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Whether it’s lunch for children in your daycare, preschool, or for a field trip, make sure toddlers get proper nutrition by making a well-balanced lunch.  In addition, packing a lunch for your own child is economical and ensures that your child is eating nutritious foods in age-appropriate portions.

Making lunch for preschool-aged children is snap when following these simple guidelines. Lunch should include:

1 item from the milk group:

• Low-fat or fat free milk
• Part-skim mozzarella string cheese or other part-skim cheeses
• Low-fat or 2% cheeses and Low-fat or fat-free yogurt.

Tip: Select yogurt that is lower in sugar, yet does not rely on artificial sweeteners.  When looking at labels, remember that 12 grams of sugar = 1 TBSP.

1 or 2 items from the fruit group

• Fresh fruit salad
• Melon wedges
• Orange
• Banana
• Apple
• Grapes (cut in halves to minimize choking hazard)
• Unsweetened applesauce
• Berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc.)
• Kiwi
• Pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots or plums

1 or 2 vegetables:

• Celery sticks, baby carrots or carrot sticks (cut lengthwise down the middle to minimize choking hazard)
• Cherry or grape tomatoes (cut in halves)
• Cucumber, zucchini or squash sticks
• Grilled or baked eggplant slices
• Coleslaw with low-fat mayo or vinaigrette
• Cooked beans (chickpeas, soybeans, black beans, pinto, low-fat refried, etc.)
• Cooked butternut or other winter squash
• Bell pepper slices
• Avocado slices
• Broccoli or cauliflower
• Lightly blanched green beans or asparagus
• Sugar snap peas
• Spinach or tossed salad

Tip: Fruit roll ups and fruit snacks are not considered a fruit.  Use fruits and vegetable to add color to your child’s lunch.  Include foods with two or more colors from the rainbow along with the neutral colors from grains, meats and dairy products

1 Grain/Bread:

Choose whole grains and breads made from whole grains.  Look for a whole grain to be the first ingredient on the food label.  Avoid grains containing high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.

• Whole grain bread, whole grain pita bread, whole grain roll
• Whole wheat English muffin or bagel
• Whole grain tortilla
• Potato (sweet or white- baked, mashed or boiled)
• Whole grain pasta
• Brown rice
• Whole grain crackers
• Whole wheat couscous
• Homemade corn muffin
• Read-to-eat whole grain cereal

1 Meat or Meat Alternative

• Chopped egg
• Pumpkin, sunflower or sesame seeds
• Sunflower Butter
• Cottage Cheese
• Meats (chicken, roast beef, turkey, etc.)
• Skinless chicken breast slices
• Cooked beans or low-fat refried beans
• Tofu or tempeh
• Hummus
• Tuna or egg salad

Although nuts are considered a meat alternative, many preschools are a nut free environment due to allergies.  Please do not send nuts or nut butters in the lunch if the child’s preschool makes this request.

You may be wondering, “where is the dessert?” Please do not include sweets (candy, cookies, chips, cakes, etc.) in the toddler’s child’s lunch.  At home, small amounts of unhealthy fats and sweets can be a part of a healthy diet.  Sweets should only be included occasionally in a child’s diet, and always in small amounts.

By following these simple guidelines, you can ensure your child (or a child in your care) is getting a wholesome lunch even when you aren’t in their presence.

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Eventually kids in daycare centers will get tired of the same old peanut butter and jelly or mac and cheese from a box for lunch. Mix it up with these quick, creative, nutritious toddler lunches and snack ideas:

Veggie Pasta Sauce

One way to get children to eat more vegetables is to add them to pasta sauce. Serve this delicious sauce over fun pasta shapes.

Ingredients:
1 can 28oz crushed tomatoes
1 T olive oil
1 tsp garlic salt
1 cup frozen carrots
1 cup thinly sliced yellow summer squash
1 can 14.5 oz Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
1 cup baby spinach leaves
2 roasted red peppers (from a jar)

Heat crushed tomatoes, olive oil and garlic salt in a saucepan over medium high heat. Place carrots and squash in microwave safe bowl and cook for 5 minutes. Puree carrots and squash in a food processor with diced tomatoes, spinach leaves, and roasted red peppers. Add pureed mixture to tomato mixture cooking in saucepan.  Cook 10 more minutes or heated through. Serve over cooked pasta.

