Healthy Store Bought Granola Bars For Kids

This list of healthy store bought granola bars for kids features top picks for snack bars from a Registered Dietitian. All have seven grams of added sugar or less and include some protein and fiber. 

 

Hi friends!

This list of healthy store bought granola bars for kids comes highly requested and quite honestly has really been a labor of love. I spent hours looking at nutrition labels of various granola and snack bars on the market, analyzing the label, reading the ingredients and researching all the options. And believe me, there are A LOT of bar options out there. While I typically don’t recommend a bar every single day, I recognize that they’re convenient and that there are some nutritious options out there that can fit nicely in a child’s diet. So I did my research and wanted to help cut through the clutter and give you some good options.

Like anything when it comes to feeding your kids, you are in charge. Do your own research. Read the labels. Check out the ingredients. Then decide what you feel comfortable feeding your kids.

Similar to what I discussed in my Lower Sugar Cereals for Kids guide, for posts like this, there has to be a cutoff. Otherwise, the list would be too large and overwhelming. Similarly, this is not an all-inclusive list. There are just too many options out there to cover them all.

So here are the criteria I used for my list:

Sugar:
7g or less added for the main list
10g or less for alternates

It’s sometimes hard to determine how much is added versus natural. That’s why the new nutrition labels that break out added sugar will be helpful. Some bars are already using them so if the amount of added sugar was specifically noted, I’ve listed that in the table below. In the meantime, you can look at the order of ingredients in the ingredient list. If sugar is listed before fruit, you can assume that more of the sugar is added. 

Calories:
160 cal or less for the main list
200 or less for alternate

I typically don’t like to focus on calories, but since most bars are used as a snack, I think it’s important to at least consider them. For the main list, calories range from 100-160. If a bar has 100 calories or less, you may need to pair it with another snack depending on age/size/activity level of the child because it likely won’t do much to help keep them full or satisfied.

Fiber and Protein:
At least 2 grams of each for the main list (except the pressed fruit bars)

Note that fiber can come from oats, fruit, nuts/seeds, but in some bars, it is added in the form of inulin, chicory root etc. Similarly, protein can come from whole ingredients or it can be added in the form of whey protein, egg powder, etc. 

Also, I didn’t include sodium in my considerations but I think it’s worth noting that some bars have higher amounts than others. 

I did my best to choose bars with ingredients I think are wholesome. Is every single ingredient in each bar on this list perfect? No. But overall, I feel like the ingredient lists are good. If you’re overly concerned with ingredients, you may be better off making your own bars at home!

Many of the bars on the list come in multiple flavors. For this list, I’ve picked one flavor of each. Remember that sometimes other flavors might have differences in ingredients, amount of sugar, etc. You can compare nutrition labels and ingredients between flavors on the websites,

Healthy Store-Bought Granola Bars For Kids

• Rx Bar Kids Double Chocolate 
• Larabar Mini Peanut Butter Cookie 
• Larabar Fruit and Greens Strawberry Spinach Cashew 
• HappyTot Strawberry Banana Sunflower Seed Butter Oat Bar
• Happykid Fruit and Oat Bars Apple Cinnamon 
• Thunderkids Peanut Butter and Jelly
• Skout Apple Cinnamon Energy Bar 
• 18 Rabbits Jr Dark Chocolate Cherry Chia Cranberry 
• Matt ‘n Mikes Superkid Bars Raspberry 
• Health Warrior Chia Bar Chocolate Peanut Butter 
• KIND Healthy Grains Cinnamon Oat 
• Kashi Chewy Peanut Peanut Butter 
• My Supersnack Chocolate Chip Granola Bar 
• Nature’s Path Envirokidz Chewy Strawberry 
• Bobo’s Original Chocolate Chip Oat Bites 
• Happytot Fiber and Protein Banana Carrot Bar 
• 88 Acres Cinnamon Oat Seed Bar 
• Enjoy Life Crispy Grain and Seed Chocolate Marshmallow 
• Pressed by KIND Strawberry Apple Cherry Chia
• That’s It Fruit Bar Apple Blueberry 
• That’s It Probiotics Blueberry 
• Perfect Kids Bar Chocolate Chip
• Nature’s Path Love Crunch Dark Chocolate with Red Berries Granola Bar 
• Kashi Chewy Nut Butter Bars Salted Caramel Pecan 
• Clif Kid Z Bar Filled Double Peanut Butter 

Alternates (higher added sugar, less protein and/or fiber, some higher calorie:

• Nature’s Path Sunrise Trail Mixer Chewy
• Kashi Strawberry Breakfast Bar
• Cascadian Farms Chewy Dark Chocolate Chip
• Nothin But Bars Cherry Cranberry Almond
• Nature’s Path Sunrise Chewy Dark Chocolate Chip
• Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars Original
• Cascadian Farms Crunchy Oats and Honey
• Clif Kid Z Bar Chocolate Chip

Here are a few where the ingredients are fine for the most part but I don’t really feel like they’re worth eating. They’re quite low in calories and don’t really offer anything in the way of fiber or protein so they won’t be very satisfying or have a lot of staying power:

• KIND Kids Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
• Little Ducks Organics Blueberry Kale Fig Bar  
• Annie’s Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
• Cascadian Farms Kids Chewy Oatmeal Raisin

And finally, there are some common brands or brands that were recommended to me that I just wasn’t crazy about. Some were higher in sugar than my 10g cutoff for the alternate list. Again, it’s hard to tell what’s added so the added number might be lower, but in many cases, sugar was listed as an ingredient before fruit indicating to me that most of the sugar is added. Some were just mostly sugar with no real nutritional value.

• Made Good
• Don’t Go Nuts
• Larabar Kids
• Plum Organics
• Ellas Nibbly Fingers
• Nature Valley Crunchy

Because I wanted to make this list as helpful as possible, I’ve also made you a table. It includes the number of calories, grams of sugar, fiber and protein and the ingredients of the flavor on the list. Hopefully, that will make it easier for you to quickly compare different bars and look at the areas of nutrition that are most important to you so you can make the best decision for your family!

To see the full spreadsheet, click here!

 

In the name of research, I took all three kids to several grocery stores this week so we could buy a bunch of bars and sample them! It would be too hard to taste all of them on the list but Squish and I tasted a few! He liked the Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars, plus the Stuffed Clif Bars, the Enjoy Life bar and the Thunderbird bar. I liked the 88 Acres, Kind Healthy Grains, Pressed by KIND and the HappyTot Superfoods. 

After I got home I realized the Purely Elizabeth one was 240 calories so it’s likely better suited for an adult but with only 7g of added sugar plus some protein and fiber it’d be a good one to try!

I think that’s it! Remember this isn’t an all-inclusive list and it’s just based on my opinion. You do you! Make choices you’re happy with feeding your family and let others do the same 🙂

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–