What's a fun, yet healthy, snack that's fit to share with my preschooler's class for her birthday?

This is tough, because you want it to be something special enough to make your daughter seem like the princess of the day. What you bring really should be a celebration, not just a boring snack. So here are my ideas, as a two year-old mommy.1.

Frozen yogurt bars This depends on either serving them right away, or having access to a freezer. Buy these from the store or make them at home. These are nutritious and fun treats, and because they resemble popsicles and ice cream bars so much, the kids will have a ball!2.

Caramel apples Okay, I know the teachers might not be huge fans of the caramel, but hopefully the apple, being the bulk of the treat, will be enough. I would be happy with my daughter having this as a birthday treat. Now, since caramel apples are cumbersome for 4 year-olds, I would bring them in whole, and then slice them up for easy eating (let the kids see them whole, as it'll be so much more special than just apple slices and caramel dip).3.

Bags of plain popcorn Take those little paper lunch bags, and fill each one with plain popcorn (no butter or salt). Fold and staple each bag, and write each kid's name on it (optional). They will love having a special individual bag, and popcorn will be a HUGE treat!

Plus plain popcorn is a healthy snack with lots of fiber 4. Homemade playdough Instead of food treats, how about making some homemade playdough? It's easy, cheap, and organic.

Give each kid a ziploc baggy with their own playdough to take home.(For the snack, just bring a normal snack, since you have the celebration angle covered. ) Here's the mahalo.com/how-to-make-playdough/ How to Make Playdough page. Remember the important thing is to make it special.

Skip the veggie sticks, fruit slices, and pretzels. The kids get those everyday and it won't really celebrate your daughter. That's how cupcake traditions got started--so kids could live a little!

But legitimate nutritional concerns aside, do something EXCITING! Enjoy!

There is a book called "Silly Snacks, Classroom Treats, Cookie Dough Fun" that has dozens of recipes that are geared toward children and are extra creative in their presentation. I have used several of the recipes for my nieces' classes and all the kids loved them. There are really too many good recipes to pick just one, so I recommend picking up the book and choosing something based on your own preferences.

I picked up my copy at our local bookstore and have found that its contents are well worth the purchase. The book also contains cute ideas of snacks to make with your kids (some of them sweets) that you could do at home for fun.

This is so funny - my daughter's Birthday is coming up in 11 days and I had the same misery! It is so tough to find the right thing to please the kids as well as safe the poor teacher from a mayor sugar rush with following nerve beak down :) I was searching a lot and came across this : Shapes Sandwiches! It is very simple - easy to make and cheap - and basically matches any time of the days no matter if its snack time or lunch time since its full of nutrition and fun!

All you need is Sandwich bread - cookie cutters in different shapes ( best is to go for the big ones... I saw that Walmart sells them ) - things you would like to add to the sandwiches ( stay away from peanut butter ) and to have some color you can use food colors to make eyes or hair etc. You could arrange the Sandwiches on a colorful plate and take along some juice boxes! bentofun.info/2008/08/ I don't think its a good idea to use sweets like candy since after the big sugar rush they will crash as well and get moody and whiny - so not only would you punish the teacher but punish yourself and all of the other parents! No matter what you will pick in the end I wish your daughter a great Birthday and lots of fun!

This first idea went over great when I worked with preschoolers at a summer camp. Whales in the ocean! You know those gummy candies you can get... there's bigfoots, and green thumbs and blue whales and tons of other things.

You can usually find them at bulk food stores. Get a bag of the whales, enough for 1-2 per child. Get yourself some blue jello; get the "fat free" kind if you want, but jello has barely any calories anyways.

Get some small, see through plastic cups, this disposable kind, maybe 6oz or 8oz. Make one batch of jello and fill the cups about a 3rd of the way. Put it in the fridge or freeze for 30mins to solidify it a bit, then drop in a whale.

Just one or two whales have few calories and not that much sugar. Then top up the cups with more jello; this time, let it start to cool (but not to the point it gels) before you pour it in so the whales don't melt. You could do 2 layers for just 1 whale, or add more whales.

