Unit 3 – What can be done?
In this unit I will learn how to:
- learn from the best practices in the area of food in preschools and schools
- understand the interdependencies between healthy children, food or caterer choice and procurement, environment and climate
- develop guidelines for healthy sustainable food program in kindergartens
Introduction into the topic:
Early childhood is a critical time for the development of food preferences and eating patterns. Many factors influence dietary intakes and nutritional status of young children and the most important are food availability, parental modeling, praise or reward for food consumption and peer behaviors. Early childhood education is significant for a young child and adds value to his future education and life.
Kindergartens play key roles in the development of healthy eating patterns among children. They are some of the most functional environments for nutrition education because children spend most of the day in these settings. The kitchen and the mealtime is a learning and integration place - before and after the joint, and interdependencies between healthy children, food or caterer choice and procurement, environment and climate need to be explored more in details.
