Healthy Classroom Snack Guidelines
A healthy school food environment can help students reach their full potential. Providing nourishing
snacks is a great way to establish healthy life long eating habits. Parents can help by sending only
healthy snacks to school with their students.
Healthy snacks are important
Healthy kids do better in school. Kids today are often eating high-fat and sugary snacks and missing out
on high-nutrient foods like fruits and vegetables. The average child today eats 250 calories more from
snacks each day than a child did in the 1970’s. Those calories could easily add up to a weight gain of 26
pounds in one year.
Children should get five or more fruits and vegetables each day—snack time is the perfect time to fit
them in. Fruits and vegetables can be easy, enjoyable and affordable and are encouraged at snack time.
Some of the most popular fruits and vegetables among children are listed below. Try serving them with
low-fat dips or yogurts.
Kid’s favorite fruits
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Bananas*
Grapes*
Apples*
Strawberries
Watermelon*
Oranges
Applesauce
Pears
Peaches
Pineapple
Kid’s favorite vegetables
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Baby carrots*
Broccoli*
Celery*
Cucumbers*
Fresh green beans
Snap peas or pea pods
Red or green bell pepper
slices
* A serving of these fruits and veggies cost less than a cereal bar or a small bag of chips. Other fruits and vegetables may be
more affordable when in season. Check your grocery store ad and buy your child’s favorites when they are on sale.
Additional snack items that meet healthy guidelines
Brand Name Items*
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Teddy Grahams®
Barnum’s Animals® Crackers
Nabisco Mini Nilla Wafers ®
Honey Maid® Graham crackers
Cheerios® and Honey Nut Cheerios®
Kix® and Honey Kix®
Cheerios® Cereal bar
Stonyfield Farm® Organic low-fat yogurt
Laughing Cow ® light cheese
Nature Valley® Crunchy granola bars
Quaker® Chewy granola bars
Quaker® Simple Harvest™ granola bars
Wheat Thins® Original, Ranch, Multigrain
Other Items
•
•
•
•
•
Canned fruit (in natural juice or water) and
vegetables (low sodium)
Dried fruits (raisins, berries, etc.)
Non-fat or 1% cottage cheese
Nuts or seeds (plain or with spices)
String cheese
*All items meeting criteria are not listed. Snacks
should come in single serving packages or use the
portion size indicated on the label.
Smart Choices is a partnership including nine school districts in
Dakota County committed to making the healthy choice the easy choice.
Funding for Smart Choices is provided by the Minnesota Statewide
Health Improvement Program (SHIP) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield
of Minnesota through its Prevention Minnesota Initiative.
Institute of Medicine guidelines
If you choose to send items that are not listed use the Institute of Medicine guidelines for healthy
snacks.
• No more than 200 calories per package
• No more than 35% of total calories from fat (except for nuts and seeds)
• Less than 10% of total calories from saturated fat
• Zero Trans Fat (< 0.5 g per serving)
• No more than 35% of total calories from added sugars (except yogurt and foods
containing fruit)
• No more than 200 mg of sodium per package
Simple Guidelines
Number of calories in the
product
100 calories
150 calories
200 calories
Allowed grams of total fat
(35%)
4 grams
5 grams
7 grams
Allowed grams of
saturated fat (10%)
1 gram
1 gram
2 grams
Allowed grams of added
sugars (35%)
8 grams
13 grams
17 grams
Example of foods that do not meet standards – please do not send these foods for snack.
Cake, cupcakes, cookies, candy, fruit snacks, high-fat and/or high-salt chips and crackers, high-sugar
and/or high-fat breakfast-type bars.
Healthy Snacks at Home
You can help support our new policy by serving healthy snacks at home. Try some of these fun, kidapproved ideas to add variety to your child’s snacks:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Peel a banana and dip it in yogurt. Roll in crushed
whole grain cereal and freeze.
Mix together ready-to-eat whole grain cereal, dried
fruit and nuts in a sandwich bag for an on-the-go
snack.
Put cubes of low-fat cheese and grapes on pretzel
sticks to make snack kabobs.
Toast a whole grain waffle and top with low-fat
yogurt and sliced peaches.
Spread peanut butter on apple slices.
Fill a waffle cone with cut-up fruit and top with lowfat vanilla yogurt.
Layer vanilla yogurt and mandarin oranges or
blueberries in a tall glass. Top with a sprinkle of
granola.
Dip it! Bonus Snacks
• Dip baby carrots and cherry tomatoes in
low-fat ranch dressing.
• Dip strawberries or apple slices in low-fat
yogurt.
• Dip whole grain pita bread in hummus.
• Dip graham crackers in applesauce.
• Dip baked tortilla chips in bean dip.
• Dip animal crackers in low-fat pudding.
• Dip whole grain bread sticks in salsa.
• Dip a granola bar in low-fat yogurt.
• Dip whole grain mini-toaster waffles in
cinnamon applesauce.