Primary school age children

A healthy diet will support your child to grow, learn and stay active

Primary school aged children holding hands and playing

A healthy diet for school aged children

As children start school, life may become busier as they become more active, so it’s important that children have a healthy diet that meets their needs to help them grow and develop.

A healthy diet for school aged children includes plenty of fruit and vegetables, starchy foods and protein such as beans, pulses, fish eggs and meat.

As a rough guide, one portion of fruit and vegetables is the amount they can fit into the palm of their hand. Aim to provide at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day – tinned, frozen, dried and fresh all count.

Just like adults, children should eat aim to eat oily fish like salmon, trout and mackerel at least once each week. However, it is important that girls eat no more than two portions and boys no more than four in one week.

Starchy foods like bread, rice, pasta, cereals, and potatoes are important and should make up around one third of your child’s plate, choosing wholegrain varieties where you can.

Bones grow throughout childhood – the fastest growth happens when children are very young, then again when they go through puberty. Children need enough calcium and vitamin D in their diet to build strong bones.

Did you know?

Everyone (including children) should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms/µg of vitamin D (400 IU)? Read more about the recommended vitamin D supplements

Lunch

In Scotland, school lunches are currently free for all children between school nursery and primary 5. Find out if your child is eligible for free school meals from P6 onwards.

However, if your child prefers to have a packed lunch there are lots of healthy options:

basing lunches on high fibre foods like wholegrain bread, or wholemeal wraps, you can help keep your child feeling fuller for longer
if they're not keen on wholegrain foods, try introducing half and half varieties or bread/wraps
it doesn’t always have to be a sandwich, why not try a pasta salad instead?
common sandwich fillers, like ham and cheese can both be high in salt or fat, so witching processed red meat (e.g. ham) for unprocessed white meat (e.g. chicken or turkey), and using reduced fat cheeses, can help build a healthier meal for your child
try lower-fat spread or reduced-fat cream cheese instead of butter / full fat cream cheese or in sandwiches
including sticks of carrot and cucumber alongside a dip like reduced-fat hummus is a great way to help your child reach five a day and incorporate healthier snacks

Find healthy lunch and dinner ideas

Providing snacks

Store-bought snacks that come in a packet or wrapper are often more convenient, but they can be high in fat, sugar and salt. Here are some tips for providing healthier snacks for your child:

there are ways to include a wide variety of different fruit and vegetables in your child’s lunch or as a snack, such as mini salad pots with tomatoes, cucumber, pepper and carrot sticks alongside a low-fat dip
fresh fruit is an easy and healthy snack – wash, peel and chop it up to make it more appealing
dried fruit is another option, but this should only be eaten at mealtimes to reduce risk of tooth decay
- choose dried fruit that is unsweetened and uncoated as these will be lower in sugar
baked crisps, plain popcorn or rice cakes in the place of normal crisps are a healthier option

Parent Club has recipes you could try if you’re interested in making your own snacks. Preparing homemade snacks can be a fun, and healthy way to involve your kids in the kitchen. Additionally, by choosing snacks that aren’t individually packaged, you can help reduce waste and promote sustainability.

Making meals and snacks healthier

Sugar and sweeteners

Cereals and cereal products can add a lot of sugar to the diets of primary school-aged children, even though they're often marketed as healthier options. Eating too much sugar increases the risk of future tooth decay. Sweeteners are ingredients often used to replace sugar, so are commonly found in low-sugar or sugar-free products.

Young children should not be given products sweetened with sugar or sweeteners. For school-aged and older children, replacing products with sugar for ones containing sweeteners may help reduce their sugar intake in the short term. However, the long-term goal should be reduce the overall sweetness of their diet – including from sweeteners.

Products marketing towards children don’t always have traffic light labelling on the front of pack, indicating the calorie, fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar content, so it might not be clear which products contain sugar or sweeteners; it is useful to check back of pack food labels for this information.

More information about sugar in your diet

Reduce sugar by:

Bowl of porridge with slices of banana on top, for a healthy breakfast.

choosing an unsweetened whole wheat or oat-based cereal is better than those with added sugar
to make plain cereals or porridge more interesting, you could try providing topper options like banana, frozen berries or dried fruit. Or, you can add more flavour with some cinnamon
children should not be given sweetened drinks, including squash, cordial, flavoured milk, fizzy and juice drinks, whether these are sweetened with sugar or sweeteners. These types of drinks can encourage children to develop a sweet tooth
although a glass of fruit juice or a smoothie can count towards their five-a-day, these are also high in sugar so limit them to no more than one small glass (150ml) at meal times only and dilute with water where possible
For drinks, the best options are water or pasteurised lower-fat milk

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