You could also just throw the whales and the jello in at the same time but they might end up just sinking to the bottom or sticking together. Don't make this too far ahead of time or the whales will get gooey... Try for the night before. To make it more fun, you could dab a little whipped cream on top or another whale.

Jello shapes are always fun too; when you make jello, use 2+ packs of jello for each recipe instead of 1.. I've even seen some recipes that ask for up to 4 packs. Put it in a pan and let it solidify about 1/2 inch thick, and use cookie cutters to cut it into fun shapes. Pudding would also be good, but many kids get pudding cups in their packed lunch.

How about popscicles, homemade or store bought, or freezies? Another idea would be to make fun trail mix for each kid in a baggie... Mix plain popcorn, mini pretzels, raisins, chex mix, (if your allowed) peanuts, and something fun - maybe a few smarties. It looks like a sugary snack because of the few pieces or candy which the kids will of course eat first, but the rest is healthy-ish, low in sugar, and cheap.

The few colorful smarties just make it look like a sugary snack. ,.. It's all about the disguise! Good luck!

Brings items to make Ants on a Log! Celery, cream cheese, raisins and pretzel sticks make a fun treat and craft for that age. You can use lowfat cream cheese and reduced fat pretzel sticks.

Or you can use reduced fat peanut butter in place of the cream cheese. If you are not allowed to do a craft in your child's class with the kids then you could always make the ants on a log and bring them to school finished! If that doesn't work... I always liked carrot cake cupcakes ;).

Fruit! It's sweet enough that the kids will like it, and colorful enough to be fun. I remember that when I grew up, we were in a private school without a lot of the restrictions, but when people brought in fruit it was always well-received.

If you want to be creative you can cut it into shapes or something. I'd suggest something with peanut butter, but a lot of kids are allergic, so that's out.

Fun & fruity smoothies, just bring a blender, cute cups, and three ingredients (examples: KING KONG: banana, OJ & peanut butter, PINK FLAMINGO: bananas, strawberries & pineapple juice, BLUE LAGOON: blueberries, yogurt, milk). More recipes here: familyfun.go.com/recipes/family/specialf....

OK, a birthday party at school. It's nice that you want to bring something healthy for the kids. The teachers will thank you for avoiding a super-sugary treat that is going to hype up the entire class.

I realize, though, that you want your daughter to feel special. That calls for doing something that is fun and doesn't just feel like any other snack. Some ideas that you might consider: 1.

Small cups of fruit yogurt with Teddy grahams. The kids can be encouraged to dip their Teddy grahams heads' in the yogurt to give them "hats" or dip the bottoms in for "pants. " 2.

Homemade oatmeal cookies: you can make these pretty healthy by cutting down on the sugar and adding wheat germ or soy flour (no more than 1/4 cup though, or the cookies will taste odd). 3. Mini-muffins.

Bring a can of whipped cream and let your daughter "help" you squirt a little on each child's mufin. I hope these ideas help you. Good luck and have fun!

My daughter likes those little fruit cups with mixed fruit and stuff and those mini yogurt cups are fun with the swirled yogurt. Kids also love anything with graham crackers. This is interesting to me because I found out that in our schools around here, no homemade treats are allowed.It has to be store bought snacks.

I'm not sure of the reason but I was told that at work and my daughter had a note mentioning it. (She's in Kindergarten.).

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs, Baked Brie with Apricot Cherry Chutney Festive Egg Salad with Pita Crisps Roasted Asparagus.

When my child was in her pre-school I had made the following snacks for them , which both the kids and the teachers appreciated. For the kids : -------------------- Cracker sandwiches: -------------------------- This is very simple to make. Choose any salted crackers .

Cut ham/banana slices and cheese round to the size of the mini crackers. Place a craker , then a slice of ham and then another cracker and now a slice of cheese and finally cover with another cracker. The kids would love this.

For the teachers: --------------------- A nutty fruitty veg salad in an ice cream cone: ------------------------------------------------------------ Mix in a bowl nuts like walnuts, cashews, raisins, veg like carrot (grated), celery , apple, pineapple(optional) chopped fine . Mix in the dressing (made of mayonese and lemon juice can season with white pepper if desired . Scope into ice-cream cones and serve.

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