10 Travel Snacks for Toddlers
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Eating healthy is always a priority in our home. Sure we cheat here and there but ensuring our kids eat nourishing food is always something we, as parents, strive to provide.
As you know, we love to travel and irrespective of how long the journey may be, one of our kids will always be hungry.
Now with summer right around the corner and tons of road trips planned, I thought I would help you plan some worthwhile travel snacks to carry along for your toddler. (And yes, they all come with the seals- Mommy Tested and Kid Approved!)
10 Travel Snacks for Toddlers
1. Homemade trail mix –
I highly recommend mixing your own trail mix to ensure you add nutritious treats your child likes. Then serve out a cups worth into a tiny snack pouch/bowl/bag. (And make sure you have extra bags to pass out through the trip) I include nuts (cashews, almonds), dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, blueberries), freeze dried fruit, organic cereal and at times pretzels, in our homemade trail mix.
2. Fruit-
You can never go wrong with fruit. Our favorites include bananas, apples (make sure you chop these into slices and rub some citrus onto them to prevent the slices from browning), grapes, strawberries and tangerines.
3. Veggie sticks –
My kids have always preferred thin carrot sticks to the chunky ones. You can also do celery and cucumbers.
4. Stonyfield organic yogurt pouches–
Stonyfield yogurt is not just refreshing but nutritious and flavorful to all ages. (You don’t have to be a toddler though to enjoy the Pear-Spinach-Mango yogurt!)
I love that these are easy to manage in child-friendly pouches and best of all the yogurt is, as they say, obsessively organic, has no high fructose corn syrup, no GMOs, no artificial colors and no preservatives. (If only more brands would follow their example!)
5. Mini sandwiches-
Our favorites have included cheese, peanut butter and jelly. And when cut into shapes with cookie cutters, they become even more fun to eat!
6. Mini muffins–
Oh the options are endless but if you’re looking for something substantial and/or healthy, try my Wholesome Morning Glory Muffins , Fruit and Nut Breakfast Rolls, Baked Pecan Donut Muffins and/or Sausage & Cheese Muffins. Just pour out the dough into mini muffin trays and bake. (I prefer serving toddlers mini muffins over regular sized muffins as they cut down wastage and don’t seem as overwhelming to little eyes!)
7. Dry snacks-
When my kids were younger they loved to munch on cereal, plantain chips and organic pretzels. Try to avoid oily, greasy, crunchy snacks and choose organic veggie chips (kale, sweet potato etc) over potato.
8. Cookies-
Nothings beats a good ol’ homemade cookie. I love loading my Whoa Oatmeal Cookies with tons of dried fruit and nuts to make the cookie weigh on a generous serving of healthy over sweet!
Have you tried zucchini oat nut cookies?
9. Bread strips-
If you bake some banana bread, berry pecan bread or any fruit, nut or berry based ingredients, slice the same and then cut a slice into strips to make it an easy snack for your toddler to enjoy while on the go.
10. Baked chicken nuggets-
Now baked chicken nuggets would make a more filling snack but one most toddlers love. Best of all, they’re baked, healthy and minus any preservatives when made at home.
I promise you won’t have a struggle offering any of these snacks to your toddler.
Do you have any travel snack suggestions to add to the list?
What a great list! They are the right size for the little hands! Thanks for sharing
What a great list! We have a ton of travel plans for the summer and I am always looking for new snack ideas that don’t make a big mess in the car!
We have always relied on fruit & Stonyfield yogurt. It’s a brand I really trust.
Great list! We also like to take cheese sticks and tortilla roll ups on trips.
These all sound great. I want to try to make the zucchini oat nut cookies!
Mini muffins are a big hit with my boys and they are older. I think as long as they have snacks, they are happy. They just like to eat LOL.
Awesome list of healthy snacks for kids. Good ideas!
We used to pack a cooler of cheese slices and sandwiches when we traveled across this fine country.. So much healthier and cheaper!
The cooler is a must for the road trip. I like the cheese idea.
We love cornbread muffins stuffed with broccoli – our toddler loves them.
Dried fruit or fruit leather. If you have a hydrator, you can make them at home. And don’t forget lots of paper towels and hand wipes!
Love all these ideas and my little one loves the yogurt too. They are so convenient for me and she loves the taste!
We always grab a banana or an apple for the road! Such convenient packaging;)
Fruit pouches were huge for us in Disneyland. They don’t go bad and still taste fresh which is super nice!
