These healthy breakfasts my kids love will give you good ideas to add to your weekly meal plan. With a focus on whole grains and fresh fruit, I try to include protein, carbs, and fat with each meal.
^^OMG little Mazey!!
Let’s Talk Breakfast
Breakfast is easily my favorite meal. As I regularly share my favorite creative breakfasts (overnight oats, eggs/fruit/toast, smoothie bowls, oatmeal, etc.), you know I love setting the tone for the day with a hot Yeti mug of coffee and healthy meal to break the fast.
My kids also love breakfast! I think it’s the most reliable meal of the day they eat. While Birch-the-oatmeal-lover can crush some breakfast, Mazen tends to be a lighter breakfast eater (and a bit more picky).
And they tend to eat a wider rotation of recipes than they do at other meals. (Shocker!) I try my best to feed them both a variety of balanced breakfasts (protein, fat, whole grains, and easy on the sugar). They definitely go through phases of favorites (as do I), but they both eat a good wheelhouse of healthy breakfast recipes. These are my boys’ current busy morning favorites and a few extra recommendations for you!
Healthy Breakfasts My Kids Love:
1) Frozen Waffles or Pancakes
I typically keep a box or two of frozen waffles and/or pancakes in the freezer because a) they make for a super easy breakfast, and b) my kids love them. I usually buy the Whole Foods 365 organic whole wheat varieties. The ingredient lists are decent (including whole grains and fiber), and they’re easy to toast up in a few minutes flat to pair with fresh fruit or eggs.
Another alternative is to make sheet pan pancakes and then freeze them yourself! My sheet pan pancake recipe is made with whole wheat pastry flour and the pancakes are thick and fluffy. Pancakes cut into squares are perfect for saving time and either feeding a crowd or freezing for later.
2) Smoothies
Mazen is a big smoothie lover and it’s his go-to breakfast at our house. We don’t save smoothies just for the summertime in our house, we enjoy them year round. It’s the fastest way to pack in a bunch of nutrients, for both myself and the boys. They particularly love when I make chocolate peanut butter smoothies because they basically taste like a milkshake; plus, I can easily throw in a couple handful of greens and they never know! Here is my favorite superfood smoothie recipe.
3) French Toast and Pancakes
On the weekends, we like to jazz up breakfast with something a bit more special. Since Mazen isn’t a fan of eggs, French toast has been one way we sneak them in. I’ll usually soak thick slices of whole wheat bread in a mixture of eggs, whole milk, and cinnamon and then top with a little maple syrup and sliced bananas. It’s definitely a sweet treat, but semi-healthy, too! Check out this Deep Dish pancake – another different idea!
Try wheels on the bus french toast!
4) Cold Cereal
We definitely don’t do cereal every morning, but man is it convenient! Believe it or not, it took Mazen until age 6 to eat cereal with milk, but now that he actually enjoys it, it’s a fast breakfast before school. He is into anything cinnamon and Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Cinnamon Chex has been a favorite. I also buy Whole Foods brand of cinnamon squares or Peanut Butter Puffins. Birch eats cereal too and loves all kinds of Chex too, and of course, Cheerios. His all time favorite (as is mine) is Quaker Oatmeal Squares!
5) Scrambled Eggs
The perfect toddler finger food! When he was a toddler Birch used to love scrambled eggs, but like Mazen, he turned against them! They’re such a perfect food that I fed them to Mazen 1,000 times and he hasn’t eaten eggs since he was yay high:
But they get eggs in other forms – they just doesn’t know. I make a version of this pancake recipe from Anne every now and then and it’s just eggs and banana – two foods that Mazen “doesn’t like.” If your kids are open to eggs, little egg and cheese egg muffins in a mini muffin tin is a great make-ahead breakfast idea.
6) Oatmeal
It shouldn’t be a surprise that my kids love oatmeal as it’s one of my all time favorite breakfasts. Mazen turned against it a few years ago, but it’s Birch’s favorite breakfast! He will eat a whole bowl (half a cup) and likes his plain!! I’ve tried to add toppings and cinnamon and he loves the natural oat taste the best.
Check out: What to do with leftover oatmeal
7) Baked Oatmeal
This is ideal for toddlers since it’s more firm. I used to cut or break it up into smaller pieces and it’s a perfect finger food. With Mazen, it’s kind of hit or miss. He’ll eat it if it looks like a muffin but not if it’s a slice on a plate.
8) Muffins
Speaking of muffins, they love them when I bake a batch – Mazen will literally eat three! We don’t always have homemade muffins on hand, but when I do get around to baking a batch, I stick a few in the freezer to be reheated anytime (that is, if I’m lucky and there are leftovers). Our favorite muffin recipes include these healthy whole wheat muffins and whole grain oat pumpkin muffins.
