Need ideas for healthy snacks for toddlers? This list is specifically geared towards kids 1-3 years old, with homemade and storebought ideas for at home and on the go.
Hi friends!
Let’s talk healthy snacks for toddlers. Way back in 2015 I wrote a post called 10 Healthy Toddler Snacks and it’s been wildly popular on Pinterest. It has some great ideas so be sure to check it out! I think a lot of snack ideas posts are geared towards kids in general but there always seems to be a fair amount of ideas that aren’t safe for toddlers, mainly because of choking hazards. So I wanted to put together an even bigger list of toddler-safe snacks.
When it comes to choking hazards, it’s important to be aware. Let’s review some of the more common toddler choking hazards:
Toddler Choking Hazards
- Round foods like hot dogs, sausages, cherry tomatoes and grapes
- Hard foods like apples and carrots and other hard raw veggies
- Nut butter by the spoonful or thickly spread on bread
- Marshmallows, whole nuts, gum, hard candy, chips and popcorn
Toddler Choking Hazards modified:
- For round foods: cut lengthwise into quarters
- For hard fruits and veggies: grate, cut into matchsticks, dice and saute, steam or roast to soften
- Nut butter: spread thinly on toast
- Marshmallows, gum, hard candy, chips and popcorn should be avoided
- Chop whole nuts into very small pieces and consider softer nuts like cashews/pecans/pistachios vs almonds/peanuts
- Popcorn cakes/rice cakes are safer than popcorn kernels
Healthy Snacks For Kids
If you’re looking for snacks for older kids, I have several posts to check out. These lists will have some snacks that are good for toddlers but not all of them:
- 60+ Healthy Packaged Snacks For Kids
- Healthy Costco Snacks
- Healthy Walmart Snacks
- Best Trader Joe’s Snacks
- Healthy Amazon Snacks
- Peanut & Tree Nut Free Packaged Snacks
- Healthy After School Snacks
So let’s dive right into toddler snacks, shall we?
Healthy Snacks Toddlers
Here are some snack ideas that I make at home:
- Smoothies
- Hard-boiled eggs – I usually cut them into quarters
- English muffin pizzas
- Mini muffins – My favorite for young toddlers are my Sweet Potato Banana Bites – Here are lots of my kid-friendly baking recipes. My friend and fellow RD Min over at The Adventures of MJ and Hungryman also has tons of Healthy Baby and Toddler muffins here.
- Fruit – berries, kiwi, mandarin oranges, bananas, fruit leather, raisins, grated apples + pb yogurt dip
- Vegetables – matchstick carrots, peas, corn, cucumber, roasted sweet potatoes + ranch/hummus/laughing cow (toddler dips)
- Quesadillas
- Waffles/toast with peanut butter and jelly or avocado, cut into sticks or in half
- Nut-free trail mix – pumpkin & sesame seeds, cereal, dried fruit
- Homemade energy bars – use any energy ball recipe that uses a food processor to avoid big chunks, then press into a pan and cut into bars vs balls, then cut
- Egg wraps/mini egg muffins
- Oatmeal
- Pancakes
Healthy Snacks For Toddlers On The Go
Here are some packaged snacks that I often have on hand for quick snacks both at home and on the go:
- Bars – Larabar minis, Happy Family Organic & Nature’s Bakery Baked Ins are some of our favorites. Check out my list of Healthy Store-Bought Granola Bars for Kids for more toddler-friendly options
- That’s it dried fruit mini bars
- Innerpeas/Harvest snaps
- Triscuit thins
- Bambas
- Canned beans & chickpeas
- Stonefire mini pitas
- Cereal -Cheerios & Love Grown are our favs – here’s more Lower Sugar Cereals For Kids
- Skinny Pop or Safe & Fair Popcorn cakes
- Hummus
- Freeze-dried fruit
- Hippeas
- Made Good granola bites
- Bitsy’s Crackers
- Soozy’s Muffins
- Veggie’s Made Great Muffins
- Mini bagels, Dave’s Killer Bread thin sliced or Brownberry bread with peanut butter or avocado
- Seaweed snacks
- Brown rice thin cakes
- Horizon Organic shelf-stable milk
- Zego fruit and chia bars
- My Superfoods Granola bites
- Cheese
- Olives (quartered & pit removed)
- Annie’s whole wheat bunnies
- Yogurt/kefir – Chobani, Siggi’s & Stonyfield have good lower sugar options
- Mamma Chia Squeeze pouches
- Serenity kids pouches – they have lots of meat and veggie options
- Enjoy Life fruit and seed mixes
- Waffles – we like Kashi and Kidfresh Foods
So there you go! Lots of toddler-friendly snack ideas for you!
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
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