Walnuts are a healthy ingredient to include in children's trail mixes.
Preparing healthy food for kids can be a trial. Children often have preconceived ideas about what will taste good, and are often reluctant to try new foods. Trail mix is a chance to add ingredients that have good nutritive value and low refined sugar content. Kids can help in preparing the ingredients and making the mix, using it as a learning experience.
Choose Healthy Ingredients
Children often don't eat enough vegetables and fruits in their everyday diet, missing out on good sources of fiber, which is important in maintaining digestive system health. Dried fruits, nuts and seeds in trail mix help provide fiber. Use dried fruits high in antioxidative phytonutrients, such as cranberries, cherries and blueberries. Walnuts are among the healthiest of nuts because they contain a higher percentage of the omega-3 essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to the growth of children's nervous systems. Because of their higher percentage of omega-3, walnuts become rancid more quickly than other nuts, so put them in batches of trail mix that will be eaten within a short period of time.
Avoid Unhealthy Ingredients
Another problem area with today's eating choices is an abundance of foods with refined sugars, now thought to be a factor in predisposing children to metabolic syndrome. Choose dried fruits without added sugars and cereal ingredients that have not been sweetened. If candies are included, keep them small and without high amounts of sugars, like chocolate or butterscotch baking chips, and low in proportion to other ingredients. Another substance to avoid is salt. Salt has a pervasive presence in prepared foods so you can consume unhealthy levels without being aware of it. Choose unsalted or lightly salted ingredients. If crackers or snack foods will be used, avoid products with trans-fatty acids and preservatives.
Involve Kids in Preparation
If kids get personally involved in getting ingredients ready, they learn good information and are more likely to eat the product. Try making your own dried apple slices from fruit you harvest yourself or let the children choose at the store. Don't throw away the pumpkin guts at Halloween -- let the kids help roast and hull the seeds. Buy walnuts in the shell, and have the kids help crack them. When fresh cranberries are in season, buy extra and make your own craisins. It is easy to create your own dried banana chips; you just need bananas, lemon juice, greased cookie tins, and an oven heated to 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Let children help choose bulk ingredients at the health food store. In mixing the ingredients, kids will learn about measurements, proportions, and the combinations of flavors and textures they prefer.
Easy-to-Handle Ingredients
Younger children need ingredients that can be easily grasped. Use cereals that are firm and non-crumbly, like round oat cereals and textured squares of wheat, corn and rice. Pretzel sticks and goldfish crackers also are easily handled. Leave nuts in larger pieces. Cut larger dried fruits like apricots and dried pineapple rings into manageable pieces.
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