Daycare centers often give children the chance to bring in their own unique snack to share with their friends. It's your child's turn and you want to create something that is both delicious and healthy. Try these apple chips. This recipe is simple to prepare and adaptable.

Tools And Ingredients You'll Need

You aren't going to need a lot of tools or ingredients for this recipe. All you'll need are:

• Fruit brush
• Paring knife
• Slicing knife
• Cutting board
• Small bowl
• Medium bowl
• Colander
• Lemon juice
• Baking sheets
• Paper towels
• Bag of apples
• Oven

While you can include your child in much of the preparation project, it's best to avoid letting them handle the knives. They aren't quite old enough yet to handle them in a safe and successful manner.

Slice Up The Apples

The first step in the preparation process is to slice up your apples. Start by brushing the apples with a fruit brush under a flow of steady water to eliminate dart. You can let your kids do this to get them involved. Now, place the apple on your cutting board with the heavier bottom down. Slice the apple into four equal-sized quarters.

Now, cut off the ends, cut out the core using your paring knife, and use your other knife to cut thin slices off of each quarter. Hand them to your child to place in a small bowl. This will create very thin slices that will bake easier in the oven.

Drying Out The Apples

After slicing your apples, it's time to dry them out. This is accomplished by baking them. This is a good chance to teach your child a little about how to bake. Let them watch and assist as you complete the following process:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Mix several drops of lemon juice with water in a medium bowl
3. Place your slices in the lemon water and soak for 30 minutes
4. Dry the slices with a paper towel and layer on your baking sheets
5. Bake the apple slices for an hour, flip, and bake for another hour
6. Remove from the oven and let cool for several hours

The cool thing about this treat is that it can be made the night before you take your child to daycare. You can even integrate them in much of the baking process, such as drying the apples and layering them on the sheet. This will make the apple chips feel more like their treat.

Serving Suggestions

Now, you can fill individual sealing plastic bags with apple chips and send them with your child to daycare. Try to include 10-15 chips in each bag to give each child enough to eat. You can also send some delicious dips along with the chips, including:

• Dark chocolate
• Maple and cinnamon
• Toffee
• Caramel

Although these dips aren't as healthy as the apples, they are still healthier than sending normal chips with your child. And they'll taste just as good when dipped in chocolate as a real candy bar.

Try out other healthy snacks like this and give them a kid-friendly twist whenever it's your time to serve the daycare snack. Soon, the kids at the daycare will look forward to your child's snack day and will be excited to interact with them.

For more information about daycare, contact Cottonwood Montessori or a similar location.