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15 Healthy Snacks for Hungry Toddlers

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Joanne Van Zuidam on Mar 31, 2011 at 4:14PM

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MealMakeoverMoms.com

Fun Fruit Kebabs

Are your kids getting bored with apple slices and Goldfish crackers? Check out these creative and nutritious ideas for mid-afternoon munching. (We’ll even help you get your kids eating kale. Kale!)

Naturally sweet fruit is a no-brainer for snacks. Kids love it, it’s portable, and it provides much-needed fiber and antioxidants. Make it fun again by threading halved strawberries, halved grapes and small chunks of pineapple and melon on a frilly toothpick, suggests Liz Weiss, coauthor with Janice Newell Bissex of No Whine with Dinner and the website MealMakeoverMoms.com. (They’re great for kids age four and up -- for younger kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends cutting food into bite-size pieces no larger than ½ inch). Pump up the nutritional quotient even more with cubes of low-fat cheese or baked chicken. “The end result is playful and colorful, so it will really appeal to a toddler,” she says.