Have you ever wanted to plant a garden at your child care program but didn’t know where to start? Or do you have a green thumb but want to engage children in learning more about food, nutrition, and the growing process? This Mealtime Memo provides ideas to get you started.

You may have heard of Farm to Preschool, Farm to Early Childhood, Farm to Early Childcare, or Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE). These terms all refer to the National Farm to School movement. The goal of the National Farm to School movement is to provide fresh, local foods to young children in child care settings. In this Mealtime Memo, we will use the term Farm to Early Care and Education or Farm to ECE.

Children establish food preferences and eating habits early in life. They depend on the adults in their lives to provide nutrition education and experiences to help make healthy food choices. Nutrition education for young children in child care settings has many benefits. It helps:

• Develop positive attitudes about foods.
• Create awareness about the importance of making healthy food choices.
• Offer experiences with healthy foods. Children will be more likely to try new foods and eat them again in the future.
• Allow children to see adults as role models for healthy behaviors.

APRIL 2022

Time-Saving Meal Preparation Ideas

Delicious, homemade meals can fit into your busy child care day with some planning and the right tools. There are numerous meal preparation and cooking tips and tricks, and finding what works for your program will help speed up the process. To help [Read More]

MARCH 2022

National Nutrition Month^®: Celebrate a World of Flavors

March is National Nutrition Month^®, and the theme is “Celebrate a World of Flavors.” Together this means March is the perfect month to be adventurous and start exploring different cuisines to help children [Read More]

FEBRUARY 2022

Cost-Effective Meals
Strategies for Making the Most of Your Food Dollars

Serving healthy meals to children on a budget is possible, and choosing more nutritious foods gives you the most value for your dollar. To make sure you are spending wisely, follow these tips as you [Read More]

January 2022

“Turn It Up!”

Happy New Year! This month, we will “Turn It Up” to harness as much immunity as we can. Building up our immunity helps keep us healthy and get sick less often. Our immune system is our body’s first line of defense in fighting [Read More]