Do you have any gluten-free members in your family? It can be tough to think of quick, easy gluten-free snacks for kids or expensive if you buy premade snacks. We’ve got you covered with our favorite gluten-free snack for kids that are easy for you to make at home.
Importance of Time Spent in the Kitchen
Instead of coming up with lots of kid activities to do throughout the day, involve them in daily life activities like food prep! There are many benefits to involving kids in food prep:
- builds healthy eating habits
- kids are more likely to try foods they helped to make
- builds fine motor skills
- involves math concepts like size, weight, measurements, and fractions
- involves science concepts like cause and effect and temperature
- teaches knife skills
- kids learn about following instructions and recipes
- hands-on and engaging
- builds confidence
- great family time
Make sure to plan for a bit more time and more mess when cooking with kids. Find unhurried times of the day to help limit stress, and remember to have kids help with the clean-up process.
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Gluten-Free Snacks for Kids
Here are 11 of our favorite gluten-free snacks for kids that you can make together! Including fats and protends in snacks can help kids to stay full longer. We often add yogurt, beans, or nut butters to our fruit and veggie snacks.
1. Rice Cracker Pizza
These are a tasty favorite in our house! Kids enjoy getting their own individual pizza and have fun picking toppings.
Use rice crackers for the crust and allow kids to spread the sauce and put on whatever toppings they would like. Kids can help grate cheese and chop toppings. We enjoy cheese, olives, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and pineapple.
The pizzas only take a few minutes to bake. We usually place ours in the toaster oven for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Note: lots of sauce can cause thinner rice crackers to get a bit mushy in the middle and become challenging to pick up and eat. Limiting the sauce spreading or thicker rice crackers can help with this.
2. Ants on a Log
Ants on a log are a childhood classic and are already gluten-free without any modifications. You’ll need celery, nut butter, and some raisins. Give kids a butter knife and allow them to spread and smear away. We like to place some peanut butter in a small bowl so that kids can lick the knife and dip it back in as many times as they’d like.
3. Banana Popsicles
We love that even the youngest kiddos can help make this snack as bananas are soft and easy to cut! All you need are bananas and nut butter. Kids can begin by cutting bananas and placing them on a plate. They can then spread some nut butter on each piece of banana. Place the plate in the freezer to turn them into popsicles.
You can add a few chocolate chips to turn them into a dessert.
4. Hummus
Do you know that you can easily make hummus at home? We love this hummus recipe from Inspired Taste. You’ll need chickpeas, lemon, garlic, cumin, olive oil, salt, and some things to dip in the hummus. We dip carrots, celery, cucumbers, and rice crackers.
We use a little food processor that costs under $20. It’s the perfect size for making one batch of hummus and has more than enough power.
Did you know that you can also make chocolate hummus? Weird, we know, but it is surprisingly delicious and easy to make! Like traditional hummus, chickpeas are used for the creamy base. Coco power and sweetener are added to make it into a tasty dessert. We use this simple chocolate hummus recipe from Don’t Waste the Crumbs.
We like to eat it with apple slices and rice crackers.
5. Fruit Pizza
Rice crackers strike again with the fruit pizza! All you need are rice crackers, cream cheese, and some fruit. Let kids spread and chop away. We like to begin by chopping fruit and then place out the rice crackers and cream cheese.
We’ve seen kids engrossed in this for long periods. No recipe or adult direction is needed!
6. Smoothies
Who doesn’t enjoy a good smoothie? We love that you can use whatever fruit, veggies, and milk you have around. Kids can help chop, but it doesn’t matter how small they get the pieces because the blender does the actual work. You can freeze prechopped fruit or add a few ice cubes if you’re looking for a cold smoothie.
A popsicle mold can be used to make popsicles with any extra smoothie. This is a great way to keep from wasting any or overeating.
We use this simple Oster blender, and it has been going strong for years!
Our favorite smoothie ingredients: bananas, strawberries, blueberries, almond milk, coco powder, nut butter, cinnamon, chia seeds, hemp hearts, spinach, apples, ice.
