This is a guest post from Catherine McCord, author of Weelicious.
I’m thrilled to be guest posting for Lisa as nothing makes me happier than real food!
I started Weelicious six years ago after the birth of my son when I couldn’t find any interesting homemade baby food recipes online or information on how to actually get kids to become great eaters from day one. Then as the baby food stage quickly disappeared I found myself in the abyss of wondering how to feed my toddler. Like many moms I was scared of him choking, needing an epi-pen if he tasted peanut butter, or not getting enough nutrition when feeding himself.
What do you feed new eaters transitioning from purees to solid foods? It was actually a lot easier than I thought. First, he could eat almost everything my husband and I were eating, just in much smaller bites and portions. I tried my hardest to avoid sugar and salt in his recipes until he was 18 months and then added sweeteners and sodium in small amounts. I really wanted both of my kids to fall in love with the natural flavors of food instead of the enhancers.
Many popular finger foods that kids love can be easily made at home so you know exactly what’s going into your child’s food and their body. Some of my family’s favorites are: Chicken Nuggets, Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf Bites, Animal Crackers, Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers.
Sometimes it helps to present foods in new ways to get your little ones interested in eating them. Like forming rice around cheese in these Mexican Rice Balls, or presenting broccoli in a new and very flavorful way with these Broccoli Cheese Patties, or even freezing peas and greens in ice pop form! That’s right, I said it, freeze greens and peas in popsicle molds for a refreshing and super healthy treat. Try these adorable Pea Wee Kiwi Pops or Green Ice Pops.
Here are a few more favorite recipes that are perfect finger foods for toddlers.
Cocodate Cookies
Chicken on a Stick
Baby Fritattas
Pesto to mix into rice, quinoa or pasta
If you’re having trouble introducing your little one to new foods, I’ve got some ideas to help!
You certainly don’t need to spend lots of time in the kitchen to prepare finger foods for your growing toddler. All the recipes listed above are easy to make, and most can be frozen so you always have them on hand. For those times when you just don’t have to time to do anything, here are some finger foods that can be served to your toddler as is, or with minimal tweaks and preparation:
Toddler Finger Foods
- Toast Bites (whole-wheat toast bread and cut or tear into bite-sized chunks)
- Bites of Ripe Fruits (mango, apple, peach, pineapple, berries, etc)
- Whole Wheat Bagels – these make great teethers, too!
- Frozen Peas
- Cubed Tofu
- Cooked Beans
- Cheese Cubes
- Edamame
- Spoonful of Nut or Seed Butter
- Cooked Bite-Sized Pasta
- Steamed Vegetables (such as cauliflower, broccoli, carrots or corn) sprinkled with Toasted Sesame Seeds
- Chopped Boiled Eggs or Scrambled Eggs
- Cubed Chicken
- Whole-Grain Rice Cakes
- Cooked Salmon
- Slightly over cooked Brown Rice (makes it easier to stick to little hands)
Please share your favorite healthy toddler food with us in the comments below!
thank you for sharing. I have been changing my families diet over the last 5 years. With the addition of our newest little one, have already been wondering how I was going to replace things like cheerios. thanks
For the person weaning their kids from Puree’s I would consider buying those refillable puree sacks and making your own creations so that they can still have them. If that doesn’t seem cost effective buy the premade one’s with the least amount of additives. I tried not to feed my kids in the car when I first introduced solids. Huge mess as sometimes the food is more for playing than eating and I was afraid of them choking back there because they don’t have the food mushed enough before they swallow.
Neat ideas! Really creative! I am always looking for new ideas! Definitely glad I saw this!
This post couldn’t come at a better time! Our daughter just turned one and loves to feed herself. I am having a hard time coming up with new ideas for simple foods/meals. I feel like I feed her the same things all the time. Thank you for all of the wonderful ideas. I can’t wait to try them!!
I have a 28 month old boy who was born with DiGeorge Syndrome and with that comes a lot of sensory, developmental and self-regulation issues. As a result he is an extremely picky eater which of course is a concern for many reasons. He is very small, barely 20 pds and he’s over 2 years old, we’re most concerned about his head growth. Pretty much everything on the list would not work for us. He won’t and can’t eat most of this. His pediatrician and gastro doctor have instructed us to just give him what he will eat…whatever he wants or is willing to eat…anything is better than nothing in this case even ice cream. we also give him Pediasure everyday. Thankfully this has helped and we are finally see some weight gain and progress in other developmental areas. He is sleeping better now too. If this didn’t work they were going to put him on a feeding tube…but like I said it is working. Needless to say for me this article seems whimsical to me. All I want is for my son to eat…anything. I could care less if it’s processed goldfish or fresh apples…too many people take everyday acts (walking, talking, sleeping, eating) for granted. Thoughts?
Posts like this must be hard for you to read. I don’t know anyone with DiGeorge Syndrome and it must feel like a lonely parenting road sometimes. Sounds like you are a wonderful mom with the best interests of your son at heart. Keep doing right by him, he is lucky to have you.
Honestly the more calories and fat the better for him. But I know he’s not your typical kid.
Two of my favorites on the same post- excited! Catherine and Weelicious empowered me to start my youngest off healthy- I share your site regularly. And now that he’s three and my oldest is ten, I also get inspiration from 100daysofreal food. Thankful for you both!
I really like the animal cracker recipe. Any chance you know an easy way to make it gluten free? I want to have a homemade snack to share at my toddlers play group that all kids can eat including him :)
Thank you so much for this post!!! I have an almost 2 year old with another on the way and getting her to eat fruits and veggies has always been a struggle. One day she loves grapes, the next day refuses to eat them. One day she loves tomato, next day they are no good, etc.
I am so excited to try some of these recipes!
LOVE the Weelicious site, Catherine! You have fantastic recipes. We love the spinach cake muffins and blueberry muffins around here – delicious!! I would agree with a previous poster about the only disappointment being the inclusion of refined oils and flours in your recipes, but very easy to substitute for most of them. I have your cookbook, too! You do great work – keep it up!
I just LOVE watching your YouTube channel with my boys! They bought me your cookbook for my birthday last month. We have a ton of fun cooking together. We now have to be on gfcf diet, so I’m making adjustments, but still enjoying your recipes. Thanks Catherine!
I want a couple of metal water bottles for lunch boxes.
I would love to try the bath and beauty products!
Thanks for sharing this blog with us regarding organic product..I am very glad to read this post.
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Great post, I have a toddler who is a fussy eater so it’s great to come across ideas of different food for him to try. Will check out all the ideas.
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the page layout of your blog?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one
or two pictures. Maybe you could space it out
better?
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I post a ton of toddler-friendly recipes on my Blog. Although they are not specifically ‘finger foods’ they are family meals that lend well to finger foods for kids!
http://www.bitesforbabies.com