Afterschool Snack Guide

2
Age Eligibility
Children age 18 and under can receive snacks. If the student turns 19 during the school year, he
or she is still eligible for the program.
Program Administration
The school nutrition department usually submits an addendum (supplied by the state) to its
existing school meals application. The snacks must include two out of the following four components:
milk, fruits or vegetables (including juice), grains or grain alternatives, and meat or meat alternatives.
A few of the required amounts for snacks are slightly different from the school lunch requirements.
A list of USDA’s nutritional requirements for snacks is available at:
www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Afterschool/factsheet.htm or
www.frac.org/html/building_blocks/nutritionalguidelines.html.
Programs are required to keep meal counts and attendance rosters. Even though the school district
administers the NSLP, there is no requirement that the foodservice staff distribute the snacks,
keep the attendance roster or take the meal count. Many schools train the after-school program
staff to be responsible for these tasks in order to decrease labor costs.
The school nutrition department must monitor each after-school program twice a year. The first
review must be done within the first four weeks of operation. During the review, the department
must determine the program’s compliance with counting and claiming procedures and with the
menus. Examples of monitoring forms are included on in the “Snack Programs in Action” section
of this guide (see page 5).
The logistics of the snack program will in large part be determined by the school’s resources. The
common design is for the cafeteria staff to put together the snacks and store them in a designated
area within the kitchen or outside the kitchen. Perishable items are often stored in coolers. (A
school nutrition department can work with the after-school program to raise funds for coolers or
receive them as in-kind donations from local civic organizations, grocers, or children’s health and
hunger agencies.) The after-school program picks up the snacks, serves them to the students in
the cafeteria or another designated area, fills out the paperwork and cleans up the area afterwards.
Leftover snacks often can be re-stored as long as the food is kept at the proper temperature.
Additional information on logistics is explored in the “Snack Programs in Action” section of this
guide.
For additional information on NSLP snacks, visit:
www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Afterschool/default.htm or
www.frac.org/Out_Of_School_Time/Afterschool/index.html.
Even though the NSLP snack is available to any school participating in school
lunch, some school nutrition directors may choose not to participate in the
NSLP snack especially if a small percentage of low-income children participate
in the program. Regardless of whether the school uses the child nutrition
programs, it is still important that children receive a nutritious after-school
snack. School nutrition departments can provide a healthy snack to the afterschool
program and charge the program the cost of the snack if necessary.