By BEST Childcare Consulting
By BEST Childcare Consulting In early childhood education settings, our responsibility goes beyond simply serving nutritious meals — we play a vital role in shaping lifelong healthy habits and embedding healthy eating as a core value. Food is more than nourishment; it weaves culture, connection, and learning into everyday life. This year’s National Nutrition Week theme, Grow, Cook, Share – Food brings us together, invites services to harness the power of food to unite children, families, educators, and communities.
Drawing on the VegKIT Guidelines for Increasing Children’s Vegetable Intake in Long Day Care and aligned with the National Quality Framework, this article offers practical strategies, Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) write-ups, and ways to embed these ideals year-round.
An important tool to support this is HEAS’s free online training module “Promoting Healthy Eating in Long Day Care”, which equips educators and leadership with essential knowledge and skills in under one hour. Healthy Eating Advisory Service+1 We’ll integrate how to use that to strengthen your service’s capacity as you adopt Grow–Cook–Share.
VegKIT
Children’s eating habits are shaped in early years. The VegKIT guidelines provide a strong evidence-based framework for increasing vegetable intake in long day care by addressing environment, educator behaviours, menu design, family engagement, and curriculum integration. (VegKIT LDC guidelines) But guidelines alone are not enough. To truly achieve Exceeding practices, services must transform these strategies into lived, day-to-day culture — not occasional events. The Grow, Cook, Share theme offers a meaningful anchor for embedding vegetable-rich food experiences across the program.
Framework for services to plan, embed, and sustain strategies to get more veggies into children’s everyday meals and learning
Foundation Stage
1. Make vegetables the hero
- Give vegetables the starring role, rather than being an afterthought or “side.”
- This means celebrating veggies in meals (main dishes, snacks), activities (gardening, cooking), and conversations (stories, songs, displays).
- The focus should be vegetable-specific messages like “Try the rainbow” or “Carrots help us crunch,” instead of generic “eat healthy” statements.
2. Coordinate sustained effort across multiple players
- Success comes when everyone is on the same page — cooks, educators, directors, families, and even suppliers.
- Long-term collaboration is key: for example, directors budgeting for garden resources, cooks planning menus, educators weaving food into curriculum, and families reinforcing messages at home.
3. Grow knowledge and skills to support change
- Identify what your team needs to know to make this work: cooking skills, gardening knowledge, fussy eating strategies, menu planning expertise.
- Provide training (such as the HEAS “Promoting Healthy Eating in Long Day Care” module), mentoring, and professional development to fill those gaps.
- Build children’s skills too: safe cutting, serving themselves, naming and exploring new vegetables.
4. Minimise barriers to increase success
- Look at what’s stopping children from eating vegetables: cost, preparation time, lack of familiarity, fussy eating habits.
- Develop practical solutions, like bulk-buying, budgeting for veggies first, creating fun names or tasting games, and involving children in preparation so veggies feel familiar and safe.
Action Stage
5. Plan for and commit to success
- Set clear vegetable-specific goals, like:
- “Include two vegetables in every main meal.”
- “Offer one raw vegetable snack daily.”
- “Grow at least three vegetables on-site per year.”
- Document these in your QIP and service philosophy so they’re not “optional extras.”
- Commit to action plans with timelines and responsibilities so the strategies don’t fizzle out.
6. Create an environment that supports children to eat vegetables
- The physical and social environment should make veggies the easy choice.
- Examples:
- Gardens where children can touch and pick veggies.
- Menus with vegetables included in all meals and snacks.
- Educators role-modelling eating and enjoying veggies at mealtimes.
- Serving vegetables first or in appealing, accessible ways (e.g., colourful platters, child-height serving areas).
Review Stage
7. Monitor and provide feedback on progress
- Track and review how well your strategies are working:
- Are children tasting and eating more vegetables?
- Are menus consistently meeting vegetable guidelines?
- Do families report more veggie interest at home?
- Provide feedback to staff, cooks, and families — celebrate wins and tweak areas that need improvement.
