When you enroll your child in new preschool programs, chances are, you will have to supply a snack for at least your child, and sometimes, the entire class. What on earth can you send to a preschool classroom without making the teacher unhappy with clean-up or without making children bounce off the walls when snack time is over? Below, you will find a few fun ideas that will make the little ones happy and keep the teacher pleased as well.
Decorated Bottled Water
Kids really don't need to drink anything more than water during the day. In fact, one study showed that more than 1/2 of all children in the U.S. aren't adequately hydrated; so, sending water bottles may be more beneficial than other snack options.
Buy the little individual size bottles of water and spend a little time with your little one decorating each one. This will be a fun little project for you to enjoy and can make drinking water a little more fun for the kids in class. Even if you don't have a whole lot of time to get it done, just use some stickers to decorate them – it doesn't have to be fancy or extravagant, just something to make those plain old water bottles look more fun and exciting. These are also perfect for clean-up since the teacher can recycle them.
Sliced Apples and Pears
Slicing up some apples and/or pears can give kids a serving of fruits without too much of a mess. Avoid those pre-filled mini-cups filled with fruit as most of them are loaded with sugar in the juice, and that juice ends up everywhere before snack time comes to an end. To keep the sliced apples and pears from browning, dip them in lemon juice before putting them into individual serving size Ziploc bags.
Snack Bags
You can fill those little Ziploc bags with dry cereal, pretzels, popcorn, granola, raisins, and so much more. Go to the grocery store and check out the selection of dried fruits. You can create your own preschool trail mix using a variety of fruits that the kids can snack on without making any sort of mess.
Mini-Muffins
Check out some healthy muffin recipes online and find one that you think the kids would enjoy. Then, use mini-muffin tins to make little bite-size muffins for each kid in class. You can load those muffins with bran, grains, and fruit and provide everyone with a healthy snack that will be fun to eat and make a limited mess. Making your own muffins is also a good idea if you have to feed any children with food sensitivities. For instance, there are gluten-free muffin recipes you can find that use almond flour as a substitute.
Kids can enjoy eating healthy snacks and the teachers can enjoy not having to clean up a giant mess when they are done. These are just a few ideas for things that you can send to your child's preschool class to keep both the students and the teachers happy.
