Your Advice: After School Snack Scenarios Solved

4 minute read

If you have school aged children, you know that after school hunger is so real. Between early lunch, long classes, and after school activities, traditional dinner time is still hours away. We asked our readers how they take the edge off of hunger while still leaving room for dinner.

Meal Prep

Meal prepping has become a part of so many busy family’s weekend habits. Readers shared that while they are grilling chicken and prepping veggies for quick meals, they also think of easy snacks to have ready to rock. 

Hard boiled eggs, crudite, washed berries, and even a batch of cookies or brownies to have on hand all week easily fits into the meal prep process. 

You also have the luxury of a little more time on the weekend making this a great time to involve the kids in the kitchen. We love these kid safe knives so they can get in on cutting up fruits and veggies and the back of the chocolate chip bag makes learning how to follow a recipe a cinch.

Snack Plate

In our responses there was a clear leader for a successful afternoon snack break. It goes by many names: Kid Charcuterie, A Plate of Many Things, The Snack Plate.

But the idea is all the same: A little fruit, a little veg, some protein, a few chips or crackers, and a sweet. It is a small amount of each thing; but, balanced, healthy, and fun. 

Our readers said they always include something that the kids love and consider a treat. Our best advice is to have it prepped and ready to go as they walk in the door. Seeing things in mass will make them want more of a particular item; but, just seeing a prepared plate will make them excited to dig into what is being offered to them.

Snack Plate Ideas:

Apples, celery, peanut butter, and two oreos

Grapes, string cheese, carrots, crackers, and gummy worms

Pepperoni, cheese slices, cucumbers, pita bread, and hummus

Get the Sillies Out

“Gamifying” snack time is so clever and helpful to keep any impending “hanger” at bay. Here are a few things to help shake off the day and maintain a little structure, while also giving the kids a sense of control, play, and a good snack:

Snack Stations: Put a few snacks out and to unlock access to the snack a kiddo must do a silly task. Tasks could be “Bust out your best dance move!” or “Solve this riddle” or “Hop on one foot 5 times.”

Build Your Own Snack Bar: This is a great way to serve a handful of kiddos and fun to pull out if you have friends joining your kids. Choose a theme and let the kids assemble their own snack. Ideas include fruit kabobs, yogurt parfaits, or a snack mix/trail mix. Honestly? It is also a really great way to empty the odds and ends from the pantry. Half a bag of croutons? Great. A few stray bags of M&M’s from Trick-or-Treat? On the bar they go!

Take it To-Go

There are afternoons when the bus drops the kids and the turn around to the next activity is tight. Those days families need snacks that are easy to pack and eat without making a mess of the car.

“Snackle” Boxes have become internet popular and are essentially The Snack Plate that you can easily transport. Fill each section with a little something to snack on on-the-go. 

Smoothie fans serve as a great, nourishing snack to take with you and they take hardly any time to prepare.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

3/4 cup frozen strawberries

1/2 frozen banana

1 cup milk

1/4 cup Greek Yogurt

Blend well and serve.

Just Do Dinner

We found in our responses that some family’s nights are packed with activities that fall right in the middle of traditional dinner time—usually from 5:00 to 7:30. It’s an awkward stretch where it feels too early to eat before, but too late to eat after. Others find with little kids that bedtime routines start at 7:00 and the late afternoon just goes really fast. It doesn’t make sense to have a snack and then dinner right after. Not to mention, the little ones are not hungry again.

 So instead of a snack after school, they have started serving a full dinner around 4:00. One reader wrote, “It sometimes means we don’t eat as a family. That is fine. Our son isn’t filling up on snacks and is getting better nutrition from a meal.”

Another with the same dilemma said, “We’ve shifted our focus to breakfast as a family time, and we try to make space for a slower, more intentional meal together on the weekends. It’s not perfect, but it works for this season of life.”

Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best one: just do dinner whenever it makes sense for you.

And, that is true for feeding our families in and outside of the hours from 3:30-9 for any of us. Sometimes, flexility, the ability to pivot, get creative, and just say “good enough” is exactly what we all need to get through the final shift of the day.