They all deserve a sweet snack now and then and toddlers love their little treats! Whether you serve these after dinner as dessert, for a kids party or for a weekend treat, remember to keep the amount of sugar your child has to a minimum and if you are serving a sweet treat then cut down on sugar elsewhere, such as in drinks.

1. Chocolate Nibbles

While fondue sounds very 1975, chocolate fountains and dips are all the rage. You can create your own yummy chocolate snacks by melting three small cups of chocolate ? one dark, one milk and one white. Then provide some fruit, for example strawberries, raspberries, apple and banana chunks, marshmallows, and let your little one have some messy fun. Keep plenty of paper plates or napkins for their creations to limit the mess. If you want some of the treats to set, place them in the fridge.

2. Frozen Fruit

You can freeze bananas to give your child a cool snack on a hot day without any of the additives that are packed into ice lollies. Grapes that are chopped up into quarters and frozen make perfect little sweets (make sure they are chopped up finely enough to avoid the risk of choking and always supervise your child with fruit). Serve with ice cream or on their own for a healthy snack.

3. Popcorn

You don?t have to have a fancy popcorn maker to make great popcorn and you can buy popping corn in most supermarkets or health food shops. Simply add a little oil, heat a deep saucepan and swirl the corn over the heat (don?t forget to cover the pan!) until it pops. When the pops have slowed down to a good few seconds apart, remove from the heat. Drizzle with sugar, honey or chocolate or serve plain. Your child will love making and eating this snack ? perfect for family movie nights and much better than shop-bought popcorn (and the smell is lovely!).

4. Easy-peasy Cupcakes

This is such a simple cupcake recipe, simply blend together 1 cup of softened butter, 1 cup of self-raising flour (not plain!), 1 cup of caster sugar and 2 eggs. Fill cupcake cases with the mixture and bake at 180?c for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Top with icing made with water and icing sugar and decorate with sweets or sprinkles. This is an ideal recipe to get your children involved with baking ? make them for their friends, for a tea party or to take to friends and family as gifts. They can even decorate paper cases or make flags to stick in them.

5. Traditional Favourites

A fun way to give your children a sweet treat is to think back to what you had as a child and team up the snack with stories of your childhood memories. Think of jelly and ice-cream, rice-crispie cakes, trifle or bread and butter pudding. Bringing back all those childhood memories will be fun for you and the kids, you can dig out some photographs and raid family recipe books for inspiration.