Program helps families further nutritional knowledge

A pilot program which aims to establish healthy eating patterns in the earliest stages of life has wrapped up at the Margaret River Community Centre for Children (MRCCC) with plans to integrate the program into the centre’s curriculum next year.

The ‘Local Eats’ pilot project centres around increased opportunities to access healthy food, with vegetables being grown by the centre’s children, in a shared garden at the Margaret River Community Centre, guided by new early childhood resources from Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program.

Sensory exploration ignited the children’s natural curiosity as they explored and tasted a wide variety of common and uncommon vegetables during guided lessons, and snack time activities from CSIRO’s VegKIT’s ‘Taste & Learn’ for early years curriculum with educator’s role-modelling the tasting protocol.

MRCCC educators observed an increase in the amounts and variety of vegetables being offered to and accepted by children during the project.

“Since beginning this project, I have noticed most rooms are beginning to do healthy eating and cooking involving the children.”

Staff and families were invited to hands-on education sessions focussed on preparing healthy meals and lunch boxes.

One parent said the information had already made a difference at home.

“Having a neuro-diverse child who doesn’t like vegetables – I feel this project is such a good idea and the daycare has been amazing for helping encourage vegetables into my son’s life,” they said.

“I am constantly looking for ideas and new ways to expose my son to vegetables and living in a townhouse with limited space, the vegetable gardens at the daycare are a great idea.”

Project coordinator Shan Prideaux paid tribute to the dedication of the MRCCC team and wider community centre.

“There were valuable bidirectional learning opportunities, and we were able to work with existing strengths and navigate some of the challenges within the early childhood education environment,” Ms Prideaux said.

“It was great to see educators share knowledge and resources with children, and families.

“Educators participated in professional development to learn ideas for curriculum activities to increase children’s exposure to vegetables and opportunities to promote healthy eating.

“We would like to acknowledge and thank everyone in the Margaret River community who supported the project including the MRCCC educators, children, families, volunteers, and local businesses.”

The Healthway-funded initiative is a collaboration with the Edith Cowan University’s Public Health Team, while access to resources was provided by Nutrition Australia, and Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden, as well as the Augusta Margaret River Shire and Town Teams Movement.

The next step is exploring how best the pilot could be trialed in other locations, in line with public health priority areas to foster environments that promote and support healthy eating patterns and increase the knowledge and skills necessary to choose a healthy diet.

Ros Sambell, Public Health Nutritionist from ECU, said the pilot study was “breaking new ground”.

“We are excited to analyse and report on the results soon,” she said.

“We have already highlighted the successes of this regional project with key stakeholders including, the National Nutrition Network – Early Childhood Education and Care and The Department of Health, Western Australia, who are keen to hear more.”