Healthy Children's Snacks for Valentine's Day

Livestrong.com | By Sara Ipatenco

Valentine's Day is a holiday to show your loved ones how much you care about them. Creating entertaining snacks will please your child and allow you to show your love in a creative way. Choosing healthy ingredients enables you to prepare a snack that is also filled with vitamins and minerals.

Valentine's Muffin

Using food to create a heart-shaped surprise is an entertaining way to celebrate Valentine's Day with your child. In their book, "Snack Art," Elizabeth Meahl and Barb Lorseyedi note many nutrient-filled foods you can include in your Valentine's snack. Start by toasting a whole wheat English muffin for fiber and spreading it with low-fat cream cheese for calcium. Cut a strawberry slice into a heart shape and place in the center of each muffin. To make the snack even more interesting, dye the cream cheese using a small amount of red or pink food coloring or cut the English muffin into a heart shape using a cookie cutter.

Vegetable Hearts
Creating a bouquet of heart shaped vegetables will please your child and provide several different vitamins and minerals as well, Sara Perry and Kathlyn Meskel note in their book "Valentine Treats: Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family." Choose vegetables that can be sliced flat, such as cucumbers, zucchini and carrots. Cut the vegetables into thin slices and form each into a heart shape using a small cookie cutter. Arrange the hearts on your child's plate like a bouquet of flowers using thin strips of cucumber peel as the stems. Stack several hearts on top of each other as an alternate way to serve the snack.

Cinnamon Toast Hearts

Turn whole-grain slices of bread into an attractive, fiber-filled Valentine's Day snack. Toast one or two slices of whole wheat bread until golden brown. Use a large, heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut the toast into shapes. Spread with a thin layer of honey and sprinkle with cinnamon. Place each heart flat on a plate and surround with fresh raspberries to lend some Valentine's Day color and additional fiber to the snack.

Valentine Faces

Creating a face using fruits cut into hearts is another way to prepare a nutritious and satisfying snack for your little Valentine. Slice a large strawberry, then cut two of the slices into heart shapes for eyes using a sharp knife. Place on a plate. Use a raspberry for the nose and blueberries for the mouth. Arrange the blueberries in the shape of a heart to make an entertaining face for your child. Additional heart strawberries can become hair or cheeks to enhance your Valentine face.

Reprinted from Livestrong.com