Tag: healthy eating

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Top tips for high health standards in childcare

As we all know, children aren’t always “naturals” when it comes to good hygiene habits! While we encourage playing in the dirt, exploring nature and getting creative, there should always be support for practicing good hygiene and safety too. Children often need extra support when it comes to creating and sustaining these habits.  

Below are some tips for upholding high standards of health and hygiene in childcare settings. They will not only help everyone stay safe and healthy but they will also help you to meet Quality Area 2 of the National Quality Standard.

1. Handwashing should be second nature

Handwashing is a simple way to reduce the spread and potential ingestion of germs. Help children to get used to handwashing after playing, using the bathroom and always before eating.

  • Use images and signage around the centre as reminders
  • Set times for handwashing
  • Make soaps and taps easy to use
  • Have a handwashing song that encourages action and duration of adequate handwashing (here are some to try)

Ensure all educators and staff lead by example!

2. Covering your mouth to cough and sneeze

A simple but effective practice to embed in your centre is covering mouths when a sneeze or cough is ready to escape. Ensure tissues are readily available around your centre and are placed in the bin once used.

Another clever thing children can learn, especially for those coughs and sneezes come along when we aren’t prepared, is coughing and sneezing into the elbow. Here’s a handy poster you could print for your service that demonstrates this technique.

3. Have an illness policy in place

Getting sick from time to time is inevitable. No matter how healthy and cautious families and educators are, illness does happen. It’s important to manage it well. A good policy will ensure that if you are unwell you remain home so that others are protected from sickness. Take note of different exclusion periods for illnesses via Health Vic.

Help parents assess whether their child should attend childcare or kinder with these three questions from Care for Kids:

  • Will my child be well enough to comfortably and happily participate in the activities of the day?
  • Will my child’s care provider be able to care for my child without it affecting their ability to look after the other children?
  • Will my child pass the illness on to their playmates if I send them in today?

4. Avoid Sharing

Children often want to share cups and utensils, but it can increase the risk of germ spread. On top of encouraging children to keep their own cups, plates and spoons to themselves, labelling can be a useful approach. There’s nothing children enjoy more than spotting their own name on something and knowing they have a special item to themselves.

5. Keep the centre clean as can be

Staying on top of disinfecting toys, bedding, carpets, toilets and surfaces at your centre is the best way to ensure that your service doesn’t become a hub for illness spreading germs. Hospital grade disinfectants will be the best bet to kill nasty germs and keep everything safe for playing, resting and learning!

What hygiene practices do you have in place to keep children’s health protected at your centre? Share with us via Facebook!

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Immune system boosters: strategies to stay healthy

immune system boosters

Throughout this time of year it can feel as though someone is always coming down with a cold, a virus or some sort of bug. A lot of it comes down to the fact that when the weather is cold we spend more time in confined spaces with one another. But whatever the reason, we all want to prevent the spread of illness – especially in childcare centres.

Immune system boosters: 5 approaches

These five strategies will help you to boost children’s immune system and ultimately result in less sick children – and educators!

Some can be used in centres and at home so this list is handy for families and educators alike.

1. Boost children’s immune systems through food: Fresh foods have phytonutrients which are perfect for kicking the immune system up a notch. They can be found in carrots, strawberries, beans and oranges, to name a few. Focus on fresh and aim for five serves of fruit and vegetables each day. But of course, any amount of fruit and veg is better than none! Handy hints for getting children to eat fruit and veggies here. And try this healthy immune boosting recipe the whole family can enjoy.

2: Encourage healthy sleep patterns: Sleep is when our bodies work hard to repair themselves. And not getting enough of it can make us more likely to catch whatever illnesses are going around. Learn how much sleep children really need.

3: Keep a clean environment: Coming in to contact with germs is something to avoid obviously! And the best way? Keeping your home and childcare centre germ free (or as close as possible!). Wipe down surfaces regularly, wash hands, use and dispose of tissues thoughtfully…

4: Water, water, water: Water is useful as one of your immune system boosters. Drinking water will help to flush your system and keep it functioning optimally. Water is also great warmed up with honey and lemon, and pop some in a humidifer or vapouriser to combat dry winter air in your home or centre.   

5: Keep it to yourself: An obvious but important one – when you’re sick, try to keep your germs to yourself so others can stay healthy and the spread of illness is reduced. Avoid sharing things like cups and cutlery, cover your mouth when you sneeze and cough… Stay home if needed – give yourself or your child the time and rest you need to get better. It’s good for you and others in your life.

With these immune system boosters, you’ll be well on your way to a healthy, happy home or childcare centre!

 

 

 

 

 

Image Designed by Freepik

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Healthy Mind, Healthy Body

healthy mind, healthy body

Education Week is coming up from 21 to 27 May in Victoria. The theme for this year is one very close to our hearts at Bonkers Beat – Healthy Mind, Healthy Body.

For many years – and still today for some – a healthy mind was viewed as being a separate issue to a healthy body. We are big believers in the relationship between mind and body and the need for a focus on wellbeing.

In fact, we are committed to enhancing the wellbeing of every child, every day!

