Tips For Feeding Kids Who Are Starting School This September

If you have a child starting school this September then you might find these tips useful when it comes to feeding your little one and getting them prepared for eating at school.

Breakfast

We know a healthy filling breakfast is so important for all children before they head out the door for school. But getting them to actually eat it is easier said than done!

Start implementing an earlier breakfast now. If your children have been home all summer they might be used to a later more relaxed breakfast.

Use these last couple of weeks to start getting them up and fed a little earlier. Then the new routine won’t be such a shock to the system.

Airfryer Sausage & Cheese Soldiers

If you are looking for Kid Friendly Breakfast Recipes then why not try some of our newest recipes on the blog, like this:

Breakfast Cake

Jam packed with protein to fill little tummies up, this breakfast cake is a really fun breakfast for kids.

It can also be frozen! So make a batch, store it in the freezer and it can be an easy breakfast option for those first few days of school!

Mid Morning School Snack

Each school will have its own policy on snack time! But most should allow you to send your child in with a healthy mid morning snack.

Check with your school what this entails but generally fruit and veg, cheese portions and healthy granola or oat bars are allowed.

Most schools are also completely nut free so make sure to check before sending anything in that may contain nuts.

Kids Snack Container

A good nut free snack that you can make at home could include these:

Nut Free Flapjacks

Crunchy and chewy flapjacks, completely nut free and brilliant to batch make for packed lunches and school snacks.

School Lunch

You can also get your little ones prepared for lunch at school before they start.

Lunch

If your child is having school lunches then get them to practice eating and cutting up their food with a fork and knife at home.

Each school will have different process in the lunch hall but generally your child will be expected to carry their own tray from as early on as possible.

You can practice this at home as well and get them used to clearing the table when they finish.

Packed Lunch

If they are having packed lunches make sure that the lunch boxes or bags are easy to open like these silicone ones!

Take away as many barriers to eating the food as possible.

For example, peel satsumas and just put the segments into the lunch box. This will make it far more likely that they’ll actually eat the food you send them to school with.

If you are looking for some ideas of what to pack in school lunch boxes, then have a look at our Easy School Lunchbox Ideas.

After School Snack

Its very likely that your child will be super hungry after school!

A balanced snack with some carbs, protein and fats will help to curb their hunger but not fill them up too much before dinner.

Something like a chunky chocolate chip oat cookie is fantastic along with a few bits of chopped fruit and veg on the side.

Dinner

Tiredness will probably be an issue when your child first starts school so my advice would be to feed them dinner as early as you can.

Once a child gets over tired they will lose their appetite and you’ll lose the window to get some food into them.

If time is an issue then have a look through these 15 Minute Dinners that are all kid-friendly!

So, serve up dinner as early as you can and if you need to, you can always give them a pre-bedtime snack if they need something to top them up before the end of the day.