Nutrition in Child Care

Child Health Resources for Early Care and Education Providers

Healthy Eating Resources
Book List

• Books with food or physical activity themes (PDF)

Feeding Behaviors

• Phrases that Help or Hinder (PDF), (Spanish)
• Hungry-Full Meter (PDF) (Spanish)

Healthy Menus

• MyPlate fruit (PDF) ideas (Spanish (PDF))
• MyPlate vegetables (PDF) ideas (Spanish (PDF))
• MyPlate whole grain (PDF) ideas (Spanish (PDF))
• List of cereals (PDF) that contain whole grains and are also low in sugar.
• Lunch ideas for parents who bring food from home: A Month of Lunch Ideas (PDF), (Spanish (PDF))
• Snack ideas for rotation at child care: A Month of Snack Ideas (PDF), (Spanish (PDF))
• Colorado's Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
• Hidden Sugar resources through the Healthy Beverage Partnership

Healthy Celebrations in Early Care and Education

• Ideas for creating healthy special events (PDF), (Spanish (PDF))

Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Messages

• 9 Ways to Grow Healthy Colorado Kids

Nutrition Activities Links to fun, research-based nutrition lesson plans (PDF).

Tri-County Health Department Training Sessions

Through training sessions with community partners, registered dietitians communicate information related to health and nutrition topics. Training sessions (PDF) may include subjects such as:

• Meal planning
• Label reading
• Sweetened beverages
• Whole grains
• Child Care program activities
• Role modeling
• Mealtime environment
• Regulations in place to support healthy child care practices

Self-Assessment in Child Care and Sample Policy Documents

The Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) in Child Care: Self-Assessment (PDF) (Spanish) allows you to reflect on your current practices and determine your areas of strength and growth. The Action Plan (Spanish) allows you to document goals, actions, people involved and target dates for the various sections of the assessment. Once your healthy practices are identified, you may find that having a local, written policy is a helpful way to communicate these practices with parents and staff. Sample and model policy documents can help support you as you consider what language to use with your communications. Ideas for written policy statements are listed here:

• Healthy Eating and Active Living in Early Care and Education Settings, Sample Policy (PDF) (Spanish)
• Sample Breastfeeding-Friendly Child Care Policy (PDF), from Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) Breastfeeding in Child Care Toolkit
• Communicating about Healthy Celebrations (PDF), (Spanish (PDF))

Infant Feeding and Breastfeeding Resources

• Colorado's Breastfeeding in Child Care Toolkit and more
• Our breastfeeding page, www.tchd.org/breastfeeding

Active Living Resources

• Colorado's Physical Activity for Children Birth to Five
• Animal Activity Cards

Online Instructional Video for Child Care Professionals

• The Colorado Office of Early Childhood's Professional Development Information System (PDIS) web page offers free and easy access to courses including health promotion topics such as Supporting Breastfeeding in Child Care and a Wellness Champion Webinar.
• Feeding Young Children in Group Settings is an educational program designed for child care professionals, educators, food service workers, and anyone who trains staff or parents on issues related to feeding. The web site includes video vignettes and educational activities.
• Penn State Extension Better Kid Care offers professional development opportunities for early care and education professionals. Many titles are offered including serving healthy food, limiting screen time and increasing physical activity.

Child Development

• Colorado's Early Learning and Development Guidelines.
• Learn the Signs Act Early

Health and Safety in Child Care

• National Resource Center for Health and Safety
• TCHD Environmental Health and Child Care