Portion Size Guide for Children

July 25, 2025/, ,
Children's bowls and spoons

It’s important for us to eat a variety of foods from the four main food groups to ensure we get all the nutrients we need. However, it can be tricky to know how much is enough. That’s why we’ve created this blog, to help outline portion size guidance for adults and children and provide some helpful tips.

What influences our appetite?

It’s very normal for parents and practitioners to worry about how much children eat, as we want to make sure they get the nutrition they need to grow and develop well. However, it’s important to understand that children will eat as much as they need (which is sometimes less than we feel they need!), because they’re very good at regulating their appetite.

Their appetites will likely vary, sometimes considerably, from day- to- day and between meal-to- meal. Because of this, there are no set portion size recommendations for young children, just useful guides, which we provide below.

Remember that our appetites can be influenced by a range of factors, including our: age, gender, activity level, growth, puberty and illness.

Plate with a knife and fork

How to tell when children are full

As we’ve explored, children are very good at regulating their appetite, so it’s important to trust that they’re the best judge of knowing how much they need to eat. Some of the signs below suggest that children are full:

  • Turning away from food and closing their mouth
  • Telling you they’re full
  • Becoming frustrated or upset at meal/ snack times
  • Becoming bored and playing with food.

If children show these signs, allow them to stop eating, even if they haven’t eaten everything on their plate, as it’s important not to teach them to over-ride their sense of fullness.

Here are a few key tips that can help at mealtimes:

  • Use child sized plates
  • Avoid over filling children’s plates as this can be off- putting for them
  • It’s best to offer small portions to begin with and allow second helpings if they’d like more
  • Make sure that second helpings are still nutritionally balanced- meaning you include foods from each food group and not just the food group/s that children prefer
  • Offering second helpings of the vegetables, salad or fruit is a good idea to ensure that children get plenty of vitamins and minerals, and not too much energy
  • Gradually start to increase children’s portion sizes as they grow.

Toddler Eating

Portion Size Guide for Children

Organisations such as the Department for Education, and The First Steps Nutrition Trust, have developed helpful guidance providing simple ideas for the balance of different meal components that will meet the energy and nutrient needs of children aged 1-4 years.

They provide simple food-based recommendations for each food group, followed by photos showing approximate portion sizes for children aged 1-4 years.

Note: for information on adult portion sizes, please see the British Heart Foundation website (opens in new tab)

Siblings sitting and eating a meal

Let’s take a look at the portion size guide below:

Portion Size Guide for Starchy Carbohydrates

Children should be offered foods from this food group 3-4 times a- day. To do this, we should base their main meal around starchy foods and include some at snack times too.

Starchy Carbohydrates -Cooked rice, pasta and potatoes= 80g. - Bread= 25g. -Average sized potato= 1.

Portion size guide for Fruit and Vegetables 

Children should have at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables each day. A child’s portion is roughly what fits into the palm of their hand.

Portion Size Examples for Fruits and Vegetables: - Raw fruits and vegetables 40g. - Cooked fruits and vegetables- 40g. - Dried fruits (mealtimes only) 15g.

Portion Size Guide for Dairy and Alternatives

Children should have around 3 servings of dairy and/ or dairy alternative foods a- day, to help us meet our calcium requirements.

Dairy & Plain, Fortified Plant-Based Alternatives Portion Size Examples: Milk 150ml Cheese 15g Cottage Cheese 30g Plain Yoghurt 60g

Portion Size Guide for Protein Foods

To ensure children receive enough iron, they should be offered something from this food group at least twice a- day if they eat meat and fish, and 3 times a day if they are vegetarian.

Children should be offered 2 portions of fish a week, including a portion of oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and sardines.

Protein food portion sizes: Baked beans 55g Egg 55g Meat, fish and poultry 40g Most pulses and hummus 40g

Puddings and Desserts

Children can be offered desserts/puddings made with cereals (such as rice or oats), milk and fruit.

Desserts which include fruit should aim to contain 40g of fresh fruit or 20g fried fruit per portion.

Pudding Tea Examples: Mango fool with watermelon fingers. Poached pear with yoghurt and raspberry. Cottage cheese with quartered strawberries, melon and peach fingers. Chopped pears with yoghurt and cooked apple slices. Semolina made with milk, puree prunes and banana fingers. Baked apple with Greek yoghurt and quartered strawberries.

Snacks

Children should be offered 2-3 healthy snacks across the day.

Examples of typical portion sizes:

  • Breadsticks (15g), 2 crackers (15g), 2 oatcakes (16g)
  • Vegetable sticks (40g), ½ large piece of fruit, such as half an apple or pear (40g), 2–3 small fruits e.g. apricots (40g),
  • 1–2 tablespoons berries e.g. raspberries (40g)
  • 2-3 tablespoons hummus (40g), 1 egg, meat and poultry 1 slice (30-40g)
  • Milk drinks ½ cup (100ml–150ml), hard cheese: 1–2 tablespoons grated (15g), soft cheese: (20g), yoghurt 1–2 tablespoons (50–60g).

Snack Examples Eat Better, Start Better: Breadsticks with cannellini bean hummus, sliced tomato and avocado. Crumpet with cottage cheese and pepper sticks. Greek yoghurt and squashed blueberries and sliced banana. Scotch pancakes with sliced banana and strawberries. Sweet potato wedges with natural yoghurt. Tuna pate with pitta bread and cucumber fingers.

Note: If children are offered items such as crisps, sweets and chocolate on occasions (not suitable to offer in early years settings), the below are useful portion sizes to bare in mind:

  • Crisps- 4-6 crisps
  • Sweets- 2-4 sweets
  • Chocolate- 2 – 4 squares or a funsize chocolate bar.

Useful Resources

First Steps Nutrition Trust

First Steps Nutrition Guide Example

Support for Families

Check out our free parent courses and webinars (opens in new tab) for more tips, information and advice.

If you’re an early years practitioner

For more practical tips and information for your early years setting, take a look at our online nutrition training (opens in new tab) designed by our team of expert early years nutritionists!

Training course screenshot

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1 Comment

  1. Who Said You Can't Snack When The Kids Do? on February 18, 2022 at 10:37 am

    […] While adult portions are inevitably bigger than kids meals, you don’t need these snacks in the same way that your kids do. As such, instead of pouring yourself a small bowl of even that healthy cereal, you would be better off just grabbing a handful to keep your kids company as they eat. Equally, if they’re having something like cheese and crackers, making sure to eat only one can fulfil your craving without putting your waistline, and your overall health, at risk. […]

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