Santa Cruz City Schools - School Nutrition And Fitness

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Healthy Snack Ideas

Kids often need snacks to help them get enough calories (ENERGY) throughout the day. Choosing healthy snacks that add nutrients, like vitamins and minerals, to their diets is essential. Smart snacking is a great way to meet daily nutrient requirements that may be missed at meal times.

Healthy Snack Calculators

The healthy Snack Calculators, developed by the California Project LEAN, are based on the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and measures the nutrient density of snack foods, so you can make healthier choices. They are designed to be user-friendly tools to help educate you on research-based healthy snack and nutrition options.

Kids in the Kitchen

There are plenty of fun ways to liven up snack time using healthy fruits, vegetables and cheeses. Kids will love creating and eating fun-to-make snacks with you in the kitchen! Click on the image to the right to watch a video to learn about some fun and healthy snack ideas that you can make with your kids in the kitchen.

Snacking Tips for Parents

Plan ahead and buy healthy snacks when you shop. You will save money and make healthier choices than if you or your kids are buying snacks on the go.
Provide kids with choices and make those choices nutritious.
Pre-portion you child's snacks into small plastic bags to grab on the go.
Combine snacks from at least two food groups to pack more nutrients into your child's diet... it will be more filling and it will hold them over to the next meal.
And remember... space snacks far enough between meals so appetites are not spoiled!

Two Simple Steps to Delicious and Nutritious Snacks
Katie-Jeffery-Lunn, MS, RD, CDN, LDN

Healthy, Fun Snacks and Desserts for the Whole Family
Reyna Franco, MS, RD, CDN

Healthy, Tasty and Creative Snacks for Kids
Katie-Jeffery-Lunn, MS, RD, CDN, LDN

Visit MealsMatter.org for more snack ideas.

Back to Nutrition for Parents


Healthy Dairy Snack Ideas String Cheese and Fruit Low fat or nonfat Milk or Yogurt Smoothies with 100% fruit juice and sliced bananas or strawberries Cottage Cheese or Yogurt with fruit (fresh or canned) Fat-Free or 1% White, Chocolate or Flavored Milk Healthy Dairy Snack Ideas	Healthy Fruit and Veggie Snack Ideas Raw Vegetables with low-fat yogurt dip, cottage cheese or humus Baby Carrots Celery Sticks Cucumber Slices Apples and cheese - pears and other fruits are good too! Frozen fruit bars Trail mix with nuts and dried fruit 100% Fruit Juice box Healthy F & V Snack Ideas	Healthy Grain Snack Ideas Whole-grain crackers with cheese or peanut butter Whole-grain cereal with milk Flavored rice cakes (like caramel or apple cinnamon) with peanut butter Baked potato chips, or tortilla chips with salsa Popcorn - Air popped or low-fat microwave Pretzel sticks and a glass of milk Vanilla wafers, gingersnaps, graham crackers, animal crackers, fig bar or raisins, and a glass of milk Healthy Grain Snack Ideas

District Address
Santa Cruz City Schools
405 Old San Jose Road
Soquel, CA 95073

Department Address
Santa Cruz City Schools
310 La Fonda Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95062

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