9) Overnight Oats
Birch loves overnight oats just as much as I do and always steals bites from mine. I regularly make a batch of basic overnight oats for myself to jazz up with various toppings. I’ll serve him the plain oats (oats mixed with yogurt and/or milk). This will get less messy when he can use a spoon!
10) Yogurt Drinks and Yogurt Pouches
Definitely a favorite of the boys, with yogurt drinks or yogurt pouches I know they’re getting in some protein and probiotics. I’ll also typically offer some fruit to go with it, but sometimes they’ll eat these as a solo snack on the go. I typically grab whatever is organic and on sale at Whole Foods (checking to make sure they’re not loaded with added sugar). Mazen will eat some “grown-up” yogurts but the flavors are very hit or miss. Birch also likes plain Greek yogurt with granola on top!
11) Bagels
While I would assume most kids like bagels with cream cheese, my kids prefer bagels with butter. Makes for a great quick breakfast since we keep a bunch of bagels in a stasher bag in our freezer. Check out: Breakfast Bagel Ideas.
12) Cinnamon Toast
aka Grammie Toast! We eat a lot of whole grain bread toasted with butter and a cinnamon sugar blend. This simple recipe was created by Grammie, so sometimes we call it Grammie Toast! Toast with nut butter, butter, jam, avocado, or cheese etc. is one of the best grab and go breakfast ideas.
13) Homemade Granola Bars
While granola bars can be heavily processed with soy or sugar, you can feel good serving homemade ones. They are a great breakfast for teens and tweens who are out the door. This easy energy bar recipe are on of my favorites or if you’re ok with a softer texture, try these baked oatmeal snack bars ideal for meal prep and gluten-free homes.
14) Hard Boiled Eggs
While I can’t say either of my children eat hard-boiled eggs, I think they are one of the best quick breakfast ideas for the morning meal. If your kids will eat them, more power to you! I do think peeling the shell off can be a fun kid friendly activity (even if they aren’t ready to eat them yet.) Have them do the work for you!
15) Cottage Cheese
Love it or hate it, cottage cheese is having its era. And it’s a great option for kids if they like it. If they don’t, try many of the great blended or baked recipes that incorporate cottage cheese. I love it blended into a smoothie (it gets a cheesecake vibe) or check out these 11 cottage cheese recipe ideas.
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
I love your breakfast ideas! Baked oatmeal muffins look so delicious and healthy! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Sharon says
Hi Kath. I just wanted to say thanks for all the year of sharing your daily life on your blog. With this new format, that part seems to be gone. I wish you the best, but will no longer be following.
Kath Younger says
It’s not gone at all! Just in the recent posts section. In fact I have a day in the life post in the works today!
Carly says
The healthy whole wheat muffins look great! Do you think there would be a way to replace the oats with more flour or something? My daughter is allergic to oats.
Kath Younger says
I think you could just sub a bit more flour for the oats and they would turn out fine!
Blair says
This post came at the perfect time! I often struggle with what to feed my 15 month old since he doesn’t like eggs. We’ll have to try French toast! Did you freehand the bus? I could never do it that well!! Random question – who is Hillary Parker? She’s listed at the top of the post in Feedly. We are living your new site! So user friendly now!!
Kath Younger says
I had a cookie cutter for the bus!
And Hillary is helping me with some SEO stuff so her login showed up, but the post is by me!
Kate says
I gotta say, it’s really not great to have to scroll a bunch to find recent posts on mobile. Reading your blog is one of the things I do while having coffee before my toddler gets up in the morning – as the mom of a toddler yourself, you know that time is precious! It may seem inconsequential to have to scroll a bit but I anticipate I’ll be visiting less for a quick morning read.
Kath Younger says
I get it! That’s why I spent so much time reducing the amount of scrolling you have to do on the mobile homepage by shrinking everything to thumbnail sizes. I know it’s two spots down, but it’s so much easier to see all the posts at once. And if you use the swipe up in my IG story or click through one of my emails, you’ll go straight there without a single click : )
Laura says
I have 5 littles and we all love baked oatmeal. We have it at least twice a week for breakfast- usually more. I have a freezer friendly recipe and I love how easy it is to transfer from fridge to oven in the morning. The other day I made a gigantic batch for the freezer (36 cups of oatmeal total), which will do us for the entire month of March!
Kath Younger says
That is an amazingly great plan!
Eliza says
I certainly agree that breakfast is the best meal of the day! 🙂 I don’t remember that deep dish pancake recipe, I’m going to have to try it someday.
