Snack time!!

Okay, I'll be honest. I love having kids simply for the excuse to sit down and have snack time twice a day :) Man, I'll miss this stage! As an early-child educator I learned early on that children function best on 3 healthy meals and 2 small snacks a day. Done properly this also trains them to be good eaters and shows them an ideal routine for consuming food. Once I became a parent, my training was confirmed when I started to teach my kids (and myself) the best way to eat. Now I'm sure this is done differently in many homes, but this is what I've come to learn, know, and trust.

The first question is: When and how often should my kids eat?
Typically children have breakfast within an hour of waking up. Usually their morning snack should fall somewhere between 1.5-2 hours after breakfast and the same before lunch. A mid day meal should be provided (usually between 11-1 depending on your type of schedule, early or later). An afternoon snack should be provided sometime after an afternoon nap or 2-3 hours after lunch and 1.5-2 hours before dinner. Now obviously, tweak this for your child... some kids eat little meals, so don't over do their snack. Be sure your child is at a healthy weight and not over eating. Outside of 3 meals and 2 good snacks a day, kids really don't need to eat anymore than this.

Second question: What type of snacks should I provide?
This is where the fun begins! Snack time can be creative and fun and easy! I encourage a snack time where you sit down with your child and take time to chat with them, relax, and let them develop healthy eating habits (chewing, swallowing, eating slow enough it doesn't get crammed in a mouth in 2 minutes, table manners).

Milk, 100% juice (be careful, many juices are NOT 100%- this is important! read your labels), or water are the perfect beverage choice. It is really unnecessary for kids under 2 to have juice just yet, but if you want to explore with that try half and half (half 100% juice, half water) to dilute it a bit. A special treat at my house: chocolate milk (Ovaltine :)

Here are some food suggestions... I recommend 2-3 items from the 4 food groups. This list is written as a variety of snack ideas for 1 snack time.

1/2 apple, cheese slices, milk
Goldfish crackers, milk, applesauce
milk, fruit kabobs (easy to make), cottage cheese
1/2 bagel with optional cream cheese, juice, ham cubes
cereal mix (non-sugared), milk, grapes
graham crackers, milk, fruit cup (easy to make & freeze)
muffin, milk, 1/2 apple
crackers, veggies with dip, cheese slices, juice
Nutri-Grain bar, milk, fresh fruit
pretzels, juice, cheese slices
crackers, raisins, cheese slices, deli meat, juice
cheese sandwich, fresh fruit, juice
mini pizzas ( biscuit dough, pizza sauce, cheese) hands on snack!, juice
celery, peanut butter, raisins, crackers, juice (make "ants on a log")
yogurt, granola, blueberries, milk (make a parfait in a cup, let your child create it!)
fruit smoothie ( frozen strawberries, yogurt, apple juice, bananas), muffin
yogurt sticks (not sure what to call these, we freeze them like a popsicle :), crackers, pineapple, milk

Be creative and try a variety of things. There are so many fresh fruits & veggies and kids love to help pick them out. Make snack time fun!

Third Question: Other ideas??? What do you serve for snack time???