Mini bagel or English muffin spread with Kitehill Cream Cheese + Fruit
- Leftover roasted veggies with hummus and pita bread (hummus is hit or miss with him)
- ThinStackers rice cakes with tuna salad (can of tuna + Greek yogurt + dijon mustard + a little lemon)
- Mini PB&J – I use mashed raspberries instead of jelly and vary the nut butters I’m using, sometimes sunflower seed butter.
- Avocado toast (I use guacamole, because he refuses to eat mashed avocado or cubed avocado) on a ThinStacker or slice of bread
- Banana sushi (rolled in Siete tortilla)
- Veggie quesadilla – black beans and bell peppers sautéed in oil with chili powder and cumin and spread out on one tortilla, melted with shredded Mexican cheese.
- Banana bites with almond butter and iron fortified cereal
- Whole grain waffle strips with nut butter or butter and side of fruit
- Yogurt and fruit
- Freeze dried fruit and string cheese
- String cheese and mini HappyBaby rice cakes (see list below for the ones I use)
- LARA bar with edamame puffs (see below)
- Leftover blender muffins with iron fortified cereal
- String cheese and fruit and Annie’s Bunnies
- English muffin pizza (veggie marinara sauce spread over a toasted English muffin and topped with mozzarella cheese, popped in the toaster oven until melted)
- Smoothie (recipe in Inspiralized Littles eCookbook)
- Cottage cheese with clementine
- Cauliflower Biscuits from Inspiralized & Beyond
- Veggie Tots from Inspiralized & Beyond
- Vegan Pumpkin Oat Muffins from Inspiralized Littles eCookbook
Packaged Snacks
I try to keep these to a minimum, but they’re great for on-the-go and when we’re in a pinch or traveling with your toddler! Here’s a complete list of the pre-packaged snacks that I give Luca – I’ll pair these often with whole foods like fruit and cheese:
- ThinStackers rice cakes
- Little Duck Organics freeze dried fruit
- Trader Joe’s Crispy Broccoli snacks (hit or miss)
- Annie’s Whole Wheat Cheddar Bunnies
- Cascadian Farms Purely O’s cereal
- Happy Baby rice cakes
- Crunch-a-mame organic edamame puffs
- Little Duck Organics Fig Bars: Blueberry + Kale
- Made In Nature Cranberry Pistachio Figgy Pops
- Annie’s Organic White Cheddar Squares
- Peeled Snacks Peas Please
- Sprout Organic Curlz Broccoli Baked Toddler Snacks