Undoubtedly, nursery mealtimes should be nutritious and tasty, however the experience of eating with others serves-up so much more for children’s development, explains Annabel Karmel

There are so many lessons to be learnt from sharing mealtimes. Sitting around a table and eating together provides a natural environment to encourage creativity, curiosity, trial and error, growth and development.

Children learn to engage, communicate, foster relationships and become more independent. There are also boundless benefits when it comes to speech and language, social development, as well as early development skills in numeracy and literacy.

Engaging around food also encourages children to be more inquisitive about what’s on their plate, how it got there, and the importance of making good food choices.

At home, busy schedules and work commitments can affect the amount of time families spend eating together. But that’s reality. What’s important is that we recognise the benefits of eating together and carve-out pockets of time during the week to come together at the table. And families will lean on you as their childcare provider for support to instil those shared mealtimes.

From a social perspective, children will learn about sharing food, practising table manners, and practising skills to support them in making solid relationships through life.

Here are some other fantastic development benefits of sharing mealtimes.

Fending off fussy eating

Offering children the opportunity to share in balanced, wholesome mealtimes can also help stave off unhealthy eating habits in the future. There is, of course, no guarantee that the simple act of eating with peers around a table will completely fend off future unhealthy eating habits or encourage children to become more socially responsible, but it provides a solid foundation for pointing them in the right direction.

Confident communicators

Babies and toddlers build their confidence in communication by imitating expressions, listening, hearing new words and phrases and practising talking to adults. Communication and cognitive skills develop during exchanges that happen at mealtimes, so it’s really important to nurture these exchanges. Children are sociable creatures, and mealtimes give them the opportunity to engage with each other, observe, build on their social skills and express their thoughts and feelings as part of their daily routine.

Conversation starters

1. At mealtimes, try to ensure everyone gets the chance to talk and join in the conversation. Teach children about adjectives and get them to describe the foods they are eating. For example, crunchy cucumber, zingy kiwi, creamy yoghurt or fresh and juicy tomatoes
2. Encourage children to use their language too. Many first words reveal themselves at mealtimes. Single words such as “yes”, “no” and “more” are some of the first words that children tend to learn and use. Mealtimes give children the ability to practise using single words and begin to join words together to make requests such as “more apple”
3. Display posters or pictures of healthy foods and meals, including pictures of the children in your setting eating and sharing these mealtimes together. These not only provide staff with talking points, they also invite children to share and express their feelings relating to food and eating habits.

Foster independence

Children love to be given responsibility. Support their independence and enjoyment of mealtimes by involving them in key tasks such as the setting up of the table, clearing away, wiping tables with their own cloth or sweeping the floor. In the right environment, children want to please adults, and the more we ask for their help, the greater sense of responsibility and independence they will have.

During mealtimes, offer them choices – it might be as simple as what type of bread roll they want with their soup, if they want toppings on their jacket potato, or which fruit would they like to choose. Children thrive on making their own decisions. In turn, this confidence and independence will rub off in other areas, making them more inclined to interact with others around the table, help one another and communicate.

Hands on

Encouraging children to take an active interest in cooking and preparing meals can be a lesson in life skills. Allowing a few small groups of children into the kitchen as an activity or extending food tasks out into the main nursery setting can work wonders when it comes to learning new skills.

Following directions – A key life skill is the ability to listen to and follow instructions, and cooking provides an excellent opportunity for children to follow verbal instructions. Kids learn there is an order to follow and that to get the right result you need to follow a process.

Number concept – It’s basic maths that cooking helps with numbers. Measuring ingredients, weighing, portioning and setting the table are all excellent ways to practise counting. Boost their confidence and task them with dividing muffin batter into paper cases or cutting out a set number of cookie shapes.

Understanding the world

Mealtimes provide the ideal opportunity to support children in thinking about the world around them. Discuss where foods come from, how they look, feel, smell and taste. Mealtimes enable children to see similarities and differences between themselves and their friends through food preferences.

Foods from different cultures will also expand their learning about others and different communities. An inflatable globe to pinpoint where certain foods come from, from around the world is also a nice addition to add some geography skills to the mix.

Recipe

Chicken & Veggie Bites

Makes: 25 BITES
Ingredients
300g minced chicken thigh
½ red pepper, diced
½ carrot, grated
½ onion, chopped
½ apple, grated
¼ courgette, grated
50g mature cheddar cheese, grated
50g panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp thyme, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C Fan. Line a baking sheet with non-stick paper.
2. Measure the ingredients into a food processor. Whiz together until finely chopped.
3. Roll the mixture into roughly 25 small balls.
4. Bake in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes until lightly brown and cooked through.
5. Serve with steamed carrots and broccoli.

Contact information

Call: 0121 285 7444
Email: information@ nurserycateringcompany.com