7. Energy Balls
Energy balls are a tasty high calorie, and high-protein snack. They’re made from a base of nut butter, oats, and a liquid sweetener. You can then use lots of different add-ins to make various types. We follow this energy ball recipe from Well Plated and usually add mini chocolate chips, chia seeds, chopped nuts, and unsweetened coconut.
Kids can help to measure ingredients, pick add-ins, and mix. It becomes pretty tough to combine with a spoon because of how thick it is, so we let out kids use their hands to mash it all together. They can then help to roll the mix into balls.
A batch can be stored in the freezer and defrosted as needed. We wrap each ball in wax paper and twist the ends like a taffy wrapper. This makes it easy to grab balls and pack them as a snack when you head out of the house.
8. Popcorn
Popcorn is a quick and easy snack that we make at home all the time! We love using an air popper because it’s healthy, inexpensive, and kids love to watch the popcorn pop. All you have to do is add the kernels and plug it in. You can add melted butter and salt once all the kernels are popped or eat it plain. Kids seem pretty excited either way.
Note: popcorn isn’t recommended for kids under the age of 4.
9. Yogurt Cones
Yogurt cones tend to get a bit messy and do require that you buy gluten-free ice cream cones, but they’re a kid favorite!
Kids can help to scoop some yogurt into an ice cream cone, add some sprinkles, and just like that, you have a yogurt cone! We have seen more than a kid or two bite a chuck out of the side of the cone, so make sure to eat them over a plate. Kids quickly get the hang of eating them from the top down.
10. Rice Crispy Treats
This one is a bit more of a dessert than a snack but is another favorite when it comes to gluten-free snacks for kids. Rice crispy treats are fun for kids to make and give them practice following a simple recipe. All you need is butter, marshmallows, and rice crispies. We follow the Kelloggs recipe.
We enjoy making a batch and packaging up small squares for school lunches. Kids can help cut and wrap the treats.
11. Quesadilla
Quesadillas are a tasty and simple gluten-free snack for kids using corn tortillas. Kids can help to shred the cheese and place it on the tortilla. As they get older, kids can practice using the stove by helping to flip the quesadilla.
In addition to cheese, you can add black beans, shredded chicken, or peppers.
Best Kitchen Knives for Kids
Having kid-specific knives is so essential when including kids in cooking. When the size and sharpness are appropriate for them, kids can happily cut away and begin making food for themselves. When in doubt, a butter knife is always a great option. Kids can also practice using pocket knives to build their knife skills.
Wooden Knife for Kids
We love this wooden knife from Bee9 and use it in our classrooms with toddlers and preschoolers. It fits nicely in tiny hands, and the shape allows kids to put lots of pressure on the top of the blade.
It isn’t sharp and works best for soft foods like bananas and strawberries (though our students also use it for celery and apples) – this makes it a great first knife as kids begin to build their knife skills. Its ability to cut is similar to that of a butter knife (which is also a great option!).
Plastic Knives for Kids
This is an excellent set of plastic knives from Tovla. We also use these with a classroom of preschoolers. They are kid-safe and allow kids to build their knife skills, making them an excellent step up from a wooden knife.
Kids can cut most foods with these knives though they’ll need to use quite a bit of force to cut extra firm foods like carrots.
Crinkle Cutter
This Joie crinkle cutter is easy for kids to use and sharp enough to cut vegetables. The shape of the knife allows kids to press directly down on the blade and helps them chop through firm foods. Kids like the fun waves it makes.
A crinkle cutter can be quite sharp and should be used with care. Kids will need some instruction and supervision as they use this knife. They must keep their helping hand out of the way of the blade.
Sharp Kitchen Knife for Kids
This Opinel knife is the perfect first sharp kitchen knife for kids. They can transition to this knife once they’ve mastered basic knives skills with plastic knives.
It comes with a rounded tip and a finger guard to help keep them from cutting their fingers while chopping. Its small size makes it very manageable for kids. Opinel recommends it for kids ages 5 to 10.
What are your favorite gluten-free snacks for kids?
Let us know what you try!
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