Posted: June 11, 2024
As a child care provider, you play a major role in the health and development of the children in your care. One essential need of young children is adequate food and proper nutrition. If you participate in the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP), you already know that a specific meal pattern is required for reimbursement. If you prepare the meals on-site, it may be easy to get caught in a menu rut. However, with a little creativity, mealtime can be an important opportunity to expose children to new and exciting foods. Read on for some quick tips to consider.
A teacher sits with preschoolers while they eat lunch.
If you would like to learn more about the CACFP and how to join, please visit CACFP for helpful information.
Consider Safety
- Food safety is crucial. Wash hands before preparing and serving food. Keep raw foods separate from ready-to-eat foods. Cook foods to proper cooking temperatures. Ensure cold foods are kept cold (below 40°F) and hot foods are kept hot (above 140°F) until you are ready to serve them.
- Ensure that all foods in the meal are age-appropriate and do not pose a choking hazard. Round foods like grapes and cherry tomatoes should be quartered for children under 4. Hard foods like nuts and popcorn should not be served. This worksheet from USDA (alternate Spanish-language worksheet) can be a helpful tool to post in food prep areas or to use at your next teacher in-service.
- Know your facility's allergen policy and any specific allergens of children in the classrooms. Many facilities do not allow peanuts or tree nuts. In addition to these two allergens, seven more allergens have been identified as common allergens in the United States. The Big 9 allergens are eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, sesame, soy, and wheat.
Consider Nutrition
- Children are growing at a rapid rate. Compared to their body size, their calorie needs are much higher than those of adults. Generally speaking, toddlers require about 1,000 calories/day, and 4- to 8-year-olds need 1,200–1,400 calories/day. Compare this to the standard 2,000 calories per day for a full-grown adult woman, and it quickly becomes apparent that children require a lot of energy (USDA & HHS, 2020). To meet these energy needs, serve foods with healthy fats and protein alongside fruits and vegetables, which tend to be lower in calories.
- In addition to calories, children require a variety of macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, and healthy fats) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) to ensure proper growth and development. Therefore, it is crucial that most foods that they consume be nutrient dense. A nutrient-dense food is one that contains vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and/or healthy fats without extra empty calories. Serving too many salty snack foods and treats will limit the amount of crucial nutrients that children can consume. For example, whole strawberries with some low-sugar, whole-grain cereal served at snack time provides more nutrients and less sugar than a strawberry-flavored cereal bar.
- Limit heavily processed packaged foods when possible. Snack foods such as cheese-flavored crackers are a childhood favorite, but they provide less beneficial nutrients and more sodium than regular string cheese.
- The CACFP meal pattern (alternate Spanish-language meal pattern) is designed to ensure that children get a good variety of the nutrients that they need: one vegetable, one fruit, a source of calcium (milk), a grain (preferably whole grain), and a protein source (meat or meat alternative).
Kid Appeal
- Young children often feel safe with familiar foods, but they can learn to love new foods when exposed to them. A good strategy is to serve one to three familiar foods with a small portion of a new “exposure” food. This way, they will not go hungry if they are unwilling to try the new food. However, they might surprise you with what they try.
- If a child does not try a new food one day, don’t give up. Presenting the food in different ways over time can pique interest. A child may not try cucumber spears, but they will try cucumbers cut in half circles or offered with a dip on the side.
- Expect some food waste. It is healthy and appropriate for children not to finish their entire meal. It is developmentally appropriate to allow them to listen to their body’s cues of how much to eat. If you notice a lot of food left over at the end of meals, consider switching to family-style meals.
- Get kids excited about new foods by getting them involved. Teachers can read books about gardening, trying new foods, or table manners. New food exposures can also be a sensory experiment. Teachers can ask children what color the food is, what it looks like, and what it feels and smells like. Teachers can model curiosity by trying new foods themselves.
For additional menu ideas and resources, the National CACFP Sponsors Organization is a great resource.
Additional Resources:
For more information about child nutrition, check out these BKC On Demand courses:
- Healthy Kids, Healthy Future Series Serie Niños Saludables, Futuro Saludable disponsible en Español.
- Cooking Matters – Choose Healthy Foods for Kids
- EAT Family Style Module 3: Sensory Exploration of Foods
References:
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (2020). Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, 9th Edition.
