Healthy Eating in Early Childhood is an integral part of our curriculum, making it a natural decision to create our own cookbook as an end-of-year fundraiser. This blog provides a unique look into how each lead educator incorporates healthy eating into their teaching through the medium of art.
Our Bright Kids Centre Chefs prepare fresh nutritious meals on-site daily in accordance with the Australian Nutrition Guidelines. We are subject to regulation by the GC City Council, undergoing an annual kitchen audit to ensure hygiene in our food preparation and serving areas, adhering to our food plan and maintaining a high rating for food quality. We take pride in our 5-star food rating and our flawless audit record.
Our 6-week menus are thoughtfully crafted, taking seasonal changes into account and featuring a new recipe with each rotation. Many of our recipes are requested by our families, especially those dealing with fussy eaters at home who happily try new food here at kindy.
Sea Turtles Pre- Prep Room
Our exploration of healthy eating kicks off with visits to our very own garden. Here, children engage in hands-on activities, getting their hands dirty by planting seeds, caring for the plants as they grow into a bounty of vibrant vegetables and herbs. This immersive experience connects them with the natural world, providing valuable lessons about plant life cycles, instilling patience, and nurturing a sense of responsibility.
To delve deeper into the world of food, we incorporate interactive displays and sensory exploring into our environment .
- Banana Peel Fertiliser: In our exploration of plant growth, children were introduced to a natural method for nurturing the garden. They learned to create banana peel fertilizer by slicing and preparing banana skins, which were then placed in containers of water. Through this activity, they came to understand how the nutrients within banana peels can enhance soil quality, leading to healthier plant growth.
- Taste Testing Aboriginal Foods: Our discussions about food were further extended and integrated into our Cultural ‘Empowering our Youth’ Indigenous program, which delved into various aspects of food. Within this program, we explored and celebrated stories and traditions rooted in Aboriginal backgrounds. We also enriched the experience by conducting taste tests of an array of traditional Aboriginal foods. These activities not only broadened their vocabulary but also instilled a profound appreciation for the cultural importance of food.
Through this immersive experience, our children achieved various learning milestones
- Scientific Understanding: They learned about plant growth, soil, and the importance of sunlight and water.
- Creativity: Engaging in crafts and sensory play honed their creative thinking and artistic expression.
- Sensory Development: Sensory activities enhanced their sensory awareness and exploration.
- Communication Skills: Conversations about food enriched their vocabulary, comprehension, and storytelling abilities.
- Healthy Eating Habits: Children gained an understanding of the nutritional value of foods and developed a preference for homegrown produce.
- Cultural Awareness: They appreciated the cultural diversity of food, promoting inclusivity and respect for different traditions.
We embarked on a cooking collaboration with Miss Shanny for the Cookbook project, selecting two recipes to taste test simultaneously bringing it to life through the medium of art and discussion.
- Smoothies – After discussing the variety of different fresh ingredients that we can put in smoothies , we designed our very own smoothie collage; gluing as many of our favorite ingredients together on the page and even adding a straw; and
- Chocolate & Cherry Muffins -We embarked on a creative journey by making our very own muffins using genuine paddy cake liners and an abundance of paint applied with cotton balls. Throughout this creative process, the children exchanged stories about their experiences baking at home with various family members.
They unanimously agreed! The most cherished part of baking is savoring the delicious treats they create, and the sheer joy of licking the mixing bowl clean! In the case of a smoothie, it’s the pleasure of savoring the pure flavors and delightful textures in liquid form.
Miss Tracy X
Snakes Room
We initiate our discussions about healthy eating by engaging in group conversations. We begin by chatting about the 5 food groups and our favorite foods. This naturally leads us to explore the distinction between “sometimes foods” that we enjoy but consume in moderation and “all the time foods” that play a crucial role in our growth and development. Translation….food that make us big and strong.
Food Art
- Spaghetti and Meatballs fine motor activity – We used a paper plate, long strands of yellow wool for spaghetti, scrunched up paper for our meatballs and red food colouring mixed with glue for tomato sauce.
- Eggs on toast fine motor activity– We used our fine motor skills to roll yellow and white tissue paper between our small fingers for our egg on brown paper for our toast.
