Valuable snacks in your child's diet
What exactly are snacks, and what role do they play in our daily diet? What can we offer our children as a healthy snack , and what should we avoid? What can a model food plate suggest about snacks for our little ones? Read the text below to learn what healthy snacks for children should look like and how you can prepare them.
Many parents wonder which snacks are best for children . What should we give our children when we're out for a walk or traveling? Making informed choices by parents has a significant impact on their children's future health and the nutritional decisions they'll make on their own. Unfortunately, modern lifestyles, along with the rush and long hours spent outdoors, don't encourage regular mealtimes. Therefore, snacks are playing an increasingly important role in the daily diet – this applies to young children, teenagers, and adults alike. We offer suggestions on how to ensure healthy snacks for children.
Snacks for children, so what?
A snack is a food product, not a meal or dish, consumed to satisfy hunger between main meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner). Sometimes it can replace a second breakfast or an afternoon snack.
Therefore, when choosing snacks, it's important to choose " healthy snacks " that have adequate nutritional value and satisfy children's taste preferences. A healthy snack can improve the quality of a diet and maintain regular mealtimes . When planning meals for children, ensure that the daily energy balance is consistent with the recommended age and activity levels for the child.
According to the current nutritional standards of the National Institute of Public Health – National Research Institute (2024), the recommended energy intake, depending on the child's age, height and weight, gender, and moderate physical activity, ranges from 712-1163 kcal per day for 1-3 year olds , and up to 2244 (girls) and 2707 kcal (boys) for 16-18 year olds. Detailed data is presented in the table below.
*median values of height and weight according to WHO growth standards for children aged 1-3 years and from representative studies of the Polish population within the OLA and OLAF projects for children and adolescents aged 3-18 years
What is worth choosing as snacks for children?
Healthy snacks for children include:
- Fresh vegetables - unprocessed (also in salads);
- fresh fruit - including mousses and salads prepared from them;
- fermented milk products - such as yoghurt, buttermilk and homogenized cheese.
Fresh vegetables and fruits contain valuable vitamins, minerals and fiber, while fermented dairy products are a source of wholesome protein and calcium.
For snacks for children, but in small amounts (due to the high amount of calories), you can also use:
- whole grain cereal products - cereal and whole grain cookies;
- nuts - in its natural form, without additives;
- dried fruits - no added sugar.
Whole grain cereal products are a source of fiber and complex carbohydrates, nuts - minerals and fatty acids beneficial to health, and dried fruit, apart from minerals, contain a lot of fiber.
Healthy snacks for children should replace products with high energy value and/or low nutritional value, such as: sweets, salty sticks or chips, cakes and cookies, corn chips.
How to prepare healthy snacks for kids?
Fresh vegetables and fruits are most often recommended as healthy snacks for children . To encourage our children to eat them, it's best to serve them in colorful, flavorful compositions, such as apple, tangerine, or orange segments peeled of the white outer layer, banana slices, or fresh or cooked vegetable segments cut into interesting shapes. Dairy products, such as plain yogurt, are a valuable snack for children , and can be served with fresh fruit or fruit purees.
Recommended products
Head of the Department of Assessment and Development of Cooperation at the Institute of Mother and Child
According to nutritional recommendations, a child's diet should be individualized, tailored to their needs and appetite. When feeding children, particular attention should be paid to:
- a variety of diet in terms of the selection of food products,
- regulating the diet in terms of the frequency of meals consumed,
- moderately - adjusting the portion size meals / dishes to suit the needs of the child,
- avoiding excess salt and sugar and additives (e.g. dyes, preservatives).
Model food plate
In composing the diet of the youngest children, including preparing snacks, the so-called model food plate, 
which shows the share of individual product groups expressed in the amount of servings in the child's menu:
- protein products: 4-5 servings,
- cereal products: 5 servings,
- vegetables: 5 servings,
- fruit: 4 servings,
- fats: 1-2 servings.
The model food plate applies not only to food but also to drinking. It's important to remember the appropriate amount of fluids a child should drink throughout the day. Good quality water ( spring and mineral ) is recommended – ideally bottled and approved by a pediatrician.
Conscious nutrition is the key to health
Choosing the right foods is key to proper nutrition . For older children and adolescents, the choice of specific foods is often dictated by the example of parents/guardians and peers, television advertising, and the process of becoming more independent with age.
Therefore, efforts should be made to educate children and young people to make informed choices and to use the available food wisely.
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