What comes to mind first when you think of snacks? When we surveyed students from grades four through eight in a rural Maine school in 1975, 1977 and again in 1979, and listed the 10 food items most commonly chosen for snacks, candy and cookies were at the top of the list. Today those foods are still chosen but items that also appear frequently include snack cakes, Oodles of Noodles, and Spaghettios.

The after-school snack is an important event in the day of any student. Most young appetites seem ready for food when the school day has ended and wise parents can take advantage of that hunger. Snack time provides opportunities for rounding out the day’s recommended nutritive intake, for developing resourcefulness in the child, and for valuable visiting time.

Snacks are extensions of meal times and as such should be planned as a part of the day’s total intake — in a pattern that includes a complex carbohydrate, a complete protein and a fruit or vegetable.

That can easily be accomplished with preschoolers by offering a half-slice of toast, a wedge of cheese and two carrot sticks. The student coming home from school will welcome a toasted cheese sandwich on whole grain bread and an apple. The older child may want to fix the snack of a hard-boiled egg with saltine crackers and a glass of juice.

Children might also need meal time foods as snacks. The average child needs to eat frequently to maintain a consistently high blood glucose concentration. Glucose, which the body turns into energy for playing and for maintaining brain and nerve cells, is stored in the liver and is released into the blood as needed. Since a child’s liver is considerably smaller than

that of an adult, children need frequent meals or snacks to supply adequate glucose.

Snack time is a good time to include fruits, vegetables and whole grains — foods high in nutrients needed for growth. It is a time to suggest that the children explore new ways to combine foods, such as by making pizza using English muffins, grated skim milk Mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. Some vegetables that might not be eaten alone may well find a place on a pizza that the child was creating. If additional protein is needed, lean ham cubes and pineapple chunks make good pizza toppings.

If parents are unable to be at home when children arrive after school, ingredients for a number of healthful snacks may be made available, giving the child a chance to be resourceful and to improve his or her sense of self-worth. The urge of youth to be independent may be satisfied constructively by encouraging children to prepare their own snacks using food that is healthful. Some examples include:

Ants on a log. This is made by spreading peanut butter over a stick of celery and sprinkling with raisins. When served with whole grain crackers such as Ryvita or Wasa, this snack will provide four different food groups. The children can wash this snack down with milk or juice, preferably one fortified with Vitamin C.

Oodles of noodles. While pasta alone might be lacking in some vitamins and minerals essential for growth, a child can easily drain the broth and stir in grated Parmesan or other cheese, thereby increasing the protein and calcium content. Other sources of protein that a youngster could add to the pasta include tuna, canned chicken or clams. Smart parents will leave these items on the counter where they will quickly be spied by a hungry scavenger.