These playtime snacks are not practical?

[UndertheCedartree]

The school newsletter last week had an article trying to encourage parents to send in healthier snacks for their DC at playtime.

I find this is such a minefield as my DD isn't always hungry at playtime so whatever I send needs to be able to last being in a school bag for a few days and still be edible.

This rules out many of the suggestions such as vegetable sticks and houmous, yogurt and crackers and cheese. These should all be low fat too which I don't buy anyway. Also suggest fruit salad but again, this will go off and many whole pieces of fruit get bruised etc. And then as at many schools, nuts aren't allowed so that rules out sending in whole nuts or naked bars.

Some of the other suggestions I found quite strange such as toast, crumpets and bread.

They used to have a tuck shop selling healthier snacks but it stopped in Covid and now can't start up again because the school is now cashless. I did suggest parents paying in advance for fruit and vegetable snacks like they get in Infants but the school have said logistically this is not practical.

Anyone have any good suggestions for robust healthier snacks? I appreciate what the school are doing but ultimately if my healthy weight and healthy eating DD has a pack of snack a jacks or mini cookies a couple of times a week, I'm not that bothered.

I am autistic and have EUPD so it is true I can make a mountain out of a molehill!

She doesn't like them. I got excited when these came out and bought every flavour! At least, I enjoyed them....

I also struggle with this. They eat their snacks outside while playing so I don't think it's practical to give something fiddly to eat or that comes in a tub (what do they do with the tub/spoon/fork for the rest of playtime?!).

My son is a fairly fussy eater and allergic to peanuts so we have to avoid everything with nut traces on the packaging which rules out a lot of packaged snacks like nearly every cereal bar. He won't eat bananas or oranges or yogurt. Pretzels and breadsticks are no longer deemed acceptable by him either. He ends up with snack a jacks or fibre bars (Asda own brand, nut safe) nearly every day, or occasionally crisps.

I send a small bag of mini breadsticks and an apple.

Put the fruit in a small compact container. It won’t be bruised.

Just saying: in the olden days, when I went to school, my brothers, sister and I had breakfast, walked three quarters of a mile to catch the school bus. (Just us. No adults. Dad gave us a lift if he had time when it was raining hard.) There was free school milk at morning playtime, but I didn't drink mine; I didn't like the taste of bottled milk. Two courses of school dinner got us through the day until we arrived home. We walked from the bus again. We didn't take, weren't given and didn't expect 'snacks'. But was then.

I would stop sending snacks altogether, and let the kids spend their small slice of free time doing something more important than forcing food down their throats. It’s called playtime-not snack time- for a reason.

You're over-thinking this OP. Just whack an apple or pear in. If she doesn't eat it in the morning, she can have it after school. No biggy.

@UndertheCedartree Hot cross buns! Relatively filling. Easy to wrap in a bit of cling film. We keep ours on the freezer and send them in frozen - they defrost in less than an hour so ready for break..I do sometimes have to fish a squashed bun out of his bag (he's 15 now, but has had many hundreds of hot cross buns over the years!). Bagels are a good alternative too - we get the cinnamon and raisin ones - no need to butter etc.

I’ve seen kids take in a little tub of dried cereal e.g. cheerio pieces and just eat them with their fingers. Might be a useful option?

Just to add, if we'd had one of these when DS was small, he definitely would have taken more bananas to school and avoided a legacy aversion to bruised bananas!

Mini breadsticks, crackers and oat cakes are my "go to" snacks. But once they're in about yr3+ they start getting mortally embarrassed by anything that isn't a cereal bar 🤷‍♀️

When are schools going to get over this low fat snack crap- they are FULL of sugar!

We walk a mile and a half to school. When I was at school back in the day we had tuck shops to buy crisps, sweets and biscuits. 'Elevenses' and afternoon tea (i.e morning and afternoon snack) were a thing when my DM was a child. I always find it funny when posters say people didn't have snacks in the past. I would think poorer families didn't as they couldn't afford it but wealthier families definitely did!

20 min is plenty of time to eat a small snack as well as play. My DD eats her snack if she is hungry, she doesn't 'force it down her throat'! What a strange idea! She does sometimes need the morning snack so I will keep sending it.

I’m guessing the snack isn’t mandatory, they aren’t going to lock you up for not sending one. If she isn’t hungry at break time and you know she won’t eat the snack, don’t bother sending one and if the teacher asks about it just tell her she won’t eat it and it’s wasteful. Sorted.

I love hot cross buns and reason and cinnamon bagels!

I know they won't lock me up! I have been asked to ensure she has a snack as she has on occasion been faint approaching lunchtime. This actually happened yesterday and the teacher got her to eat her snack in class.

I just send in the 25p bags of fruit from tesco. Sliced apples/grapes, pineapple fingers etc. if it doesn't get eaten (which is rare) they have it afterschool or i put it back in the fridge for the next day.

You could put in an apple/banana or pear. i think you are hugely over thinking this !

I don't understand the bruised thing. Are Tupperware containers just not a thing anymore? You don't just have to have an apple or banana thrown at the bottom of her bag!

At your primary school? On another note if your DD is fainting from hunger you need to make sure you give her a more substantial breakfast.

Yes, at primary school. Re:,breakfast - yes, this is why she sometimes in particular needs a snack she has Long Covid and due to fatigue doesn't always eat a good breakfast.

Are you in the UK, I’m pretty sure tuck shops in primary shops were never a thing here?

On a zip top bag!!

just saying...