- This reflection process ensures vegetable promotion is ongoing, not one-off.
Integrating HEAS “Promoting Healthy Eating in Long Day Care” Training
To support your service in embedding healthy eating culture, the Healthy Eating Advisory Service (HEAS) offers a free online module titled Promoting Healthy Eating in Long Day Care. Key points:
- Self-paced module (approx. 45 minutes) to complete. elearning.heas.health.vic.gov.au+2elearning.heas.health.vic.gov.au+2
- Covers topics such as: introducing new foods in engaging ways, dealing with fussy eating, modelling healthy eating, embedding healthy eating in the daily room culture, reflecting on current practices, and communicating changes to families. Healthy Eating Advisory Service
- Upon completion, participants can download a certificate. Healthy Eating Advisory Service
- Designed for educators, managers, cooks, directors. Healthy Eating Advisory Service
Recommendation for your service:
- Make completion of this module a component of your professional learning plan for the year.
- Encourage all educators, cooks, and leadership to complete it early in the year.
- Use the module’s reflection questions as prompts in staff meetings or planning sessions.
- Link it to your QIP goals around healthy eating and Grow, Cook, Share activities.
By embedding staff knowledge and confidence via this training, your team can more consistently model and support best practice food experiences.
Activities for Children Under 5 – Bringing “Grow, Cook, Share” to Life
Food is more than nourishment — it is an anchor for culture, connection, and community. Here are practical, engaging activities that bring the Grow, Cook, Share theme to life in early childhood settings:
- Veggie Champions (Make Vegetables the Hero)
Choose one “vegetable of the week.” Create stories, songs, art, and snack recipes around it. For example, “Super Spinach” can be used in smoothies, stamping art, and storytime. - Team Veggie Patch (Coordinate Efforts Across Players)
Involve educators, cooks, families, and children in creating and tending to a garden bed. Families can donate seedlings, cooks use the harvest, and educators link it to science and literacy learning. - Little Kitchen Helpers (Grow Knowledge & Skills)
Children practice safe food skills: washing, peeling, grating, mashing, mixing. This builds motor skills while giving them confidence around new foods. - Fun with Food Names (Minimise Barriers)
Make vegetables approachable with playful names — “dinosaur trees” (broccoli), “rainbow coins” (carrot slices). Encourage tasting through curiosity, not pressure. - Menu Promises (Plan & Commit to Success)
Set and display goals with children: e.g., “We will taste two new vegetables this month.” Track progress with a veggie sticker chart. - Rainbow Snack Bar (Create an Enabling Environment)
Offer vegetables at child-height snack stations. Display them in colourful platters and encourage children to serve themselves alongside educators who model positive eating. - Harvest Celebration Day (Review & Reflect)
Once crops are ready, host a “garden-to-table” event. Children harvest, prepare, and share vegetables with families. Educators document reflections on children’s learning and food intake.
QIP Write-Up with Exceeding Themes
QA1 – Educational Program & Practice
- Embedded Practice: Food and vegetables are integrated across curriculum — from gardening in outdoor play to literacy in recipe books.
- Critical Reflection: Educators reflect on children’s engagement with food experiences and adapt planning (e.g., change recipes, increase sensory play with vegetables).
- Meaningful Engagement: Children choose what to grow, cook, and share, influencing program direction.
QA2 – Children’s Health & Safety
- Embedded Practice: Healthy eating is consistent — vegetables are included in every meal and snack, with safe preparation practices.
- Critical Reflection: Teams use insights from the HEAS training module to discuss strategies for fussy eating and mealtime language.
- Meaningful Engagement: Families provide cultural recipes, and children share food knowledge learned at home.
QA3 – Physical Environment
- Embedded Practice: The environment supports vegetable exploration — edible gardens, colourful displays, and child-friendly serving areas.
- Critical Reflection: Staff assess whether spaces encourage self-service, visibility, and inclusion.
