Children, especially young children, need several snacks. A small in the morning and a snack around 16 p.m. This afternoon snack is an opportunity for them to recharge their batteries after an often busy day of learning, discovery and expenditure of physical energy.

A small bottle of water

Offer water. We don’t always think about it, but children often do not drink enough during their day, too busy playing, learning, discovering the world. So a glass of water as soon as they get home is a good way to hydrate them.

A starchy snack

The snack of a young child must be composed of a starch for a slow supply of sugars. It can be bread, but also semolina, rice pudding. This ingredient can also be replaced by nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, but be careful to grind them well because the little ones could swallow them in one go and choke.

Homemade cookies

Homemade cakes and cookies, weather permitting, can also be an opportunity to bake together in the morning. Easy recipes, with less sugar content than industrial cakes, are available on the internet. For the child it is also a moment of learning: kneading the dough, pouring liquid into a container, placing the chocolate chips or small raisins, washing the utensils in a small basin. All of these actions help improve their senses and fine motor skills.

A dairy product

The snack should also contain a dairy product in the form of yogurt, cottage cheese, a piece of cheese (if the child prefers salty). There is a proposal for different milks: cow’s milk, but also sheep’s milk, rice, coconut, almond. These different possibilities make it possible to vary tastes and meet the specific needs of each according to food allergies.

They allow a rapid supply of energy when the child starts to lack it. Some pediatricians recommend to wait 3 years before introducing exotic fruits like guava, papaya, but parents also follow cultural habits.

When tasting a banana does not have the same nutritional value as a kiwi or an orange. She is richer. At the outset, give preference to simple apples and pear compotes, not mixed. Children need to discover the taste of each fruit to form an opinion.

Then gradually, he will want to discover other tastes, strawberries, raspberries, with their tangy accents, like candy. Blueberries can be added to yogurt by cutting them in half or crushing them.

Delicate intestines may also need fruit, but cooked. Here again, apple, pear, but also apricot or peach compotes can be ideas.

No need to add refined sugar, it can be replaced with honey, agave syrup, maple syrup. Children do not yet have a palate in demand for sugar, because they were not brought up with it. Might as well leave them the possibility of continuing like this.

Around 3 or 4 years old, children have their teeth and can bite. It is therefore possible to also offer them dried fruits such as apricots, which remain soft or figs, provided that they are also quite soft. It is important to cut them well into small pieces to avoid the risk of suffocation.

Many recipes suggest making granola or granola bars yourself. Again, it’s fun and the kids love it. A mixture of flakes, crushed hazelnuts, raisins, mixed with coconut oil. All baked. Barely 20 minutes of family preparation, time for a fun activity.

To taste it, we will mainly choose products without added sugar. We will automatically eliminate candies, pastries, sodas and other sugary drinks.

Should sugar be part of the snack? “The answer is yes” Specifies Myriam Anne Mocaer, Naturopath, “but not in any form and quantity”. Industrial cakes, brioches and cookies in particular contain far too much sugar and sometimes fat. “Prepared products also contain all kinds of preservatives which are harmful to health in the long term.”

A healthy snack should therefore be simple, not too generous, containing the right sugars so as not to affect children’s appetites for the evening meal.