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7 Easy Toddler Breakfast Ideas
Discover a delightful array of 7 easy toddler breakfast ideas to make mornings a breeze! From nutritious bites to tasty treats, these simple recipes are sure to satisfy even the pickiest little eaters. Start your day with smiles and happy tummies
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Toddlers’ growing communication and social skills prepare them for becoming active participants in mealtimes. Morning is the perfect time to introduce them to eating at the table. At the same time, this means things will sometimes get messy, as children often say no to the foods you prepare for them at this age.
To help you navigate this wonderful and challenging time, we explore 7 easy toddler breakfast ideas.
What is a Balanced Breakfast for a Child?
Nutrition experts recommend a mix of protein and fat, starch and fruits and vegetables.
Healthy protein and fat help children grow and feel full longer, decreasing their demand for snacks. Since many healthy protein sources contain fat, this is a 2-in-1 win. Fat also helps absorb vitamins like A, D, E, and K.
Some of the healthiest protein foods for children are eggs, yoghurt, cheese, beans, lentils, poultry, whole grains, cow’s milk and oatmeal.
Your child can enjoy the benefits of healthy fats by eating foods like avocado, nuts, seeds, fish and coconut.
Starch provides toddlers with the energy needed by their brain and body, and you can find it in grains and starchy foods like potatoes, rice, green peas, couscous, pasta, cheese and yoghurt.
Fruit and vegetables contain lots of vitamins, minerals and fibre, and there are many easy toddler breakfast ideas in which you can include them.
From broccoli, beets and tomatoes to corn, carrots, cucumbers and from apples, bananas and blueberries to grapes, pineapple and nectarines, fruits and vegetables are great for all your toddler’s meals.
Easy Toddler Breakfast Ideas
What Can I Make My Toddler for Breakfast?
For many parents, mornings seem like a race against the clock, especially when getting the little ones out of bed on time is challenging. Quick-to-prepare breakfasts are the solution to ensure that your toddler enjoys the most important meal of the day and also arrives in time for daycare or kindergarten.
To that end, you can try one or more of these easy toddler breakfast ideas:
Quesadilla
Two tortilla wraps with ingredients you like are a healthy, easy-to-make breakfast to get your children the energy they need until their next meal or snack. You can go for scrambled eggs and grated cheese duo, accompanied by tomatoes and spinach, placed together inside two tortilla wraps, seared. If you use cookie cutters to give your quesadilla cute shapes, your little one will surely be happy!
Smoothie
An all-time favourite of adults, smoothies can become your toddlers’ favourite breakfast if you let them watch how you mix the ingredients.
Put plain yoghurt and fruits your child loves, whether bananas, peaches, or berries, in the blender. Add sufficient milk to give the smoothie an easy-to-drink consistency. Pour the smoothie into a regular or sippy cup and watch him have fun drinking it!
Toast with peanut butter and jam
Most children love peanut butter and jam, so prepare this quick breakfast to see if yours will too. Spread a thin layer of peanut butter onto a toasted slice of whole-wheat bread, add a bit of low-sugar jam and draw some swirls through the delicious mix with the help of a toothpick. You can replace peanut butter with almond butter if your little one likes it better.
Mini bagel with healthy toppings
This easy toddler breakfast idea is simple and delicious: get a whole-grain mini bagel and top it with healthy ingredients like cheese, cream, cottage, ricotta or fruits like avocado. Mini-bagels are the perfect size for toddlers to hold, and they will enjoy a healthy, energy-boosting breakfast thanks to the fat and protein toppings.
How Much Should a 2-year-old Have for Breakfast?
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), toddlers need around 1,000 calories daily, split between three meals and two snacks. That means 200-250 calories or more for breakfast, provided the two snacks will count less than 150-200 calories. Although keeping track of calorie intake is helpful, healthy and balanced meals are more important for a toddler’s growth and development.
What Do You Feed a Fussy Toddler for Breakfast?
Toddlers can be very picky when it comes to food, but that doesn’t stop you from preparing delicious breakfasts for them every morning. And if your little one is fussy and expresses his disagreement with the food you prepare by landing it everywhere except in his mouth, these easy toddler breakfast ideas will help you ensure he takes more than a few bites in the morning.
