healthy food experiences
and activities
Children can learn a lot about
healthy eating through food
“experiences” such as using
food in play, discussion, cooking,
drama and stories. These
activities expose children to a
large variety of foods and can
help children develop a positive
attitude to food.
Food based activities can increase children’s awareness of the
importance of good nutrition and that certain foods are needed
for them to grow and be healthy.
Food can be used to help children learn (eg about shapes,
colours, how food is grown) and develop their skills in other
areas like literacy, gross and fine motor skills, speech and maths
concepts. Dealing with food, eating and serving food also
teaches good hygiene and social skills.
Children learn through play, including food. There are many
ways to use food and food ideas in activities for children
during care. Here are some ideas.
Make Good Food
Children can learn many skills through cooking. Most children
enjoy cooking, not to mention eating! Make a recipe a week
with the children. Parents could share in the donation of
ingredients.
Have a theme tasting day ie different kinds of apples, cheese
etc. Or it could be different shapes (eg cheese slices, sticks,
cubes, grated cheese) or colours (apples, oranges, watermelon,
pears).
Encourage the children to help you with food preparation and
mealtimes. They can set the table, add ingredients to a bowl etc.
This is also a great time to model and teach safe food practices.
Cooking is creative, raises children’s self esteem and not only
improves gross and fine motor skills, but also language, speech,
team work and numeracy skills. Many multicultural recipes
are suitable for children to assist with.
Buy Good Food
Get the children to try a new food each week. One creative
Careprovider takes her children to the local Fruit and Veg shop.
They have become friends with the owner who allows them to
sample different foods each week. They also learn manners as
they learn to ask and thank the owner each week.
Shopping with the children can really involve them.
A Careprovider has laminated a range of pictures taken from
shopping leaflets. The children bring along the pictures of the
foods they will be buying in a shopping basket. They enjoy
being able to identify the food and put it in their basket.
Have an objective in mind when planning a trip and follow-up
with a discussion, story or related activity. Other places to visit
could include a farm or market garden, a butcher or plan a
picnic with other Careproviders or parents.
Talk about Good Food
Children love to talk about food and role-play food activities such
as cooking, shopping, gardening and shop keeping. Stories about
food can stimulate great interest in children eg read stories that
mention food as an essential part of the plot, and perhaps sample
the food being discussed. Make a food alphabet, finding as many
foods as possible for each letter. Play the game “I am thinking of
a food which begins with the letter …..” Describe the colour,
appearance, texture and shape until someone can guess the answer.
Talk about where different foods come from eg the supermarket,
market, bakery, dairy, farm, orchard etc. Play “Where did you go
and what did you get there?”
Grow Good Food
Take children to your local nursery to select seeds for potting.
They can help to pot and water them, watch them grow and
then pick the yummy, ripe produce. Some easy to grow and eat
produce are tomatoes, peas, beans and snow peas. Herbs are
also easy to grow.
Grow sprouts using a jar with a stocking stretched over the top
and held with a rubber band. Simply rinse once or twice a day with
fresh water and store in a warm dark place (under the sink is ideal).
They will be sprouting within a week. If you want the new leaves to
go green, sit them out for a few days once the leaves are developed.
Eat Good Food
Encourage all children to bring along a piece of fruit. The fruits
are placed in a basket when they arrive and are cut up and shared
at morning tea. Children can’t wait to put their fruit in the basket
in the mornings and are usually happier to eat a few pieces of a
variety of fruits rather than a whole piece.
Try making Good Food showbags at Adelaide show time
(or anytime!) with the children. This idea could also be tried at
Christmas time by making good food Christmas stockings.
Old orange bags sewn into shape are ideal for this. Stocking
fillers could include fruit, crackers, cheese sticks/shapes, a muffin,
as well as small toys ie balloon, home made hat and mask
(the children can make most of these).
Celebrating different cultures and festivals with food and associated
activities is also very popular with children eg Chinese New Year,
Carnevale, Moon festival.
Make Good Food part of play
Games using food encourages discussion about different foods
and can help to show children how we grow, make and buy foods
as well as the thinking we use to choose the foods we eat. There are
many games that can involve food, here are a few ideas:
Fishing for foods - cut out pictures of foods from magazines.
Back with cardboard and attach a paper clip to each picture.
Attach a string to a thin stick or tree branch and attach a small
square magnet to the other end of the string.
Role playing in a shop or home kitchen corner can provide a setting
for learning the words and concepts associated with buying, selling,
cooking and eating. Make a shop or kitchen area with boxes and
use clean empty packages to stock the kitchen or shop. Try to select
a range of foods from all the food groups.
Information and Make, Buy, Eat, Grow Good Food concepts used
with permission from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Dept.
Nutrition and Food Services.
Some information also taken with permission from “Food Experiences
for Pre-School Children”, Noarlunga Health Services 1995.
Government
of South Australia
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT
OF HEALTH AND AGEING
Department of Education
and Children’s Services
FLINDERS UNIVERSITY
ADELAIDE • AUSTRALIA
Written by
Accredited Practising Dietitians,
Family Day Care
Produced by
Noarlunga Health Services
Copyright C 2004
The Healthy Food Choice in Family Day Care policy is based on specific needs and views expressed by FDC Careproviders and staff, relating to promoting healthy food choices to
children in their care and their families. It was developed and refined in consultation with Careproviders, FDC staff and families, during a 3-year project run jointly through Family
Day Care, Noarlunga Health Services and Flinders University, funded through the National Child Nutrition Program, Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.