Child Care Centres

Promoting Healthy Eating in Child Care Centres

See our Menu Planning in Child Care Centres Toolkit. This toolkit has information on the nutrition section of the Child Care and Early Years Act, Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants, and Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide. Menu planning steps and a menu template are included to make your child care menu planning easier and more nutritious. The toolkit includes a Menu Assessment Checklist to assess whether your menu is meeting nutrition guidelines, and a Healthy Eating Environment Checklist to ensure you are promoting a positive environment for children to eat in to develop life-long healthy eating habits.

Looking for more recipe ideas?

• Ottawa Public Health
  • Sample 6 week menu for child care centres developed by dietitians
  • Recipes for snacks, mains, vegetarian substitutions, sides, dips and sauces, and celebrations
• EatRight Ontario
• Foodland Ontario
• Heart and Stroke

Additional Resources

• Health Canada – Food and Nutrition
  • Order free copies of Canada’s Food Guide or view it online
  • View serving sizes of different food groups online. See lists of dark green and orange vegetables
  • See guidelines for Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants (6-24 Months)
• Child Care and Early Years Act
  • View nutrition section
• Allergy Information
  • Food Allergy Canada
  • Allergy/Asthma Information Association
• Bake It Up
  • 24 recipes of healthier baked goods as occasional menu options
• Good Beginnings
  • A free online preschool nutrition course developed by RDs for early childhood educators in Ontario
  • Select the “Child care Providers” button to take the course that is appropriate for Ontario child care providers including:
    • RECEs, ECEs, ECE Assistants, child care workers
    • Cooks and administrators
  • Handling Expressed Breast Milk
  • Storing Expressed Breast Milk
    • Be prepared if mothers send expressed breast milk for their child
  • Facts on Fish and Seafood
    • Some ideas to incorporate fish into your menu once a week
  • Healthy Classroom Celebrations
    • Healthy food and non-food items that can be used in celebrations with your students
  • Healthy Fundraising Ideas
    • Get some ideas for healthy food and non-food items that can raise money for your centre
  • EatRight Ontario
    • Call a dietitian for free at 1-877-510-5102 (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, with evening hours Tuesday and Thursday to 9pm)
    • Email a dietitian for free
    • Translation provided in 100 languages
    • Website includes nutrition information on a variety of topics, meal planning tips and healthy recipes (e.g., side dishes, salads, soups, entrees, etc)
  • Dietitians of Canada
    • Website includes tools and resources on menu planning and information on a variety of nutrition and health topics
    • Recipe Analyzer available through an online tool, eaTracker
    • Search nutrient content information for various food items at Eat Wise
  • Infection Control in Daycares
    • Information from Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit’s Public Health Inspectors on disinfecting, using expressed breast milk, routine practices in daycares for preventing spread of infection, and more!