Healthy, Fun Summer Snacks For Kids

Kids playing outside in summer sure can work up quite an appetite.

And what better way to satisfy it between meals than with snacks that are not only healthy, but that you and they can enjoy creating -- and having -- together?!

On The Early Show Monday, registered dietician Keri Glassman suggested several such snacks.

FROZEN

Frozen Orange

Ingredients: Oranges and orange juice

Final Product: Frozen orange in orange

Cut tops off oranges and remove insides. Place insides with orange juice into blender and pour mixture into empty orange shells. Freeze.

Kids love a refreshing snack in summer, and this one adds fluid to help meet hydration needs!

Push Pops

Ingredients: Nonfat plain yogurt, frozen blueberries, push-up pop molds

Final Product: Push Pop

Mix 1 cup of yogurt with 2 cups of frozen blueberries in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into molds and freeze until solid.

Anything out of the freezer is a treat! Kids love the push-up form, and here they're getting calcium, protein and antioxidants!

Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients: Bananas, crushed peanuts in bowls, dark chocolate chips in bowls

Final Product: Banana ice cream in container with toppings

Peel bananas and freeze. Remove from freezer and blend. Place in containers and add your favorite topping.

This is the "un-ice cream ice cream"! Also, if kids have any dairy issues, this is a fun way for them to participate in an ice cream sundae.

Of course, bananas are excellent source of potassium.

REAL FOOD FOR SNACKS

Turkey Sliders

Ingredients: Turkey slices, whole wheat pitas

Final Product: Turkey Slider

Eat food for snacks! Kids often don't eat enough at meals, then go for chips or cookies for snacks. Give them food in snack size!

Kids love stuffing their own sandwiches.

Pinwheels

Ingredients: Flax wraps, spinach wraps, turkey, ham, cheese, toothpicks

Final Product: Pinwheels

Make a sandwich with your child's favorite fillings on a flax wrap (make sure to use different colors such as cheese, ham, spinach wraps). Roll up and slice into four-to-five pieces. You can stab it with a decorative toothpick to keep it rolled.

Healthy Pasta Salad

Ingredients: Fortified pasta, such as Ronzoni Smart Taste or whole wheat pasta, edamame, olive oil, vinegar, salt/pepper, Dixie cups with characters

Final Product: Portioned pasta salad in Dixie cup

Cook the pasta and defrost the edamame (green soybeans). Mix them together and toss with dressing made from olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Serve in a Dixie cup. Sometimes, it's just the way the food is presented that makes kids want to eat!

TREATS

Make your own Trail Mix

Ingredients: Whole grain cereal (such as Puffins, whole grain Chex), bowl of peanuts, bowl of dried apricots, bowl of almonds, bowl of dried raspberries, Ziploc bags

Final Product: Assembled bag of trail mix

Place different ingredients in bowls for your child to assemble their own trail mix.

Excellent for brining on bike ride or family hike.

Peanut Butter Banana Bites

Ingredients: Bananas, peanut butter, crushed whole grain cereal (see above cereals), small whole wheat pretzel sticks

Final Product: Peanut butter banana bite

Cut banana into bite size pieces. Spread peanut butter over each piece and dip in crushed cereal. Can use celery sticks or pretzels for sticks to put pieces on.

Bugs

Ingredients: Crushed graham crackers, bowl of raisins, bowl of dried cranberries, bowl of dark chocolate chips, Ziploc bags, large spoon

Final Product: Assembled bag of graham crackers and dried fruit

Place a graham cracker in each Ziploc bag and crush using a large spoon until sand-like consistency. Add in a few raisins and have your child "dig" for bugs in the sand. Can use other items such as dried cranberries ("ladybugs"), dark chocolate chips ("ants"), etc. Be creative!
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