Healthy diet
Guidance and resources you can use to support children’s learning and understanding of a healthy diet.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework states that early years and childcare providers must promote good health of the children they look after. Where children are provided with meals, snacks and drinks, these must be healthy, balanced and nutritious, whether this be from the provider or from the home.
Offering children a wide range of foods, textures and flavours can help increase the variety of foods children will eat. This can encourage healthier eating habits later in childhood. This is especially important during this time of early growth and development.
Guidance for practitioners
To help children build a strong relationship with food and make the right choices from the start, visit the help for early years providers: nutrition web page. You will find further information and links around introducing solids, a healthy plate, allergies, meal planning, cost effective healthy foods and planning food activities with children.
The Foundation Years have a practical guide called Eat Better, Start Better. It will provide you with useful food and drink guidelines to help you meet the EYFS statutory framework requirement for providing healthy, balanced and nutritious food and drink.
The Public Health Agency have useful guidance for feeding under-fives in a childcare setting.
The NHS provide guidance to support adults in responding to children who appear as 'fussy eaters'. Practitioners should work closely with the child’s parents or carers to understand the reasons for a child’s reactions to food and enable them to provide their child with appropriate support.
Parenta have developed the comprehensive guide below, which provides information on nurturing healthy children and fostering their wellbeing through nutrition, outdoor experiences, and gardening.
Help for early years providers, sensory food education web page provides information to help young children engage with food and outlines how sensory food education can benefit them. The Taste Education website also provides useful food activities suited for the EYFS.
Support for families
Change4life has ideas on staying healthy, eating well and moving more.
The West Sussex Wellbeing programme is a county-wide adult health improvement programme delivered in partnership between West Sussex County Council and local district and borough councils.
Early years and childcare providers can support families through Making every contact count (MECC) by sharing these messages around a healthy diet and signposting parents or carer to useful websites. Visit our Learning and Development Gateway for MECC training.
Food safety
Learn how hygiene and safe food preparation practices protect children in an early years and childcare setting.