We’ve all been there: Preparing the same daycare snacks and lunches can be monotonous and the kids in your care get boring. No, you’re not running a restaurant, but it’s also important to provide children with a wide variety snacks and lunches and help them learn about a variety of foods. We interviewed two health and nutrition experts to get some insight into how to feed children in daycare and to how to keep from burning out on snack and lunch options.  Here is part 2 of the interview.
Meet the experts:
Dr. Moshe Lewis, M.D.: Internationally renowned expert on health. Dr. Lewis has been featured in USA Today, ABC, CNN, CBS, NBC and on KISS FM.
Kelly O’Connor, RD, LDN, CDE: Â Registered Dietitian/Certified Diabetes Educator, Director of Diabetes Education at The Center for Endocrinology
OwnADaycare: What are some healthy, yet fun lunch items for preschool aged children?
Kelly O’Connor: Some healthy lunch ideas might include:
- Pita pocket(1/2 or whole) sandwiches- with chicken, turkey or tuna . Small bag of pretzels, piece of fruit, low fat milk.
- English muffin pizzas which the children can help assemble.
- Add some raw veggies (celery sticks, carrot sticks) and low fat ranch dip, low fat milk
- Grilled cheese sandwiches. Can use cookie cutters to cut the sandwiches out into shapes. Add a piece of fruit or fruit cup, low fat milk.
- Peanut butter (* Check for peanut allergies) and jelly on wheat bread or gold fish shaped bread or sandwich rounds bread, which may be more manageable for little hands to handle. Fruit cup, low fat milk.
- Low fat crackers(such as Triscuits, etc.) with low fat cheese or tuna salad. Fruit cup or fresh fruit (cut up). Pretzels or other small bag snack. Low fat milk.
OwnADaycare: What are some healthy, yet fun snacks for preschool aged children?
Kelly O’Connor: Some snack ideas for daycare might include:
- Bananas , cut up or apple slices with peanut butter
- Graham crackers with peanut butter
- Small cups of yogurt
- Fruit cups( fruit packed in cups) or unsweetened applesauce
- Cheese cubes
- Small cups of fresh fruit smoothies( made with low fat yogurt and/or milk)
- String cheese and fruit
- Veggie sticks with hummus or low fat ranch dip
- Small bowl whole grain cereal with low fat milk
- Fig newtons or fruit newtons
- Small cups of plain popcorn( not for toddlers)
- Raisins + unsalted nuts or trail mix( check for nut allergy; not for toddlers due to risk of choking).
Dr. Lewis: Yogurt, granola, raisins, almonds, dates
OwnADaycare: Wonderful, is there anything else you would like to add?
Kelly O’Connor: As with planning a menu for any age group, check for any allergies or food intolerances/special needs before serving any foods/snacks. Also, determine which foods may not be appropriate if there is risk of choking, as there is with very young children. There often is benefit to asking parents to submit a short list of healthy snacks that they offer to the child at home. This may give a greater variety of snack/lunch ideas, if for example, the child is of an ethnic background and may eat some items not familiar to the other children. Use it as an opportunity to expose the children to a new food.
Dr. Lewis: Parents are challenged in this era of super fast unhealthy food options, to make bad food choices for their kids. It is tempting to get breakfast on the go, take their kids to start bucks, and eat out or even buy Lunchables compared to home cooked meals and snacks. The secret is thus to find easy to prepare yet healthy food options for children and to make the introduction of fruits and vegetables fun. Also, balanced meals (which are low in sugar) are super important so that children dont develop obesity which places them at risk for diabetes.
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