Healthy Snacks

Teachers' Choice:

Teachers have the responsibility of ensuring an environment where students are safe and able to learn. Healthy snacks can improve students' concentration and energy levels to help them learn more actively. Unhealthy, excessive, or distracting snacks can impair the learning of the snacker and other classmates.

Teachers have the right to determine when snacks may be eaten in their classroom, and what type of snacks are acceptable. Snacking in class is a privilege, and may not be allowed in some classes or at certain times.

The lists on this page are not comprehensive. Some of the snacks on the "healthy" list may not be approved by some teachers. You may be asked to send the snack's original packaging with the nutrition information before questionable snacks are approved. Please work with your child's teacher to ensure a positive snacking environment.

Snacking Do's and Don'ts:

Do choose low fat, low sugar, and low salt snacks!

Goal is to choose finger-food that is healthy, non-messy, and quiet.

Please note that we do have several students in our building with nut allergies, so special precautions need to be taken to ensure proper clean-up so that door knobs, keyboards, etc. are not "contaminated" with nut oils. These can cause severe allergic reactions in some students. Check with your child's teacher to see if your child's class has a student with nut allergies. Those classes with children who are allergic to nuts will have a restricted list of foods that are considered "safe" to eat near students with nut allergies.

Please remind your child never to share food, as it may put others at risk unintentionally.

Here is a list of possible "healthy" snacks.

• apples or pears (pre-sliced with no core work best)
• bananas
• baby carrots or carrot sticks
• pre-sliced bell peppers
• broccoli florets
• baked crackers
• "healthy" baked chips with low-sodium (veggie chips, Sun Chips, etc.)
• Goldfish, low-sodium Cheese-Its, etc.
• Wheat Thins (low sodium style)
• granola bars (without chocolate chips or chocolate coating)
• trail mix (no chocolate!) *Nut-allergy Alert: clean desk surface well, wipe hands/face with wet-wipe, then scrub hands with soap and water immediately after finishing snack*
• string cheese
• raisins
• dried/dehydrated fruits
• dry cereal (no chocolate or sugar coating)
• crackers-n-cheese packs
• animal crackers without frosting
• unsalted nuts *Nut-allergy Alert: clean desk surface well, wipe hands/face with wet-wipe, then scrub hands with soap and water immediately after finishing snack*
• plain graham crackers
• bread rolls (or any bread that isn't too crumbly)
• plain tortillas
• quesadillas (tortillas sandwiching melted cheese)
• low-salt pretzels
• plain (not buttered or salted) popcorn ALREADY POPPED

Snacks to avoid:

• candy
• anything containing chocolate
• fried foods (most potato chips, french-fries)
• high-salt/sodium foods (most chips, salted nuts, some pretzels, etc.)
• beef jerky (usually high in salt and/or fat)
• jell-o style snacks
• very juicy or drippy snacks, such as oranges
• very noisy snacks, such as celery or thick carrots
• frozen snacks
• snacks that require refrigeration
• snacks that require assembly at school
• foods that require forks or spoons to eat