- Meaningful Engagement: Families and local community members (farmers, Elders, chefs) contribute resources and expertise.
QA4 – Staffing Arrangements
- Embedded Practice: Educators, cooks, and leaders work collaboratively to implement Grow–Cook–Share strategies.
- Critical Reflection: Staff reflect on workload and skills, identify gaps, and complete the HEAS training to strengthen confidence.
- Meaningful Engagement: Staff rotate responsibilities, ensuring all team members experience gardening, cooking, and leading mealtimes.
QA5 – Relationships with Children
- Embedded Practice: Mealtimes are respectful, child-led, and socially enriching, with educators eating alongside children.
- Critical Reflection: Staff regularly review language and approaches, drawing on HEAS training to replace pressure with encouragement.
- Meaningful Engagement: Children engage in peer learning (“I tried it, you can too!”), developing agency and belonging.
QA6 – Collaborative Partnerships with Families & Communities
- Embedded Practice: Families are invited to share recipes, cooking sessions, and harvest celebrations.
- Critical Reflection: Educators reflect on whether food practices respect family values, culture, and traditions.
- Meaningful Engagement: Partnerships with community gardens, cultural groups, and nutritionists enrich the program.
QA7 – Governance & Leadership
- Embedded Practice: Healthy eating goals are embedded in policies, budgets, and staff training (including HEAS module completion as mandatory PD).
- Critical Reflection: Leadership uses data (menu audits, child food intake, family feedback) to review strategies and refine action plans.
- Meaningful Engagement: Leaders share achievements with families and networks, positioning the service as a role model for healthy eating.
Embedding the Themes Year-Round
To ensure that Grow, Cook, Share becomes a living service culture — not just a National Nutrition Week highlight — consider the following strategies:
- Seasonal Food Calendar — Plan planting, harvesting, cooking to match seasons; rotate vegetable types.
- Cultural Food Celebrations — Integrate food from families’ cultures (e.g. bush tucker, ethnic cuisines) into menu and activities.
- Food Across Curriculum — Use vegetable projects for maths (measuring, counting), science (plant life cycles), literacy (recipes, journals), and art (food printing).
- Ongoing Professional Learning — Use HEAS module as a base, supplemented by peer reflections, in-service workshops, and external expert visits.
- Family Engagement & Continuity — Send home “Grow, Cook, Share” recipe packs, extend garden opportunities to families, host demo cooking events.
- Celebrate Milestones — Harvest days, tasting celebrations, display children’s food artwork, newsletters showcasing progress.
- Measure & Reflect — Collect simple data (number of vegetable servings consumed, children’s reported likes/dislikes), reflect annually via team meetings, adjust program accordingly.
By weaving Grow, Cook, Share into all corners of your service — environment, pedagogy, relationships, leadership — it ceases to be an “extra” and becomes foundational.
Useful Links
HEAS Free Online Training – Promoting Healthy Eating in Long Day Care: heas.health.vic.gov.au/training/promoting-healthy-eating-in-long-day-care
(A one-hour, self-paced module for educators, cooks and directors — includes reflection prompts, strategies for fussy eating, modelling healthy habits, and a downloadable certificate.)
VegKIT Guidelines – Long Day Care: VegKIT Guidelines PDF
Healthy Eating Advisory Service (Victoria): www.heas.health.vic.gov.au
Eat for Health – Australian Dietary Guidelines: www.eatforhealth.gov.au
Nutrition Australia – National Nutrition Week: www.nutritionaustralia.org
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation: www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au
BEST Childcare Consulting
At BEST Childcare Consulting, our vision is that food brings us together — not just at the table, but in every part of your centre’s life. By adopting the Grow, Cook, Share ethos, supported by strong tools like the HEAS “Promoting Healthy Eating in Long Day Care” training and the VegKIT guidelines, your service can achieve Exceeding practice, foster lifelong healthy habits, and deepen community bonds. Let’s plant the seeds today for a healthier, more connected tomorrow.
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