Food Ideas

• One easy way to get kids to eat healthy snacks is to sneak in whole grain whenever possible. Kids will never know the difference. Whole wheat pretzels and crackers can easily substitute for their refined counterparts. Try giving kids whole grain cereals in a bag as an easy snack on the go. Pita chips are a great substitute for potato chips. And try some more creative ideas, too - using whole grain pitas, wraps, English muffins, rice cakes or breadsticks as the base of a snack. Varying your offerings will get your kids to say "yes" more often than "yuck."
  
  

Making it Fun

• There are plenty of ways to make eating whole grains fun. Challenge your kids to a cracker-stacking contest or use whole wheat crackers and peanut butter to make a huge tower together. Use cookie cutters to make fun little sandwiches from whole wheat bread. You can even make pita-faces out of whole grain pita, hummus and a selection of chopped up fruits and vegetables. Let your kids enjoy the experience of eating whole grain and you'll have them hooked.
  
  

General Tips

• There are several additional steps you can take to make sure that your kids continue to eat whole grains. Most importantly, model the behavior that you want to see. If your sandwich is on white bread while theirs is on seven-grain, they're going to start sensing that you don't really mean what you say. In addition, check the pantry. If it's filled with refined grains, your children are getting one message. If it's packed with whole grain snacks, that's what your children will eat.