sugarfree treats for GCs -any ideas?

Mine like dried fruit. raisins,prunes,dates,figs, also olives,bread fingers with Hummus,charry tomatoes. I know its fruit but they have always thought of these as treats.

The little babybel cheeses are fun and sweet treat sized. Not only do you get fun from peeling the fruit shaped cheese open to get tothe cheese inside you can then warm the wax in your hand and form it into all sorts of shapes and sculptures.

I'm trying to persuade DD3 to reintroduce the concept of "pocket money", so that the LDs have a fixed allowance to spend once a week & THAT'S IT! Up to them what they buy & how long it lasts. There is a bit of a delay while she negotiates with DGD2 (7) how she is going to earn the money.

I have started making cheese scones using spelt flour and mashed cooked butternut squash (which is quite sweet when roasted) , there are recipes on the internet. All i add to flour is baking powder, the squash and grated cheese plus a little milk if it is too dry. I sprinkle sesame seeds on top. The problem is that it is hard not to eat too many!

Home baking with fruit and veg is quite popular nowadays - dates, dried apricots etc can be added to banana cake. Honey or maple syrup can be used as sweeteners, but are they any better than sugar?

We didn't have many sweets as children but when we started secondary school we walked home and spent our bus fare on mid morning snacks sold at the scool (mint yo yos my favorite) or at the sweetshop. Once we started a paper round at 13 and had our own disposable income, there was no stopping us - sweets and tizer every Saturday!

Like annodomini my grandson loves cherry tomatoes and cucumber also grapes. I ashamed to say that until recently knew nothing of the choking danger now extremely careful to always cut in half before before serving.

DS and Ddil are very strict about dgs not having sweets and it's very rarely that they have homemade cakes. They give him oatcakes with peanut butter, chopped celery with hummus, cherry toms, eggy bread if he's particularly hungry between meals, fruit (he loves bananas or grapes sliced in half), cheese cubes and carrot/cucumber batons etc.
He only drinks water or milk last thing.

Just a warning that dried fruit (like raisins and such) are particularly bad for the teeth! (voice of experience here <sighs and glares at raisins>)

Cheese cubes/pieces of cheese apparently reduce the sugar acid in the mouth or something like that, according to our dentist. So perhaps a small sweet, followed by a couple cheese cubes?

We make air popped popcorn, as it gets a bit crazy when it's popping all over the place, and the dcs like to nibble on it while watching films.

Snacks here are generally cheese, cherry tomatoes (cut in half), sliced peppers, carrot batons, apples, bananas, grapes, rice cakes, toast, hummus and breadsticks. They particularly like a little plate with a mixed up assortment of some of those items listed. I only give them dried fruit when they have other foods along with it, to keep it from sticking to the teeth too much.

And ice pops. lol We'll never shake that particular snack, especially in the summer.

There is haps of stuff on the internet about toothfriendly snacks.

plain popcorn
plain yoghurt, or yoghurt mixed with unsweetened fruit puree or chopped fruit
hard-boiled eggs
cubes of cheese
oatcakes with peanut butter
fresh fruit
raw or cooked vegetables
hummus and pitta bread
cream cheese with mini-breadsticks
www.babycentre.co.uk/a569373/tooth-friendly-snacks-for-toddlers#ixzz3wq8NWkwS

or
Suggestions for healthy snacks from one year old
Fresh fruit - grapes, melon, a banana, strawberries, a tangerine, a pear, a peach, a plum, an apple. Fresh fruit kebabs can be fun to make and eat.
Fresh vegetables - tomatoes, celery, carrot and cucumber sticks, sliced peppers, sugar snap peas. Tomatoes, grapes and similar choices should be halved to avoid the possibility of choking for younger children.
Sandwiches - try various fillings: cold meat, tuna, grated cheese, egg, salad items, tomato or banana.
Some other choices - bread sticks, oatcakes, crackers, rice cakes, a plain or cheese scone, a crumpet, a bagel, a potato scone, a pancake, a toasted teacake.
www.child-smile.org.uk/parents-and-carers/birth-to-3-years-old/healthy-snack-ideas.aspx

Colgate Toothpaste gives advice:
www.colgate.com/en/us/oc/oral-health/basics/nutrition-and-oral-health/article/smart-snacks-for-healthy-teeth
Also the NHS:
www.nhs.uk/Livewell/dentalhealth/Pages/Goodhabitskids.aspx

Hope you can find some good ideas. I rather liked the fruit kebab.

hear hear, Nonnie

hear hear, Nonnie

I give my grandchildren dried apple rings, dried plums, and mixed fruit leather strips they love them and there is no sugar added when I prepare them. The dried fruit tastes sweet as drying concentrates the natural flavours, but there is fruit sugar which is just as bad for teeth maybe? Letting them eat too much however has consequences!