*Recipe adapted from toddlermag.com

Hummus
Hummus is a delicious, nutritious dip made of chickpeas. Hummus is great with veggie sticks, crackers, or pita bread.

2 cups canned organic chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans)
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup tahini sauce (sesame seed paste)
Juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Drain and rinse the chickpeas thoroughly until water is clear. In a food processor, puree chickpeas, garlic, lemon, one tablespoon of EVOO and cumin in food processor. Scrape down sides of food processing bowl and add remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Continue to process until paste-like.

Baked Potatoes with Fun Fillings

Baked potatoes are rich in vitamin B and C and potassium. Topping baked potatoes with a variety of toppings keep baked potatoes interesting for toddlers. It also is an easy way to serve a complete meal. Prick potatoes with a fork and bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the potato. You may also use sweet potatos or yams.

Topping Ideas:
Diced or shredded chicken with sautéed peppers
Diced sautéed veggies and cheese of your choice
Hummus dip or avocado dip
Last night’s leftovers – very quick and convenient

Quick and Easy Snacks for Toddlers

Slices of cucumber and whole grain crackers with hummus
Apple slices and cubes of low fat cheese
Whole Fruit smoothie and pretzels
Carrot sticks and whole grain crackers with cream cheese
Banana chunks with a handful of dry cheerios

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Daycare food programs provide cash reimbursements for nourishing meals and snacks served to children ages 12 years and younger in licensed family day care homes. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) improves the quality of daycare by making it more affordable for many low-income families. The CACFP child care component is a state and federally funded program that gives financial aid to licensed child day care centers and day care homes.

Types of Daycare Businesses Eligible for Daycare Food Programs

Who may participate in CACFP?

• Eligible public or private nonprofit child care centers
• Infant centers
• Care centers that provide care outside of school hours
• Head Start programs
• Other institutions which are licensed or approved to provide day care services may participate in CACFP.

What if your child care business is for-profit? If your child care business is for-profit, the business must receive title XX funds for at least 25 percent of the children enrolled or licensed capacity (whichever is less).  Your for-profit child care center may also be eligible if at least 25 percent of the children in care are eligible for free and reduced price meals.

Qualifying organizations receive cash reimbursement for serving meals to enrolled children and adults that meet Federal nutritional guidelines. The CACFP can assist with State and federal meal reimbursement for the number of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and supplements served to enrolled children. Meals must meet the USDA minimum meal requirements. These meals are then reimbursed at rates based on the child’s eligibility for free, reduced price, or paid meals.

Daycare Food Programs Benefit Daycare Businesses

Participating in the CACFP helps enhance the diets of children up to the age of 12 by providing them with nutritious, well-balanced meals. According to studies, the CACFP develop s good eating habits in children that will last through later years. Studies also show that children who participate in the CACFP program have higher intakes of vital nutrients and fewer servings of fats and sweets than children in non-participating care.

Other benefits of participating in the CACFP are that your daycare business may receive:

• Food donations
• Technical assistance for food service operation program management, and recordkeeping
• One time start-up funds for your daycare home in some cases

Daycare food program Record Keeping

The CACFP requires the following records in order receive benefits:

• Facility license
• Enrollment form signed by a parent
• Daily menus including quantity served
• Daily attendance
• Number of meals by type served to enrolled children each day
• Verification of children’s eligibility category
• Civil rights data.

As a daycare provider, it is wise to invest in childcare software in order to keep track of the records necessary to receive food program benefits.

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Learning should not be limited inside the classrooms of the children. Even when your kids are at home, they should still have fun and learning activities with you. But then, the daily tasks that you have to finish and get done usually hinder the time for you and your kids to spend some time together. The times when your kids offer their help in the daily chores and in the kitchen usually don’t end up being a success. Mostly likely than not, you refuse their offer and tell them to just play or watch the TV.

