Best Snacks When Traveling with Preschoolers

With a little planning and a little prep, you can make your family trips more enjoyable for everyone involved. Food plays big factor. Bringing snacks helps keep hungry children fed when you don’t want to eat at a restaurant or can’t find one. It also saves money and time. Here’s a guide to help you bring the best snacks on your trip.

Before you decide what food to bring, be aware of what you don’t want to bring, such as anything messy or foods that could be a choking hazard* for young children.

So, what food should you bring? Keep your child’s age in mind when packing snacks. For example, thicker raw apple slices can be a choking hazard for children under 2 years old. Thinly sliced apples are a little easier for 18-24 months olds to eat. And apples should be cooked for children younger than 18 months.

When traveling on the road with preschoolers, plan stops every few hours at local parks to eat a snack and let the kids play. Use Google or Apple maps to locate parks on your route or use the (free) U.S. National Park Service (NPS) app.

“When my kids were that age,” says Emily Bush, mother of 3, “we went through a lot of the applesauce/blended fruit and veggie pouches and bite-sized snacks like bear grahams. Finding a park to stop at and make sandwiches worked great too.”

Bringing takeout to a park is a treat!

Do Bring:

● Fresh fruit: apple slices, orange sections or bananas cut in half lengthwise, then crosswise. Cut grapes in half to prevent choking. Add lemon juice to help prevent browning.

● Breakfast cereal: Cheerios or other dry cereal low in sugar and easy to hold. Snack size zipper bags help with portion size and easy serving.

● Cereal bars: Granola bars or other cereal bars made with kids in mind (no large nuts and lower in sugar) are a good alternative for cookies.

● Crackers: Animal crackers, graham bears, cheese-flavored fish crackers, and other assorted crackers.

If you bring a cooler, you’ll be able to bring a variety of food: Hard boiled eggs, sandwiches, small (1/2-inch) cheese cubes, carrot and celery sticks (par-boiled for young children), 100% fruit juice, water.

Bring wipes or a wet washcloth in a plastic container to clean hands before and wipe hands and face after. Supervise. Keep kids sitting while they eat and drink. Taking 15 extra minutes to play on the playground before continuing your journey will make for a happy trip.

Once you’re done eating, it’s time to play!

*Choking hazards for young children include nuts, hotdogs, popcorn, potato chips, whole grapes, raw carrots, globs of nut butter, fruit roll ups, marshmallows, hard candy, gummy bears, chewing gum, jellybeans.

Big thanks to Nina Wiederholt, Debbie Arnn, and Emily Bush for their help in writing this newsletter.

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Amy Houts is the author of 100+ picture books for children. To find out more about Amy, visit: Linktr.ee/amyhouts.