- Basket Of Fruit fine motor activity -We did this by cutting a basket out of paper and cut an apple, orange, pear, and banana in halve with the colours of paint that match the fruit.
We’ve discovered that we can create a balanced and healthy plate using all our favorite foods, encompassing all the food groups.
What does a balanced diet look like for Children?
- 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day;
- 3-6 servings of whole grains per day;
- 57-185ml of mixed protein sources;
- 2 – 3 servings of diary per day;
- A variety of good fats such as; avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil; and
- 2-8 cups of water per day.
Miss Hannelie X
Dolphins Room
The children were brimming with excitement as they contributed to the masterful 4D art collaboration in the outdoor classroom, which will be featured on the cover of the Bright Kids cookbook.
The approach to healthy eating has continued to be an integral part of our daily activities in the room, and this week, we’ve dedicated time in our morning group time to engage in conversations about various food types and the effects on our bodies, with an emphasis on ‘big’ and ‘strong’, such as;
- Fruits are good for your body; and
- Vegetables help you grow strong.
As part of our art experiences the children created different recipes from the cook book. We started with a yummy Christmas pumpkin pie, with each child painting their slice of pie. All the slices where pieced together to create a Centre pie. Cotton balls were glued on top for dollops of cream.
Considering the children showed lots of confidence when identifying their fruit, we chose to prepare fruit cocktails from our cookbook, a simple and enjoyable snack to put together. We engaged each child by inquiring about their fruit preference for the painting activity. The children had their hands painted and imprinted onto sheets of paper. Once the paint had dried, we added some final touches to complete the artwork.
Healthy Eating With Toddlers
Teaching our 2-year-olds about healthy eating can be both challenging and rewarding. Visual Aids are useful tools with colourful pictures to help the children identify different types of foods. The use of positive language to extend on the benefits of healthy food, is key; such as, strong bones, growing bigger and running faster.
We subsequently provided the children with the opportunity to explore various foods by touching, smelling, and even tasting them throughout the week. This sensory engagement enhanced the learning experience, making it both enjoyable and memorable for the children.
Mr John X
Little Fish Room
When teaching the importance of healthy food to Infants, it’s more about encouragement than discussions.
As we engage in conversations with the children about the significance of nutrition, emphasizing the goal of growing “big and strong”. Our focus primarily lies in actively encouraging them to explore and taste new, healthy food.
When introducing infants to new foods, it often involves a process of trial and error. It might require multiple attempts before achieving the desired outcome of them finishing all their food. We often use food items for sensory and as part of our arts and crafts., such as;
- A Rainbow Pasta sensory tray- To make pasta more fun, we coloured it with food colouring in the colour theme of a rainbow; pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. With a sensory tray it encourages the children to explore the materials and textures and allows them to pay attention to how the objects feel, smell, sound and probably taste, if we’re honest at this age. We offered this sensory tray multiple times over the course of the week, all the younger children were very gentle with it.
- Citrus printing and tasting- With the citrus printing, we used oranges, lemons and limes, with their corresponding paint colours, to print the shape and texture of the fruit onto our paper. We halved the citrus fruit and squeezed the juice out gently, exposing some of the membrane to make the quintessential citrus imprint. We assisted the children to use the fruit stamps to decorate the paper we had taped to the table.
When it came to the tasting, we all had different reactions. Some weren’t interested at all, and some had the typical “scrunched up sour face” look. A couple even didn’t mind it, and came back for more.
Miss Tash X
Conclusion
All the children who attended kindy on the nominated project day, were fortunate to participate in the creation of the Cookbook’s captivating front cover. This collaborative project commenced with the children in every age group, hand-picking their favorite foods from the food pyramid, making the process both educational and fun.
It ensured that they were making healthy choices for their growth and well-being. Armed with a selection of these foods, they all took turns placing them thoughtfully on the figure displayed on the cover. One by one, each food item was discussed, emphasizing the importance of balance and variety in a healthy diet. This not only resulted in a vibrant and educational cover but also left the children with a lasting appreciation for the value of nutritious food choices.
Healthy cooking and happy baking from the Bright Kids Team
Miss Honey-Nicodah X
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