Unfortunately, kids in general are known to gravitate towards every snack that isn’t considered healthy. Most kids will gladly pass right by the fruits, veggies and other nutritious foods and immediately reach out for chips, candy, pastries and other sweet treats. If you want to keep your kids healthy it’s time to teach them what they should be eating and what they should be avoiding. To start, make their snacks healthy and nutritious.

The first step is to find out which healthy foods your child will like. Introduce them to a helping of different fruits and vegetables. It may be hard to believe but your child will find at least two or three healthy foods they will readily eat anytime. Once that’s been established, learn how to incorporate those foods into your child’s life, especially when it comes to snack time. If you can manage to get them to automatically reach for the nutritious snacks over the sugar-filled alternatives, they’ll carry these healthy practices as they get older.

When it comes to preparing their snack foods, get them involved. Children love learning new responsibilities and tasks so hire them as your helper. One of the easiest snack recipes you and your child can make together is trail mix. Take out the following ingredients: sunflower seeds, raisins, dried fruit, roasted soy nuts and any other trail mix food they’ll enjoy. Have your child mix and scoop their trail mix of ingredients into a small baggie and have them shake it to their heart’s content. For those hot days, their trail mix bags can be placed in the refrigerator or freezer to chill and keep fresh.

For a snack that is a little more filling, you can put together special wraps. Take a thin slice of roasted luncheon meat (chicken or turkey) and simply roll it up and serve to your child as a treat. You can add mustard or a stick of cheese in the middle. You can also take a whole-wheat tortilla and smooth a layer of peanut butter or light cream cheese and roll up into a wrap and serve.

No recipe is more fun to enjoy than a smoothie. Just as grownups yearn for this cool treat, so do kids. Take low-fat yogurt, ice and their favorite fruit and blend together.

Another way to introduce nutritious foods into your child’s life is to arrange it so they enjoy what they eat while they’re eating it. Kids love dipping their foods so put a healthy twist on it and make it a habit to serve your child their fruits and vegetables with dip. To avoid fattening salad dressings you can make your own dip by mixing French vanilla yogurt and cinnamon into a flavorful dip or mix low-fat, plain yogurt with a little bit of ranch dressing.

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