Summer Snack System

It is officially summer here! The girls are home and having tons of fun together - for the most part. Of course having the girls home all day means that the phrase "I am HUNGRY!" If I let the girls they would snack all day long. I cannot tell you how many times I have told them they could have a few pretzels only to find an empty bag on the counter 15 minutes later! I would also like to encourage them to eat more fruits and veggies rather than needless processed snacks. I have been racking my brain to come up with a way to both of those and at the same time make it a fun learning experience for the girls. Then miracle of miracles I found this post (Streamlining Summer Snacking) from Kristen Duke Photography tagged on Pinterest. Oh how I LOVE Pinterest! 

After reading Kristen's post I was very inspired so I hit the store grabbed a few supplies and set to work on our summer snack plan. Here is what I cam up with:

Our Summer Snack System

The cost/plan:

The girls will each get 10 $1 bills and 5 $5 bills each week. They will be encouraged  use 2 of their $1 bills and one of their $5 each day. I plan to print out the money (found here) in different colors for each of the girls so we can keep them straight. The money will be stored in coordinating pouches and hung on the fridge.

The snacks:

The first and perhaps most important thing the girls will know is that they can have fruits and veggies anytime they want and those will not cost them anything. I came up different types of snacks for the $1 and $5 dollar snack bins and it was rather difficult. I am all about healthy snacks for the girls but most easy snacks are not the best for the girls. After some contemplation I came with a decent list. The $1 snacks will be things like goldfish crackers, Gogurts, granola bars, Popsicles, cheese sticks, pretzels and other semi-healthy snacks. The $5 snacks will consist of dessert type snacks like Oreos, Poptarts, chocolate chip cookies, fruit snacks and other homemade desserts. I plan to separate the snacks into serving sizes (using sandwich bags) and store them in plastic bins labeled with the "price" on the outside. They will be stored up high so my little stinkers have to get permission and pay up before they can get to them!

I picked up a small magnetic dry erase board so I could write out the weekly snack inventory (starting with the free fruits and veggies of course) so they girls know what they have to spend their "money" on. I am REALLY hoping this new snack system will help cut back on the snacks and amount of "boredom" eating the girls are doing. How do you deal with kids and snacking during the summer?

I am linking up to these great parties!