Nursery World - Health & Nutrition – What makes a healthy snack

Should your setting’s children be given snacks? And, if so, what should these consist of? Meredith Jones Russell talks to the experts

Snack times should be well planned in terms of timing and food content

The EYFS stipulates any snacks children are provided with in settings should be ‘healthy, balanced and nutritious’. But what does this look like in practice?

The Eat better, start bettervoluntary food and drink guidelines set out the importance of snacks for children over one year of age. Before that, recommendations are that no snacks need to be provided.

Catherine Lippe, a registered nutritionist at the Early Years Nutrition Partnership, says snacks can provide a useful opportunity for young children to ‘top up’ on energy and nutrients in between meals, with the guidelines suggesting a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack.

However, despite children’s high energy and nutrient requirements, their small stomachs mean they need to eat small amounts regularly, so should not go more than three hours without food.

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