Nutritional Shakes for Kids

Smoothies

• Smoothies are a perfect way to feed kids something that tastes like a milkshake, yet is packed with nutrients. Use plain yogurt as the base for your smoothie. If you have kids under 2 years old, use full-fat yogurt; they need fats for growth and development. Add whatever fruit you have around, such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines. Cherries and figs, when they're in season, are good smoothie fruits, too. Bananas, apples and oranges are grocery-store staples, and go great in smoothies. Don't forget vegetables; you can make the taste of spinach almost undetectable by adding it to a fruit smoothie. Or, if your children love greens, make them the main ingredient and add other elements (like apple juice or grapes) to balance them. You can sneak in even more nutritional value by adding wheatgerm or wheatgrass to the mix. If the smoothie is too thick, add milk (full-fat for kids under 2), water or fruit juice. Sweeten the mix with agave nectar or maple syrup instead of white sugar.

Green Shakes

• Make sure your kids are getting their veggies--and sometimes also their fruit and herbs--by giving them green shakes. You can combine almost any fruit and vegetable you find in your refrigerator, put it in the blender or juicer and make your own green drink. These shakes are usually made from mixed green vegetables, either pureed in a blender, squeezed or strained. Vegetables often used include cucumber, kale, celery, spinach, avocado, sun-dried tomatoes, lettuce (iceberg, red and Romaine), sprouts and wheat grass. Herbs and spices in green drinks include parsley, basil, dill, mint, ginger and cilantro. You can add fruit, yogurt or sorbet, too.

Classic Milkshakes

• The traditional milkshake is made with ice cream, milk and sugar. Because it contains dairy, it's high in vitamin D and calcium. According to data at LiveStrong.com, however, 8 oz. of vanilla milkshake adds up to 280 calories, and contains 12.5 g of fat, or 20 percent of your recommended daily allowance. While milkshakes are a favorite with kids, they aren't very nutritionally dense and should probably be reserved for special occasions.

Full Fat vs. Low Fat

• Generally, you'll want to keep the dairy products in your shakes low fat, unless your child is under 2 years old. Full-fat milk contains large amounts of saturated fat, which can clog arteries and lead to heart disease later in life. Today's children eat much more saturated fat than children did 20 years ago. According to an article in the British newspaper, The Daily Mail, the British Food Standards Agency is worried that kids today have a much higher blood fat content than was the norm two decades earlier. Blood fat content can be an early signal of heart disease.

  If your child is between 1 and 2 years of age, however, he needs full-fat dairy products. The fats help brain growth and development, as well as vision.

Weight-Gaining Shakes

• Should your child drink fortified shakes that are sold as liquid nutrition? The answer is yes, if you like, as long as the child is also eating a balanced, nourishing diet most of the time. Maybe he's at the low end of the weight spectrum, or maybe he's been sick and off his food; perhaps he is just going through a "not-hungry" phase. In these cases, a drink like Pediasure or Boost can provide calories, vitamins and minerals in an easy-to-consume form.