Summer vacation is quickly approaching. Many of our kids will be staying home, eating healthy snacks, and getting lots of exercise by playing outside…or at least that would be our ideal scenario. Unfortunately, a large majority of children revert to unhealthy behaviors during the summer according to a 2015 study by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. During summer breaks children eat fewer vegetables, consume more sugar, and watch more television. One way to encourage healthy behaviors in children, provide healthier snack options! Below are just a few easy options that even the tiniest of hands can help to create!
An oldie, but goodie – Ants on a Log! Grab a few celery stalks and cut them in half. Next, fill them with peanut butter and line them with raisins. For those children with peanut allergies, consider the Fish in a Stream variation. Change the peanut butter to hummus and the raisins to fish crackers. Another healthy snack idea for those really hot days, frozen Grape Caterpillars. Slide your grapes onto a skewer until it is completely filled up. Use a liquid gel icing to make the eyes. Place your Grape Caterpillar on a pan lined with aluminum foil and freeze for about 2 hours. The result – a healthy, thirst quenching snack!
