Make an Educational and Healthy Snack For Toddlers

healthy snack for toddlers

Photo credit: CBC Parents

At the Adventure Learning Center, everything we do with the kids involves learning, sometimes even at snack time! The teachers at ALC spend hours each week creating fun and educational lesson plans and activities. The preschool kids learned about life cycles last month, and one of our favorite teaching activities is caterpillars and butterflies. If you have young ones at one, you probably are familiar with the kid’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. We love incorporating this book into our lesson and think that every family could benefit from reading this book to their children. This whimsical book not only explains the life cycle of a butterfly, but it also is useful for a lesson about the days of the week and eating well. Children can relate to the caterpillar that eats too many treats and ends up with a bellyache.

A fun way to incorporate the book and teach about caterpillars and butterflies is a healthy snack for toddlers that they can help make. We love that this recipe weaves science, art, and nutrition all in one. The fun part is that this treat can be made with a variety of ingredients to fit tastes and allergies. Choose from a variety of fruits, veggies or cheeses to create cute caterpillar friend snacks!

 Healthy Snack For Toddlers – The Very Tasty Caterpillar

  1. Choose Ingredients:

All you need is a few different types of fruit. We recommend apple,  kiwi, banana, or strawberries,  but you can make it with any fruit or veggies. A teeny bit of cheese or fruit leather and a pretzel stick or veggie straw come in handy for the antennas, eyes, and feet. You can pick a combination of any fruits or vegetables that your kiddo would enjoy; get creative and have fun!

2.Put it together:

Parents:

  • First, peel your fruit pieces and slice into rounds. Remembe to cut something for the face as well, maybe a round piece of apple or a strawberry. .
  • For eyes, cut tiny circles or raindrop shapes from a piece of cheese or apple with a sharp knife. You can also use peanut butter.

Kids:

  • Build the caterpillar on a plate, alternating slices of fruit to form into the shape of the body (an S).
  •    After the last piece of fruit, add the head and eyes.
  • Break a pretzel stick or veggie straw in half for the antenna. You can also use Twizzlers for a sweeter choice.
  • Add feet if you like.

And you’ve got a simple and healthy snack for toddlers!

If you are looking for a more educational butterfly activity, check out this project for older kids:

This snack is a great way to tie together snack time with a science lesson at home or with your preschool class. Share pictures of your creations with us on Facebook.