The increase in diet-related illnesses and obesity has made children's health and diet a priority for policy-makers and professionals alike. To safeguard children's well-being, early years practitioners need to make healthy foods a familiar part of children's daily lives.
Research shows that eating patterns developed in early childhood tend to be carried into adulthood. The earlier children are introduced to fruit and vegetables, the more they will enjoy them and the more frequently they will eat them.
Parents and practitioners have a responsibility to introduce children to a wide range of food so that they can become used to its different textures, flavours and smells. But to be open to such experiences, children need to feel secure and relaxed.
Sharing foods socially with friends is an ideal way to introduce children to healthy ways of eating, and such situations will be all the more successful if the children are free to choose and access the food independently.
Snack times are a regular feature of early years settings. Unfortunately, they are an often adult-directed, sometimes frustratingly slow, activity that interrupts play and learning.
A snack bar or snack cafe is one way that snacks and drinks can be made available when the children want them, although it does have to be carefully planned, set up and monitored.
Success with snacks
A snack bar or cafe is an area with a table and chairs for foods and drinks that the children can access at any time or at specific times of the session.
To make the most of such a snack bar in your setting:
* Have water available at all times.
* Display its opening times, such as 9.30-11am and 2-3.30pm.
* Vary the foods according to the time of day - perhaps breakfast-type snacks and fruit in the morning.
* Provide plates, bowls, cups, jugs and cutlery.
* Encourage the children to put any food waste in a bin, which you can later tip into a compost bin/area.
* Encourage the children to wash up their own utensils or put them in a dishwasher. If the children do their own washing, make sure you check utensils are clean before re-using them.
* Display photographs of foods that they have had to stimulate discussion.
* Display photographs of the children using the area, with laminated speech bubbles. The children can write what they thought of the food on the bubbles, or an adult could scribe their comments. Such photographs will also act as reminders to the children about how to behave or what to do in the area.
* If you wish, provide a pictorial menu with prices and a till so that the children can combine role-play with snack time.
* Organise a staff rota for the area so that practitioners can prompt discussions with the children and develop the children's social skills.
* Make time available for staff to take some of the children shopping for snack ingredients and involve small groups in preparing or cooking the food for that day or session.
* Model how to use the snack bar. Extend discussions to talk about different foods, where they come from and how they help the body to grow and provide energy. It is important, too, that children see the adults in the room helping themselves to water on a regular basis.
* Be careful that the children don't become so involved in an activity that they forget to have something to eat or drink. Young children need regular small amounts of food and drink to maintain the high energy levels needed for their active learning styles.
* To keep track of who has been to the snack area, provide laminated name cards with the children's pictures attached so that all children can recognise their name card unaided. They can then stick the cards on a board in the area after being in the area so staff can see immediately who needs encouragement or reminding to have something to eat and drink. NW Jenni Clarke is a senior early years and inclusion consultant for Dorset LEA. For more information about the author visit www.jenni-clarke.com
