This is a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% my own.
Are your kids starving when they get home from school? Mine sure are! A filling after-school snack can give kids the energy they need to take on the rest of their day until dinner. After all, kids are pretty busy these days. They often juggle homework, sports practice, dance lessons, and more. Here are some tips to get them to make better snacking choices.
Tips to Help Kids Choose Healthier After School Snacks
Be a snacking role model
Eat fresh fruits and vegetables in front of your kids. Talk to them about needing protein from lean meats, nuts or dairy to help boost energy. When they see you do it, they are much more likely to make the same choices.
Create a food reward system
When you see them selecting a mom-approved snack, give them a point, sticker, or whatever works for your kids. If I’m not home, my kids will even send me a pic when they are eating a snack. They want their points! Once they each get to 50 points, they get to choose an activity like going to a movie or visiting their favorite ice cream shop.
Make food easy to see and grab
Fill the center section of your refrigerator with these options. Since it’s the first place you see when you open the door, it brings focus to those items. My kids grab foods when they are right in front of them. Make it easy!
Minimize easy access to junk food
It’s OK to allow the kids to have a treat from time to time, but limit their ability to grab junk food every day. Purchase treats like cookies, cakes or ice cream only once every two weeks. When it’s gone, it’s gone! You’ll be surprised how they limit their consumption to make it last.
Yogurt is an easy go-to snack!
We’ve always been fans of Yoplait yogurt, so I was excited to check out the Yoplait Multipacks at our local Walmart. We tried the Yoplait Original Strawberry/Harvest Peach and the Strawberry/Strawberry Banana flavors. The cups are super easy for on-the-go snacking. The box has an easy open top, which gives lets me easily see if we are running low.
My daughter is in LOVE with the Harvest Peach. She will often grab one to eat on the way to dance class. My son likes to sprinkle blueberries in the Strawberry while doing his homework.
How do you help your kids choose healthier after school snacks?
here is good tips post about to healthier snacks. it is good because this is available all time which is better for kids.
We have yogurt every day! There are so many flavors that everyone can find something they like.
I am very fortunate. My kids would rather have fruits and yogurts vs the sugary snacks.
These are really awesome tips! Sharing this with my kids! I know they’ll like it!
It’s so important for kids to get a good healthy snack after school. We love yogurt in our home so this is great.
It’s definitely important to make healthy snacks readily available for kids. If you offer healthy food, they will (eventually) eat healthy food.
I totally agree that making sure that healthier snacks are the ones regularly available is key. If you have junk in front of them, they will definitely pick that over something healthier for them.
Thanks for these tips! It is so hard sometimes to encourage my son to eat healthy snacks! Yogurt is really the perfect after school snack.
Yoplait is my go to brand for yogurt. I try to just buy healthy foods. If it is not in the house they can not eat it. I make sure there is always fresh fruit and veggies ready to grab and go.
I love making snacks with yogurt. Fruit and granola mix-ins are always an option after school at our house.
These are great tips! Yoplait is our favorite yogurt and the kids love it too!
You’ve got some great tips here. I think this is the perfect after school snack. My oldest daughter loves yogurt, and so do I.
Fabulous ideas here! I think that it is really very important that we make sure that our children are eating healthy and making good choices. This will certainly lead to healthier choices as they grow.
Love these ideas. It really is important that we as parents facilitate a healthy relationship with food for our kids,
I love these tips to help your kids make better school snack choices. Having the healthy snacks being seen first is probably the best idea.
Love the idea of having the healthy snacks front and center. It’s important to have healthy snacks available so they don’t head straight for the junk.
And this is a really good idea. If you make the healthy stuff right up there I level I am sure they grab it more often than not. I think I’m going to have to rearrange my fridge so that my kiddos will choose healthier foods without me bugging them.
Yogurt is an awesome after school snack. I t has tons of protein, and that’s important for growing kids.
Growing up, we could have a piece of fruit as a snack…which actually made us LOVE fruit! Often times, there would be yogurt choices, too, which was our favorite. And Yoplait definitely wins the snack competition!
I think it’s really important to make sure that kids have healthy snacks available at all times. They’ll eat anything they can get their hands on if they’re left to their own devices.