But come to think about it, the kitchen can also be a place for the kids to enjoy and learn new things. It is a perfect place where you can spend time with your kids at the same time do your chores. You can always let your kids help you with simple kitchen chores. They can learn about other things such as kitchen safety, basics about cooking, and the like. There are fun ways for them to spend time with you in the kitchen.

There are different fun ideas and activities which you can make to let your children be involved in the kitchen. Just make sure that the activities are safe and they will be capable to do so.

For young toddlers, you can let them play with plastic dishes, funnel and sponge at the sink. If you have a preschooler, you can teach him the basics about safety in the kitchen. You can let him peel a carrot using a peeler by peeling it away from the body. You can also teach the proper way of using the knife and chopping boars. With your supervision, you can let them slice a couple of times. You can even incorporate the things that they are learning in school such as measurements and fractions.

Another fun idea that you can enjoy with your kids is through making popcorns. You can prepare the popcorn, butter, salt and the bowl before you start the activity. You can explain to your kids how heat can make the corn pop and turn it into popcorn. Aside from that, you can also make popcorn balls with your children using different colors and flavours. Together with your kids you can decorate the popcorn balls using your imagination such as a snowman and the like. You can use carrots, raisins and other foods for the face of the snowman. Popcorn can also be used to make necklaces and bracelets when put together using a string. Stale popcorn is best for this kind.

You can also make dough for your children. Peanut butter play dough can be made using 18 ounce peanut butter. Then add six tablespoons of honey, some milk and flour to achieve the right consistency. You can let your kids play with the dough and mold them according to the shape that they like. You can also use a real dough and teach you kids how to knead.

Pizza is also a fun way to cook with your kids. Purchase ready made dough and the ingredients needed. You can assist them in pouring the sauce and let them add the topping according to their design. You can also teach them about shapes and colors using the ingredients.

See: How to start a daycare center

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Full attention is required from any parent by any growing child. This goes well with unconditional love and yes, a balanced and the right diet indeed. Nowadays, parent are deemed to have very high expectations of their children however, they are unable to guide them well in achieving these expectations. When your work status is impartial on a knife-edge, even the least distraction can confirm to be very expensive. So how is someone likely to perform the position of parent and worker at the same time? Certainly this is impossible! Well, even if this already the case, the human species continues to multiply at a blinding rate. The answer to the current day, working professional’s childcare problem has become the daycare centre. In spite of certain shortcomings we notice that the trend is steadily gainig pace.

A daycare centre certainly shelters your child in your nonappearance. A number of entourage are hired to appear after the children as well, however, they are still absolute strangers to us. Also, a daycare service for your child is supposed to provide a well balanced diet. In truth this point is extremely debatable, as we cannot judge the quality of food dispensed at the centre. However, we can certainly question the type of food on offer. A daycare centre, in all likelihood, is inadequately funded. The repercussions are fairly disturbing and at times distressing to the parent. Statistics inform us that a majority of generated income is channeled toward staff and overhead charges. As a result, the centre is left with little or no money to procure a superior meal for your child. In fact, a large number of daycare centers do not provide meals at all. Countless studies have conclusively confirmed that health problems of adults are linked to malnutrition during their childhood years.

Since each parent wants the very finest for his or her child they should investigate the worth and type of food provided by their daycare centre. Do not suppose sensitive information such as exact figures of income and spending as they are either withheld from outsiders or anonymous to the staff themselves. On the other hand, you are well within your rights to demand a list of food items that constitute your child’s daycare meal. Once you are armed with this information, you can now substitute the missing food groups into your child’s daily diet. It is advisable to approach a qualified nutritionist for help with your child’s diet plan.

Lastly, we must also find out whether the centre has any restrictions against parents supplying food items. Several centers highlight health codes violations and allow only authorized food items into the facility. However, if the daycare diet plan is inadequate you need to reconsider admitting your child into this particular centre. Remember, your child comes before your convenience.

See: How to start a daycare center

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