5 Days of Preschool Snacks

Roman experienced another first this summer; day camp!! I remember attending the YMCA day camps when I was little and they were so much fun! So when I found out that Roman was old enough this year, I immediately signed him up. Unfortunately he didn't turn 3 until camp was almost done so he was only able to participate in one week, but it was awesome! Not only did I get a break to get some things accomplished around the house, but Roman got to experience life away from me. The best part about this camp was that Roxy (who facilitates playgroup and is good friend of mine) runs the camp, and it takes place at playgroup! This made the transition of being without me seamless because he loves Roxy, and he's obviously familiar with the building. So seamless in fact, that when I stuck around for a few minutes to talk to Roxy, Roman came over and loudly proclaimed "Mom, go!". Alrighty then....

My favorite part of camp, other than the free time, was packing Roman's snacks! Maybe it's because I'm new to the world of lunch packing, but I loved it!! I picked up this bento style lunch box by Starfrit at Wal Mart for $6 and it worked perfectly. The sections allow you to separate foods and they come out for easy cleaning. I also used some silicone muffin wrappers to further divide the compartments. All of these snacks are nut free as required by the YMCA, but I feel like that's pretty standard these days. Oh, how could I forget! I also added a sticker into the snack box each day! I really wanted to send little notes in his snack, but the fact that Roman can't read kinda put a damper on that parade.

Day 1
Banana bran muffin, graham crackers, sliced peaches, Babybel cheese, fruit snacks, water.
Roman is usually a very predictable creature, and this time he didn't disappoint. He ate all the fruit snacks and cheese, one graham cracker, one peach slice, and took one bite from the muffin.

Day 2
WOW Butter roll-up, chocolate chips, carrots, tomatoes, Babybel cheese, watermelon, juice box.
Tortilla roll-up are always hit and miss with Roman, and this time he only ate one. Obviously all the chocolate chips and cheese were gone, as well as a few carrots. I wasn't surprised that the tomatoes were left, but if you don't try there is no chance they'll eat it!

Day 3
Bread, deli chicken meat, cheddar cheese, apple slices, fruit snacks, water.
Deconstructed sandwich day! Roman loves deconstructed sandwiches. What I should say is he has been deconstructing his sandwiches since he started solids, so now I just serve them that way. The only thing that came back from this snack was a few apple slices.

Day 4
Hard boiled egg, crackers, Babybel cheese, avocado, garden carrots, chocolate dipped granola bar, water.
This was by far Roman's most loved snack of the week. Even Roxy laughed that he was very excited about the egg. He gobbled everything up except the garden carrots, which I promptly ate.

Day 5
WOW Butter banana sushi, hard boiled egg, orange, Babybel cheese, grapes, water.
So by now you've probably noticed that Roman has a thing for Babybel cheese. I always made sure to send at least one thing I know he'd eat for sure so the poor guy didn't get hungry. They were on their way to the park this day so he didn't eat very much of anything, likely because he was excited to get going. I also mom failed and forgot his sticker this day! Luckily he didn't notice or I would have felt like a bum.

Hopefully these snacks will give you some inspiration for upcoming school or daycare snacks/lunches! I had a blast making these snacks. I should have registered Roman for preschool this year just so I could make lunches every day! I think I'm going to have to keep this up for playgroup because we saved a ton of money from the typical snacks that he normally eats. Plus these are so much better for him that the pre-packaged stuff.

I'd love to hear your ideas for snacks/lunches as well! What is your kid's favorite food to find in their lunch box?