It’s 3pm, do you know where your children are? Underfoot, hungry, and bored? Yep, sounds familiar. When school’s out but it’s not quite after-school activity or homework time yet, they need something quick to eat and something that’ll keep them occupied. Delish to the rescue! We’ve got a ton of ideas for easy, healthy snacks that everyone can help throw together. Not only will the kids love eating them—they'll have a blast making them with you. There's nothing like sharing quality family time AND a learning experience in the kitchen. Check out our 40 kids snacks for ideas.
For younger kids, we love putting out ingredients and let them go (a little) wild turning them into works of art. Check out our fox toast (there’s no limit to the faces they can make), donut apples (lots of topping options), and PB&J rolls (little hands can help roll). Or you could get the whole family involved, assigning steps to younger kids, older kids, and yourself. Try our puppy chow, antipasto bites, or California cucumber bites: You can use the stove and do the cutting, older kids can do the mixing, and little ones can help assemble and garnish.
If your kid’s a little older (and has more dexterity), try making something a bit more complex with them. Japanese food has a lot of great options that only seem intimidating, like spicy tuna rolls (you control the spice level) or onigiri (rice balls). If you trust them with the oven, they can turn pretty much anything into a pizza (zucchini, toast, bell peppers). If you’ve got one, after school is a GREAT time to get your air fryer involved. Like always, it cuts out lots of time and effort for everything from frozen pizza rolls to cauliflower tots. Plus, since it’s smaller than the oven, older kids can usually handle getting things safely in and out of it too.
Of course, there’s always going to be those days when you’re strapped for time, and need to pull something out for your kids that you previously prepped. For those times, we love our ham and cheese pinwheels, slow-cooker grape jelly meatballs, or our no-bake peanut butter protein balls. Make a big batch one day, and pull them out throughout the week.
Want more kid-friendly ideas? Check out our quick kids dinner recipes, our school lunchbox ideas, and our easy dessert recipes for kids too.
Soft Pretzel Bites
Using canned biscuit dough to make pretzel bites is the best hack ever. The pretzels won't look gorgeous as they come out of the boiling water, but don't worry—they will brown and crisp up and be oh-so-gorgeous when they come out of the oven.
Get the Soft Pretzel Bites recipe.
PB&J Rolls
A PB&J for snacktime is hardly groundbreaking...until it’s reimagined as sushi. Could this be the first step to breaking your kid out of their sandwich rut?
Get the PB&J Rolls recipe.
Cool Ranch Chickpeas
Chickpeas get super-crispy in the oven and make the perfect, addictive snack. So much better for your kids than snacking on a bag of chips! Make sure your chickpeas are dry before going in the oven, and remember, pull them slightly earlier than you think as they'll crisp as they cool.
Get the Cool Ranch Chickpeas recipe.
Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls)
If your kids love rice, onigiri is a must-try: a humble rice ball accented by a variety of fillings, wrapped in roasted seaweed (nori), and perfect for snacking or a light meal. Onigiri is open to customization and experimentation too—try one of our filling options, or create your own.
Get the Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls) recipe.
Everything Bagel Popcorn
It's not just for breakfast anymore: everything bagel seasoning is great on anything, anytime of day, including simple snacks like this popcorn.
Get the Everything Bagel Popcorn recipe.
Peanut Butter Protein Balls
When you need a little energy boost, these peanut butter bites will give you new life. We wanted these protein balls to taste a little bit like cookie dough (😈), so we added some mini dark chocolate chips. Skip them if you're trying to limit sugar for your kids.
Get the Peanut Butter Protein Balls recipe.
Antipasto Bites
Fresh tortellini make these the easy snack of our dreams. Have your kids help you pick the ingredients and help assemble them for a snack that doubles as an after-school activity. Win win!
Get the Antipasto Bites recipe.
Air Fryer Pizza Rolls
Good news for Pizza Roll lovers everywhere. The fastest way to make them is also the best way! Your air fryer cooks them up in just 8 minutes while making them the crispiest they've ever been. They will still be piping hot on that first bite though, so warn your kids to be careful.
Get the Air Fryer Pizza Rolls recipe.
Puppy Chow
Puppy chow (aka muddy buddies) is one of the easiest and most delicious snacks EVER, and it's super kid-friendly to make too. Have older kids help with the microwaving the chocolate and peanut butter and mixing it with the Chex cereal, then place it into a resealable bag with the powdered sugar, and let younger kids get to shaking it all around.
Get the Puppy Chow recipe.
Spicy Tuna Rolls
In restaurants, spicy tuna sushi rolls usually involve raw, sushi-grade fish. Here we used canned tuna to make it more accessible (and tbh, kid-friendly). If your kid is averse to spice, feel free to skip the sriracha. It's YOUR sushi, you can fill it with whatever you and your family likes.
Get the Spicy Tuna Roll recipe.
Ham & Cheese Pinwheels
We'd take a buttery, flaky crescent roll over sandwich bread any day. So with that in mind, we developed these ham and cheese pinwheels using store-bought crescent roll dough. They are chock full of melty cheese and savory-sweet ham, topped with fresh parsley and toasty poppy seeds for texture and flavor that your kids will love (and if they don't, swap out ingredients they're not into, these are super adaptable).
Get the Ham & Cheese Pinwheels recipe.
Copycat Chick-fil-A Nuggets
Skip the drive-thru and make your own fast food nuggets at home. You can control what goes into them, and have as much of your favorite dipping sauce as you want.
Get the Copycat Chick-fil-A Nuggets recipe.
California Sushi Bites
This crunchy cucumber snack is inspired by popular California roll sushi, without any of that pesky rolling. Does your kid have a seasoning blend they're obsessed with putting on everything? Yep, ours too. These are the perfect venue for it, so let them go wild.
Get the California Sushi Bites recipe.
Zucchini Tots
Nix the potato for green zucchini to make this brightly colored snack. Your kids might just like them better than regular 'ole tater tots.
Get the Zucchini Tater Tots recipe.
Sour Patch Grapes
This magical recipe transforms green grapes into a sweet-and-sour snack that tastes suspiciously like Sour Patch Kids.
Get the Sour Patch Grapes recipe.
Summer Rolls With Peanut Dipping Sauce
These homemade summer rolls (aka shrimp rolls) make the perfect snack, especially when served alongside our peanut dipping sauce. For our recipe, we rolled shrimp, rice noodles, crunchy vegetables, and herbs into rice paper sheets, but the dish is highly adaptable. The shrimp can be replaced with slices of cooked pork, cilantro can take the place of mint or basil, and romaine is a good vegetable substitute—what your kid is into works!
Slow-Cooker Grape Jelly Meatballs
Got a PB&J-obsessed kid? Try breaking them out of their rut with these grape jelly meatballs. The sweet jelly mixed with smoky barbecue sauce is a surprisingly perfect match. Feel free to leave out the sriracha if your kid is spice-averse.
Cauliflower Tots
These cheesy nuggets of joy might be better than the real thing. We've included an oven-baked version as well as an air-fryer version—both are great, but we're in love with how golden the air fryer version gets!
Get the Cauliflower Tots recipe.
Cookie Lover's Popcorn
This popcorn recipe is for the SERIOUS cookie monsters in your life (or just those kids obsessed with Sesame Street).
Get the Cookie Lover's Popcorn recipe.
Baked Plantain Chips
If you love a wildly crunchy chip, plantains are the way to go. With a bit more fiber than your average spud chip, these plantain chips only require 3 ingredients. They're darn addictive on their own, but can pair nicely with some creamy dips like a bowl of guacamole or Greek feta dip too.
Get the Baked Plantain Chips recipe.
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