I do have to say that I thought the blog re-design would result in a less hectic ad placement. I’m reading this on a desktop at the moment and the constant blinking ads are reminding me of a pinball machine. And when I first opened your page, I got a huge pop up ad that filled my entire screen and it took me a few seconds to figure out how to close it. I know the ads earn you some revenue, but I also know that ads like this are purposely made hard to close out of so that you’re forced to spend time looking at it. It’s a turn off, I’m sorry. Sidebar ads and banners are one thing, I can at least try to ignore them, but a pop up that forces me to interact is just not acceptable.
Kath Younger says
It’s going to take a few days to figure out the best ad placement with the new layout. The most helpful thing any of you guys can do is to screenshot what you see and send it to me by email ([email protected]) so I can collect some data and take it back to my ad team. Believe me I want the best balance between a friendly user experience and revenue. (And I wish I could just delete them all and live for free!)
Sara E Wright says
My dad set a really great example for his girls growing up. He made a hot breakfast almost every morning. He was a farmer and just made it a daily priority. I remember thinking that I never really ate cold cereal as a kid. I love that he set that example, as I make breakfast a priority as a working mom now for my girls. Our hot breakfast rotation includes: egg/canadian bacon/english muffin sandwiches, waffles with peanut butter, steel cut oats with berries and nut butter, sheet pan eggs with veggies on toast, baked oatmeal in muffin tins, “frog in the pond” (cooking an egg in the middle of toast), baked eggs in muffin tins w/ ham/cheese/etc.
Kath Younger says
I love that! A hot breakfast feels more energizing to me than a cold one (unless it’s 90 degrees outside!)
Louise RD says
Love the new format- will make recipes & previous posts easier to find – great job!
Kath Younger says
Thanks!!
The Many Thoughts of a Reader says
I have never been a morning/breakfast person but as a nursing mom I am, but I think that is more because I could eat my arm any time of the day. I think my oldest daughter takes after me. She hardly eats in the morning and doesn’t want much before school. I know she eats her entire lunch and a great dinner so I’ve kind of given up. I have been modeling my breakfast eating and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. This week she is on a sausage kick. I bought sausage patties at Aldi and I warm one up and she eats that with orange juice. Other days it is a piece of toast with butter or peanut butter. She will split a banana with me. She hates oatmeal. And cereal is ‘too cold’ for the winter. 🙂 She eats muffins for lunch almost every day, but if I am packing something else for her she will eat that for breakfast. She loves pancakes and french toast which we do on the weekends. She is so hit or miss on eggs it is annoying. I actually made scrambled eggs this morning and she barely ate them. I just have to remind myself that I too, rarely want food for the first few hours I wake up! Much easier on my mom self in the summer when we can relax a bit than when I know I am sending her off to school!
Kath Younger says
I think it’s what you’re used to. I used to wake up ravenous and now I can go a few hours before I need breakfast. I do think having coffee helps, but I also think my body just adjusted a bit!
Rachel says
Thank you for sharing these ideas! May I ask what kind of cup you use to feed Birch his smoothie? My daughter has been loving them lately but I’ve serving them to her in an open cup with a metal straw, which I have to hold for her, so it’s not ideal!
Kath Younger says
We have an older version of this cup that has a hollow straw (so it leaks if tipped) but we also use this version and has no trouble sucking smoothies from the straw even though it has a little valve.
coco says
oatmeal is my favorite and comfort food and i recently introduced it to my daughter and she is slowly developing the love too .
other fav in our house is pancakes.
Jill says
I like the new format, & it literally took me 2 whole seconds to scroll. Great job! It just looks better, too.
Kath Younger says
Great!!
Emily Battle says
What is your theory on teaching how to use a spoon? I hear so much about starting early but it seems so messy and like the payoff isn’t that great until they can really get it!
Kath Younger says
I’m not sure I have a theory, but I do think it’s one of those things you have to wait for the baby to initiate. B was really good with a spoon from the start (I remember Mazen taking longer). I think shorter spoons, which are the opposite of what we use for those 6 month feeding sessions) are much easier for self feeding. We have these which are a great size, but the bowl is quite small. These look short with a wider bowl – and I love the fact that they can’t shove in too far. And the angle on these is really cool!
Heather says
Love the new look (although I mostly read on feedly so don’t see the page too often!).
Was wondering if you have tried putting baked oatmeal in a bowl with some milk and then mixing it up for Mazen? We do that with our kids and they love it!
Kath Younger says
Yes I have done that with baked oatmeal and leftover oatmeal with success!
merry says
Thanks for sharing these ideas. I think I spend more time thinking about what to make for my kids than actually making them. I am going to take a printout of this list and stick it in my kitchen.
Rachel says
Thanks for the ideas! I feel like I am in a bit of a breakfast rut with my kids. These are wonderful inspirations.
Kath Younger says
Glad they are helpful!
Laura says
Haha I love the double bibs on Birch in the oatmeal picture.