My son loves fruit, fruit snacks, and veggie straws for snacks! We will have to try that yogurt!
These are great options! I usually pack a small cooler and try to bring some ‘special’ snacks that we don’t normally have.
Such great ideas! We are going on our annual road trip to Cape Cod soon so I will have to remember these for my daughter.
I have cheese sticks, crackers, and almonds on me at any given time… and not just for the kids! hahaha I am a snacker too! LOL
Thanks for the great ideas! These are much better options than getting fast food!
My kids like pretzels too! I also liked graham crackers for a snack.
I forgot about grahhams. Greta idea, love them.
Great ideas! You pretty much named all of what I would bring when I’m traveling with my kids.
As we don’t travel much, we have not had to worry about bringing snacks.
No suggestions here – there are a lot of good ideas on your list.
Great snack ideas! I always struggle with finding good snacks for car trips.
We are going to be traveling next month and I need to make tons of snacks! Great tips a d suggestions!!
Popcorn always worked well for us. Also, sometimes crackers
Popcorn is a terrific suggestion and easy to make right before you leave.
We had great luck with gummies. They travel well and they’re portable.
Mini muffins are a great idea! Plus my kids will eat anything from a pouch. 😉
We tend to travel with dry cereal, a homemade “mix”, or fruit for our 3 year old.
The zuccini oat nut cookie recipe sounds good. I’ll have to make them sometime. These are all good snack ideas.
These are great ideas! We travel a lot with our kids and try to keep enough food on hand that we don’t have to stop along the way.
We do veggies too. Air popped popcorn is always good but I guess that’s for older kids not toddlers
Fruit, yogurt pouches (which, if we’re traveling, I freeze and then stick in a cooler right before we leave), pretzels and cucumbers are our constant go-to’s around here for both toddler and grade-schooler! Although, I’m going to try some of your mini muffin recipes because even if I can’t get the kiddos to eat them, they sound yummy!
Another trick to keeping fruit from browning is to soak it in citrus pop. I know it’s pop but it doesn’t absorb that much but does help keep the browning away without the fruit tasting like lemons.
Great list! We will be taking a looooog road trip this summer so I will have to remember this.
These are all good ideas. Grapes were always our biggest travel snack.
Great ideas for some healthy option snacks for the little ones!
Nice healthy options, my kids love these pouch snacks, they are so convenient!
I love all the options. I always tried to find things that the kids would like, was healthy, and wouldn’t trash the car when they inevitably dropped the snack on the floor.
Those zucchini nut cookies look delicious!! Great healthy snack options!
Stonyfield pouches are definitely on my list! They are so easy for travel!
We buy this brand, its so good! Usually I buy the other shaped ones, but I am going to try these!
I am going to have to rub some lemon in my apple slices too to keep them from going brown too fast.
i’v ebeen doing the lemon juice thing forever. it’s funny that my husband argues that it doesn’t work
I never thought of chicken nuggets as a travel snack, great idea!
I don’t have kids yet, but I do have 3 wildly adorable nephews! I’ll definitely share this post with my sister because she would appreciate this!
This is a perfect post! I love all the options you shared, especially the cookies.
This is a great list. I am always looking for more ideas for good travel snacks for the kids. Keeps us from the unhealthy stuff.
Ok, I am not ashamed to say this, but I’m seriously considering getting some of those yogurt pouches for my purse. Grown-ups need snacks too. 😉
You said it, fruits and nuts are great snacks. My kids love the stonyfield yo kids pouches too!
Fruits are always a great travel snack for toddlers. I remembered how my son loved to eat grapes when we would go for car rides
Pouches are our go to snack for the twins when we are on the go! They love them and I love that there is no mess!
We’re big on the homemade trail mixes and any juice or yogurts in a pouch! They just travel easy!
Veggie sticks are good for travel. They take longer to eat too, so the kids think they’re eating for a long time (instead of scarfing down a candy or their beloved Goldfish 😉 ).
Great looking snacks list there! I would love to eat it myself. lol
It is important to start good and healthy snack habits with children so it can become a lifelong habit.
Great ideas, thanks! My son LOVES the YoKids yogurt, he asks for it every day!
I have a confession. I don’t have kids, but I carry around those organic yogurt packs for myself!
My kids love to nosh on pretzel sticks and cheese sticks as well as apple slices and bananas. We also carry plenty of water, which usually means I know where bathrooms are wherever we go!
I buy veggie chips, peanut butter and cheese crackers, and juice boxes.