Every day I can always count on my girls to ask for a snack…at least once if not more. Often times I’m in the middle of something, and I needed to come up with a plan for them to get a snack on their own (that I approved of!). They always love helping me in the kitchen and creating these snack bags was a complete win-win!
We do this activity about every 3 weeks and they look forward to it every time. I try to mix up what I buy for the snack bags to keep it fun. The more variety the better! This saves me so much time – when they ask for a snack, they know now to help themselves to one of the individual bags they’ve created.
Start with a variety of snacks and Ziplock baggies.
Next, fill bowls with each type of snack so it’s easy for the kids to grab and count each item. “Count 20 pieces of popcorn into your bag. Add 6 pretzels. Now add 3 fruit snacks.” This is a fun way to sneak in a little counting practice as well as a simple recipe for the kids to follow on their own.
Make enough bags to get you through a few weeks, based on how many kids you have and how often you need a quick snack. These are great to grab before heading in the car to run errands too!
Be sure to put them in a spot the kids can reach. I have a basket and they know these snacks are available to choose from.
Written by Anne
Christy Garrett Parenting Tips
Wednesday 30th of April 2014
This is a great idea and building your own single serve packets are cheaper than buying them already prepackaged.
Alicia
Wednesday 30th of April 2014
Great idea! Love it!
Shonda
Tuesday 29th of April 2014
Fun idea! I'm always scrambling for snacks. I'll do that this summer.
Tricia
Tuesday 29th of April 2014
We do something similar, but it doesn't involve my son--I think that will be changing soon! I love the idea of him packaging mixes for himself and counting. Right now we have a snack bowl on the table. It contains packages of dried fruit, pretzels, raisins, small packages of graham crackers, zip-top bags of crackers and whole grain chips, apples....etc. For refrigerated items we have one drawer set aside for my son's things. It has yogurt cups and tubes, fruit cups, apple sauce cups, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, sliced meats and cheeses.....etc. He knows he can grab one of anything from the drawer or bowl whenever he wants a snack. As an added bonus, it makes packing his school snacks so much easier. He picks it, I date it and put it in his school bag--DONE!
Elilzabeth
Tuesday 29th of April 2014
What a cute idea! My son gets to take a snack to school everyday and often I'm filling the baggie as we are running out the door. I may do this in the future.