Muffins with cheese, egg and chicken sausage
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients:
- 8 large eggs
- 250 grams of chicken sausage
- 1 cup of shredded cheese of your choosing
- 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/3 cup of coconut flour
- A pinch of black pepper
- A pinch of salt
- Avocado chunks to serve on top
How to prepare:
Cook the chicken sausage as per instructions on the package. Once cooked, cut into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 200° C. Whisk the eggs, almond milk, salt, and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Add gradually the coconut flour and continue to whisk. Add the sausage and half of the shredded cheese.
Spray 12 muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray and pour the mixture evenly. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Bake for 15 minutes, take the muffins out of the tins, top with a few chunks of avocado and serve your little one.
This recipe is adapted from Ambitious Kitchen.
Rolls with peanut butter, apple and cinnamon Here
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
- 2 slices of bread without crust
- 1/2 of apple cut into sticks
- 2-3 tbsp of creamy peanut butter
- A sprinkle of cinnamon
- 2 tsp of honey
How to prepare:
Spread a thin, even layer of peanut butter onto the bread slices.
Put the apple sticks on the bread slices, pour a bit of honey on the sticks and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Gently roll the bread up (like a cinnamon roll) and press to ensure the bread sticks together. Slice each roll into four pieces, place them on a plate, and watch your toddler enjoy them.
This recipe is adapted from Mom on Timeout.
Fruit Pizzas
Preparation time: 12 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients:
- 2 whole wheat pita flatbreads
- 210 grams of cream cheese
- 1-2 teaspoons of honey
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 3 kiwifruit without skin, sliced
- 1/2 cup of strawberries
- 1/2 cup of blackberries
- 1/4 cup of blueberries
- 2 raspberries for decoration
How to prepare:
Preheat oven on grill. Place the pita flatbreads on the oven rack. Grill them for one minute on each side. Take them out of the oven and set them aside on plates to cool.
Stir the cream cheese, honey, and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Spread the cream cheese on the pita loaves of bread.
Place the fruits on top of the cream cheese and decorate the pizzas in any way you want.
Cut each pizza into four slices and savour with your little one. For variety and to keep your toddler interested in this breakfast, you can swap the fruits in the recipe with others like bananas, nectarines, pineapple or any he likes.
This recipe is adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod.
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Our Early Learning Centres
Our early childhood centre environments strongly reflects our inspiration – The Reggio Emilia philosophy, from Reggio Emilia, Italy.
We provide a creative and open ended environment that encourages infinite learning for the children and strong relationships between teachers, children and families.
The day’s routines are flexible. At the same time, care is taken to recognise and respect each child’s needs.
Why Choose a Bright Beginnings Early Learning Centre?
- Encouraging the use of natural materials
- A strong transition into school
- Teaching team inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach supports your child’s creative potential.
- Healthy, tasty hot meals cooked fresh on site
- 20 ECE hours available/free sessions for 3 year olds
- A boutique, homely feel to our centres
- Strong connections between teachers and whanau.
Here's what our parents say about our childcare centres
We are so happy that our son is a part of the Bright Beginnings family. The staff have been so welcoming and caring since the day he joined here. He has the freedom to explore and experiment as he learns about the world around him. With each passing day, he is growing into a confident and independent young boy, while building friendships and learning important life skills. We are also especially happy that he gets nutritious meals everyday, an important concern for us as parents. Most importantly, he loves it so much here that he can't wait to be back at the Centre every morning! As parents, we can go about our day with the assurance that our son is in good hands within a safe environment. Thank you to the entire BBELC team for that, Devika.
Bright Beginnings has and is a second home to both my son and now my daughter. Amber loves coming to the centre everyday and to see the relationship she has with the teachers is very special. We love everything Bright Beginnings embodies and are thankful to have found this centre.
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Super duper loving, caring teachers. Awesome environment where our boy can flourish everyday. Thank you, Brad and Joanna.
Dillon absolutely loves his new big boy class. He even asks us if he can go on a Saturday and Sunday. Thanks all for making going to school so easy for us. Thanks, Anika.
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THANK YOU for helping my kids explore new things. You are all amazing. Like what I always say to the teacher, I don't know how you all do it but the teachers here at BBELC are SUPERHEROES! As parents we feel your passion, dedication and love.
Come and visit one of our childcare centres and see for yourself why your child will love it
Talk to the Centre Manager, meet the team, see the natural outdoor play areas and educational rooms, learn about how we develop our programs and find out more about our unique approach to partnering with our families.
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