Do you know what we don’t do enough of? Picnics! We live less than 20 minutes from the beach, and the number of parks and open spaces in our community is endless. During our brief Spring Warm-Up, we packed up our picnic basket filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy snacks and headed to our local park for an afternoon outdoors.
My children love the outdoors, and given our gorgeous temperate climate, we try to give them plenty of opportunites to do so. When I pulled out our picnic basket, they squealed with delight.
Planning a picnic can be elegant or modest, and given our children’s young ages, we opted to make the theme of our picnic finger foods. Here are my favorite tips for planning a simple, healthy picnic for families with small children.
1. Pick a theme.
2. Don’t underestimate the importance of preparing
3. Plan a few simple activities
4. Gauge the amount of time spent by the age of your kids
5. Make clean-up easy by bringing extra bags for dirty dishes and trash.
For just around $40, I was able to purchase a variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, and snack foods at our local Walmart for the picnic. Here is my kid-friendly menu:
Fresh cut-up fruit
Homemade yogurt fruit dip (recipe to come!)
Fresh veggie platter (available in the grocery section)
Whole Wheat Pita Chips
Freshly-made Hummus
Pecans
Mini-cheese
Whole Wheat Crackers
Juice boxes
Sparkling Cider
Because I opted for finger foods, clean-up was quick and practically effortless. We utilized some of our time at the park to talk about all of the plants, flowers, trees, and insects we saw (sitting on the ground offers a new perspective). Picnics offer a wonderful way to spend time together as a family over a simple, healthy meal.
Have you ever planned a picnic? I’d love to hear about your experiences!
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