Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

Healthier Menus Starts with Serving More Raw Fruits and Vegetables

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My childcare center is in the process of becoming a Missouri Eat Smart Child Care Center. Once we are recognized as an Eat smart center, we will receive an Eat Smart Child Care” Banner to place in front of our center.

I am looking forward to receiving the banner, because we have made major improvements to our menus including serving more raw fruits and vegetables at breakfast, lunch and snack. Furthermore, I want parents to know that we serve healthy meals to children at Learning Days.

Serving more raw fruits and vegetables assures that children are consuming fresh whole foods. Moreover, eating more fruits and vegetables means that children will get more phytonutrients that helps to fight disease in the body.

I have enjoyed this process so much, that I have been inspired to create (52) pre-planned healthy menus for childcare facilities. So, be on the look out for those menus!

Here is a sample menu that includes raw fruits and vegetables at each meal:

Breakfast: Pancakes, Blueberries, Milk

Lunch: Turkey slices, whole grain bread, 1% milk, orange slices and corn

Snack- Yogurt, strawberries

Check out this handout: Encourage kids to eat more Fruit!

Thanks for serving healthier meals to young children and feel free to share your thoughts about this blog post.

Shiketa Morgan

Check out Healthy Child Care Menus ebook!

Category:

Child Care Center, Family Child Care, Health/Safety, Menu Planning

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5 Ways to Encourage Communication Skills in Your School-Age Program

06 21 11

It is vital that your environment for school children encourages communication. In fact, it is very important that your environment is filled with communication materials that enhances play and communication skills.

Children must be exposed to a variety materials that encourage them to communicate, such as: computers, a variety of newspapers, magazines,signs, language games, reference books and many other materials that will help them to learn communication skills.

Here are 5 ways to promote and build communication skills  in your school-age program:

1. Quiet Area–  Provide children with a quiet place to read, write or type on a computer. Be sure to stock the area with plenty of paper, notebooks, pens and pencils.

2. Dramatic Play- Adding markers and writing materials to the dramatic play are will enhance the play. Play themes that promote communication includes: patient sign-in sheets, message pads, appointment books, phones books,etc.

3. Block and Construction- Along with a variety of blocks, add road signs, blueprints, instructions for building homes or bridges. Also, add materials for making signs and maps.

4. Board Games and Tables- Arrange tables so that the children can gather in small groups and play games such as: Pictionary or Scrabble. Encourage the children to write down their own rules for playing the games.

5. Science Area– School-age children love to experiment with a variety materials. Be sure to encourage them to chart their findings and observations with poster board and markers.

As you began to add any of the items above, observe how the children experiment with the communication tools and ask open-ended questions about how they are using the materials. For example: How many rules do you think we need for the game area? Should have a dictionary near the game area?

Thanks for encouraging communication!

Shiketa

Category:

Curriculum, Quality Care, School-Age Program, Uncategorized

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