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  1. Home/
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  4. BUL-1056

Healthy Mealtimes in Early Childcare

BUL-1056

A publication cover

BY Annie Roe, Kathryn Hickok, Shelly Johnson, Kali Gardiner, Becky Woodhouse, Kristin Hansen, Heather Whitehead

December 1, 2025

Proper nutrition for children younger than five years old is vitally important to establish for their growth and development. It’s a critical life stage, during which they develop their relationship to food, a connection that lays the foundation for lifelong dietary patterns. Learn how to instill healthy mealtime habits as a childcare provider (day care, preschool, or prekindergarten) in this dynamic, eleven-page bulletin. Strategies include menu planning that highlights whole foods, setting the best mealtime atmosphere, integrating nutrition education, and more. A handy scorecard helps you to apply these techniques consistently; five pages of resources provide examples of all the strategies, including hyperlinks to even more resources, including those from the United States Department of Agriculture and University Extension.Proper nutrition for children younger than five years old is vitally important to establish for their growth and development. It’s a critical life stage, during which they develop their relationship to food, a connection that lays the foundation for lifelong dietary patterns. Learn how to instill healthy mealtime habits as a childcare provider (day care, preschool, or prekindergarten) in this dynamic, eleven-page bulletin. Strategies include menu planning that highlights whole foods, setting the best mealtime atmosphere, integrating nutrition education, and more. A handy scorecard helps you to apply these techniques consistently; five pages of resources provide examples of all the strategies, including hyperlinks to even more resources, including those from the United States Department of Agriculture and University Extension.Proper nutrition for children younger than five years old is vitally important to establish for their growth and development. It’s a critical life stage, during which they develop their relationship to food, a connection that lays the foundation for lifelong dietary patterns. Learn how to instill healthy mealtime habits as a childcare provider (day care, preschool, or prekindergarten) in this dynamic, eleven-page bulletin. Strategies include menu planning that highlights whole foods, setting the best mealtime atmosphere, integrating nutrition education, and more. A handy scorecard helps you to apply these techniques consistently; five pages of resources provide examples of all the strategies, including hyperlinks to even more resources, including those from the United States Department of Agriculture and University Extension.

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Food preparationHealth and wellbeing

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