recipes for kids to make

Packing day-care lunches is different from packing regular school lunches, and what is appropriate also varies from center to center. There is normally refrigeration available for storing food items, and the parent may transport the lunch box yielding minimum tossing about. This gives you much greater flexibility in choosing your toddler's menu.


There is great variation from center to center as to how meals are presented and how much supervision is provided. Is your child given his or her lunch to eat or pick at as he or she pleases, or is it "served" to the child with supervision? "Not eating your sandwich, Peter? Okay, let's try some carrot sticks! Ummm, these look good. Here you go."
Hopefully, at least younger children are given guidance, supervision, and encouragement. Snack time also varies from center to center Will you need to supply snacks or does the center or day care provider supply them? Typically, parents supply at least one of the snacks, but you may want to provide more than that if you don't like the center's snack menu. Remember: to a toddler a snack is pretty much the same as a meal, so don't waste the opportunity to provide nutrition plus a treat.

When packing the lunch and snacks, it is best to separate the items needing refrigeration from those that do not. This maintains better quality, by allowing the crackers to stay crisp, as well as the carrots. Toddlers know the difference; nobody likes a soggy cracker! Use airtight containers as much as possible to maintain quality and freshness. There are a great  variety of sealable plastic containers on the market that work very well. And they're toddler crushproof! Buy the smallest containers you can find for very young children. They are made round, square, and rectangular, so choose those that fit your lunch boxes and menus best. Zip-loc type baggies work well also, but are not reusable.