09.8 Prime times – Snack-times and mealtimes (older children)
Children are supervised during mealtimes and always remain within sight and hearing of staff.
Snack times
A ‘snack’ is prepared mid-morning and can be organised according to the discretion of the setting manager e.g. picnic on a blanket.
Children may also take turns to help set the table. Small, lidded plastic jugs are provided with choice of milk or water.
Children wash their hands before and after snack-time.
Fruit or raw vegetables, such as carrot or tomato, are offered in batons, which children should be encouraged to help in preparing. Bananas and other foods are not cut as rounds but are sliced to minimise a choking hazard.
Portion sizes are gauged as appropriate to the age of the child.
Biscuits should not be offered, but toast, rice cakes or oatcakes are good alternatives.
Children arrive as they want refreshment and leave when they have had enough. Children are not made to leave their play if they do not want to have a snack.
Staff join in conversation and encourage children’s independence by allowing them to pour drinks, butter toast, cut fruit etc.
Mealtimes
Tables are never overcrowded during mealtimes.
Children are always within sight and hearing of staff at mealtimes
There is a Paediatric First Aider present at children’s meal and snack times.
Children help staff set tables
Children wash their hands and sit down when the table is set.
Staff have their lunch with children. Staff who are always eating with the children role-model healthy eating and best practice, for example not drinking cans of fizzy drinks in front of the children.
Children are given time to eat at their own pace and are not hurried to fit in with adults’ tasks and breaks. They are not made to eat what they do not like and are encouraged to try new foods slowly.
To protect children with food allergies or specific dietary requirements, children are discouraged from sharing and swopping their food with one another.
Mealtimes are relaxed opportunities for social interaction between children and adults.
There are sometimes opportunities for children to eat with friends on other tables. Children may be invited to the babies’ room for lunch, to join a sibling or be with their previous carer if they have just moved up into the older group. There should also be opportunities for babies and toddlers to join the older children for lunch, providing they do not find this unsettling or distressing.
After lunch children are encouraged to put away their lunch boxes and help wipe the table and sweep the floor.
Information for parents/carers
Ten Steps for Healthy Toddlers https://infantandtoddlerforum.org/media/upload/pdf-downloads/HR_toddler_booklet_green.pdf