Under 5 magazine

BABY AND TODDLER GROUPS

Staying savvy about snack time

Alliance early years development manager Alison Heseltine shares tips to help baby and toddler groups build in healthy snack time

Alison Heseltine, early years development officer at the Alliance, supports families and educators

Snacks are a great way of providing young children with extra energy and nutrients between meals. Many groups like to offer families a chance to share a snack – perhaps all sitting round the table together is one of the highlights of your session.

But what makes a good snack?

The Alliance gets lots of these types of questions from group leaders, and a quick trawl through online chat forums shows that there are many discussions around what constitutes a good snack to offer at a group.

Children need to have a nutritionally-balanced diet that has a combination of all the different food groups – and snacks can help to contribute to this. A key part is being aware of, and limiting, those foods that are highly processed or contain large amounts of sugar. It’s also important to consider any dietary restrictions.

Traditionally, many groups have offered biscuits, but there are healthier alternatives that could prove just as popular. A great activity that gets everyone involved is preparing the snacks with the children, who are often more adventurous to try new foods that they’ve helped make.

Fresh (not dried) fruit served as fruit kebabs, or in individual portion sized pots or silicon bun cases, perhaps served alongside a yoghurt-based dip

Vegetable sticks served with dips such as hummus or tzatziki

Breadsticks, pitta bread, chapatti slices, tortilla slices, rice cakes

Cheese cubes

Yoghurts (frozen with a fruit topping is lovely on a hot day if you have access to a freezer)

The nature of baby and toddler groups means that there are also other considerations when planning for snacks.

Storage

It is essential to be able to safely store food as directed on the packaging and according to shelf-life limitations. In communal buildings, secure storage in fridges, freezers or cupboards can prove to be a challenge, meaning that leftover food can be wasted.

Costs

With many groups running to a tight budget, it’s worth looking into any opportunities for encouraging donations from families or local shops. Perhaps a shop could either donate or offer any reduced-price fruit and vegetables, for example – still perfectly safe to eat but nearing the end of their shelf life. In return, they could get a free mention in your promotional materials.

Think, too, about minimising waste by perhaps making up individual pots of snacks for children rather than large trays or bowls – individual silicon bun cases work well as a portion.

To help to cut costs, offer water rather than squash as a drink or encourage families to bring their own.

Preparation

Many groups run in community-based buildings, so access to the food preparation space and equipment needed can be difficult. It can also impact the amount of time volunteers spend preparing for the session.

Official guidance regarding food hygiene training for volunteers and group leaders is unclear, but the vulnerability of the individuals the snack is being prepared for – and the risk factors associated with the foods being used – should be considered. This is especially true if food is undergoing more extensive preparation or cooking. A food hygiene qualification is regarded as best practice but not essential in most cases.

Healthy snacks

The danger of too much sugar in young children’s diets can lead to problems maintaining a healthy weight and good oral health. Group snacks and drinks can be a great way of introducing families to healthy, low-sugar alternatives in a friendly space and in a cost-effective way, as little ones get the chance to try new tastes without a family having to spend lots of money on foods that could potentially end up being wasted.

Allergens

It’s vitally important to be aware of the dangers of food allergens to both children and adults. The Food Standards Agency states that, in the UK, approximately 1-3% of adults and 5-8% of children live with a food allergy, so it’s essential to be aware of the 14 known allergens and ensure that your families are informed if any of these are contained in the snacks you offer.

Just for the children?

In many groups, the snacks are important not only for the children, but the adults, too, with instances where that has been the only food they’ve eaten that day due to financial hardship. With all the right preparation and planning in place, some groups are now offering a light meal at the end of a session, if appropriate, where the group comes together and shares soup and bread while taking the chance to chat and build friendships.

The Alliance Baby and Toddler Toolkit helps group leaders reflect on the service they offer to families, including ways to extend an inclusive and welcoming environment for all alongside building connections to other community resources.

If you would like to know more, please visit: bit.ly/BT-Toolkit-Jun24.