With the busy holiday season ahead, we’d like to share a few snacking tips gathered by Healthy NewsWorks reporters this year and offer some ideas for healthy recipes.
Catholic Partnership Schools Healthy Courier fifth-grade reporters from St. Cecilia School learned the difference between junk food and healthy snacks by interviewing Tricia Yeo of the Food Bank of South Jersey. You can sometimes eat junk food like potato chips or cookies, she told them, but you should consider other options.
Mrs. Yeo suggested pairings like apple slices with peanut butter or banana with yogurt. She also encouraged kids to “eat a rainbow” of fruits and vegetables, drink plenty of water, and think about their choices instead of grabbing random snacks from the pantry. Please watch a video of the reporters’ interview and read about it on Page 10 of Healthy NewsWorks’ By Kids, For Kids fall 2025 magazine.
Mrs. Yeo brought a healthy snack for the reporters to try called fruit kabobs with dairy-free yogurt. As its name suggests, students put oranges, blueberries, watermelon, and grapes on a stick and then dipped it into yogurt. “After I had the healthy snack, I felt a burst of energy,” said one reporter.
For recipe ideas, explore “Healthy Snacks, Drinks and Quick Bites: A Recipe Book for Kids,” which features a number of student-tested ideas that are perfect for after-school or holiday gatherings. The book is a collaboration between Healthy NewsWorks and the Health & Well-being Clinic at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