They don't

I downloaded the App to check on sugar content last week, but lots of foods and drinks are not listed, including Drench drink as supplied by my GDs secondary school which contains 12g of sugar per 250ml, which is nearly 18g per 440ml bottle.. I am at a loss as to why a secondary school needs to sell such sugary drinks (at 70p per bottle) when primary schools simply provide free water. BTW, a bottle of water costs 50p, which seems pretty expensive in comparison with the Aldi/Lidl bottles!
So why do 11 year olds need to be temped with such sugary drinks as soon as they reach secondary school?

I was going to say pop corn. Fun value too. What about some musical toothbrushes? That might provoke discussion!!

Thanks all. Some useful links and great ideas. I agree that snacks/treats seem to blend into much the same thing! I'll get some of those fruit rolls to take as Gran treats when I visit them and will get a stock of microwave popcorn, crackers and cheese cubes as snacks when they come to us for longer visits. They're very keen on cleaning their teeth luckily and their dental hygiene is reportedly very good. Maybe the dentist is really trying to make a point. Most likely its for the best. Thanks again.

Otherwise, depending on age, craft things, colouring books, stickers, books.

My DGS has no fillings at all, has lovely teeth and eats sweets.It can be done, without a ban on all sugar taking place.Sugary drinks are worse than sweets, he doesn't have those ( drinks) but enjoys some choc or smarties.Regular teeth brushing is the answer.

some fun things to buy the grandkids if you ignore the pricier ones (and the minions tik tacs

I thought the OP meant what to take as a treat when visiting GC? We used to be able to take a tube of Smarties but now these are banned. Comics would be ok but as mentioned above they are very expensive (and mostly rubbish). A strip of stickers is popular but I wish I could think of an alternative. A pack of tomatoes or a cucumber doesn't really fit the bill!

Yes anya I agree if the last meal is going to be 6pm they need something after school to 'put them on' as my DM used to say.
I don't snack at any other time but I often have a piece of toast or fruit about 4 o'clock, specially if I've been working in the garden and feel depleted!

That was very useful information JaneA

My GC really love Quorn picnic eggs as an after school snack when I pick them up as it can be after 6.00 by the time they get fed. GS3 (age 5) loves olives - any kind!

I give my gc blueberries as a snack.

I'm not sure whether you mean treats or snacks jane10.
To my mind a treat is a once a week thing and a few sweets (eaten all at once, because it's the number of intakes of sugar that's as important as the quantity, as far as teeth are concerned anyway) once a week isn't going to do any harm, as long as the rest of the diet's ok.

However if it's the several times a day snacks (which all my grandchildren appear to be unable to live without) that's an entirely different matter and they should be sugar free.
Whole fruit is fine because the fructose is contained within the cells and isn't released till the stomach enzymes have got to work, mainly. Fruit juice isn't, because the sugar is 'available' and so should be diluted to minimise this.
The best thing is cheese, because it has a buffering effect on saliva and helps recalcification of the enamel.
So cheese, pieces of toast with butter or marmite, nuts, bananas, apples, digestive biscuits with minimal sugar if you must.
Something to remember is that although the amount of sugar per 100grams may look horrendous, if you're only eating a very small amount of it, it probably doesn't matter in the scheme of things.
So if a child has to have something nutritious dipped in a very small amount of ketchup before it will eat it, the benefit of eating the nutritious thing probably outweighs the disbenefit of the ketchup, IYSWIM.

Personally I think snacks are the work of the devil for both adults and children. We are looking after DGCs this weekend while their parents go away for 3 nights and I'm going to test the theory that they can live without snacks, and eat their proper meals better when they do without them

Your DD might appreciate some of the information here
www.toothfairyblog.org/category/articles/
One of the things my DIL always says is treats are OK as part of a meal but between meals you should stick to things like oatcakes (my DGD calls these biscuits!)
How teeth are cleaned is also important. No rinsing at the end!

Make pop corn with them.....then eat it......! When its just made and still hot it tastes yummy even 'naked'.