Growing nutrition awareness and healthy eating in Childcare

Some are as follows

• We sit down and eat our meals together without distraction
• We develop social and emotional skills by taking turns serving oneself, learning table manners
• Every meal experience is one of exploration and creativity –– exploring new foods
• Making food together, children will explore growing vegetables in the garden
• We foster communication skills when discussing different flavours and textures, sharing food stories, talking about our favourite foods, asking to pass the tongs, or identifying when thirsty or full
• An opportunity to encourage cultural diversity as we try new foods from other cultures
• Our teachers encourage children to serve themselves which develops proper hand/eye coordination, fine motor skills using tongs and utensils and decision-making
• Water is accessible and visible at all times and is our drink of choice
• As teachers, we are role models for healthy eating practices and are responsible for encouraging healthy eating patterns, positive attitudes to food and engaging in daily physical activity
• A key part of developing healthy lifestyle practices requires children seeing these modelled positively by the role models in their lives