Happy, healthy, resilient children

Happy, healthy and resilient children are the goal of the Victorian government’s education sector, and while Education Week is aimed at Primary schools, we think it’s a theme worthy of us all taking on board.

Ask yourself: How does your centre work on developing healthy minds and healthy bodies for your centre’s community? Can you do better or do more?

There are many approaches you can incorporate to increase your focus on healthy minds and healthy bodies. Bonkers Beat educational programs allow daily wellbeing routines to be embedded effortlessly into a centre’s curriculum, and the rewards and results are amazing.

In light of Education Week’s Healthy Mind, Healthy Body theme we decided to make a list of how we contribute to healthy minds and healthy bodies. You might like to do the same in your centre!

How we encourage Healthy Mind, Healthy Body…

For Children: Daily yoga, meditation and dedicated wellbeing routines.

For Educators: Professional and personal development for entire teams, Wellness Summits, support, hands-on workshops, annual staff retreats and training that can be accessed online.

For Families: Wellbeing resources for home, newsletters, information nights for parents, children’s progress sessions and monthly educational webinars for families.

A daily focus on healthy minds and bodies is brilliant, but there’s no harm in throwing in some extra activities from time to time as well.

Try these within your centre community:

–Smoothie making

-Bike riding to kinder

–Get close to nature

And please share your ideas and the wonderful things you do to encourage healthy minds and bodies with us on Facebook!

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Healthy Habits for Life

Food choices contribute to children’s behaviour, brain development, digestion, weight, dental health and their attitudes towards food well into the future.

As early childhood educators, we must always focus on offering children a range of colours and textures in their meals and getting the healthy eating message across. In fact, this year at Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale, our working bee theme was ‘Be Healthy’, which was a great way of keeping the conversation about healthy eating flowing between educators, families and children.

We find making smoothies is a fun and very tasty way of enjoying healthy foods and love watching children exploring a huge variety of tastes and textures as they work on developing those taste buds! In fact, at the working bee the children made 120 frozen smoothie pops to refresh everybody (with a little help from our educators too…)!

smoothie pops

Bonkers the Monkey is a huge fan of eating healthy, delicious foods too. He has enjoyed many healthy eating adventures, and you can take a look at him enjoying delicious, nutritious food in this album: http://on.fb.me/1XpjMQm

TIPS FOR HEALTHY KIDS LUNCHES

As the end of the year approaches, it might be time for some parents to start thinking about how to put together a nutritious lunch for school in 2016! Sometimes we even need ideas for lunches for kids on days at home and weekends too.

The first step to a great lunch with lots of variety is a good lunch box. Aim for something with a few different compartments to minimise the need for wrappings. The Organised Housewife also suggests that lunch boxes are:

-BPA-free
-Sealed tight for freshness
-Easy to clean
-Not too big, not too small
-Dishwasher safe

Depending on your climate and choice of snacks, an option for a lunch bag or box that is insulated or able to be cooled is a great idea too.

From carrot sticks to crackers, popcorn to berries and everything in between – the options are endless for lunchbox snacks. There are plenty of creative and fun ideas available online for cutting sandwiches into adorable shapes and presenting fruit and veg as fun-size kebabs too – see our list of resources at the end of the blog and explore.

Healthy alternatives can take a little more planning and/or time, but it’s well worth the extra effort just to know exactly what is going into children’s little, growing bodies. Some muesli bar and slice recipes are actually incredibly simple AND incredibly delicious. For a healthy alternative that’s as easy as can be, fruit is always a winner!

Another great tip to consider when putting lunches together is to include children in preparing the lunch. Simple spreading, arranging and cutting of sandwich toppings is a useful life skill. Plus, children tend to be more interested in eating something they helped to make too! Eventually, children will be excited to make their own healthy lunches and might even come up with some tasty combinations you hadn’t thought of.

OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER

While you’re focusing on the wellbeing of children, spare a thought for the wellbeing of the environment too and aim for a rubbish-free lunchbox. This means less risk of flyaway wrappers not making it to the correct bin and chances are the less packaging a lunchbox item has, the healthier and more natural it is.

Another very important consideration is allergies – please make sure you’re aware of the allergen policy at your child’s place of education as this can vary. We all have to do our bit to protect young children from risks, and in some cases allergic reactions pose enormous risk to some children.

Some handy resources are listed for you below and we’d love to see pics of your lunchbox creations on Facebook – post yours on our page if you’d like to share and we can all inspire one another!

 

Handy Resources:

http://www.nudefoodmovers.com.au

https://www.ohsobusymum.com.au/category/all-recipes/lunch-box-recipes-all-recipes/

http://www.kidsfoodtalk.com.au/contents/en-us/d31_naked-wrapper-free-food.html

http://www.kidspot.com.au/Back-to-School-Lunch-box-nutrition-10-days-of-lunch-box-loving-recipes+7196+181+article.htm

 http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/kids+healthy+lunch+box+ideas

 

 

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Nutrition Week – Every Week!

National Nutrition Week is all about getting all Australians to enjoy more fruit and vegetables every day with Pick Right. Feel Bright!

This week we celebrated National Nutrition Week as we always do: instilling the benefits of healthy eating, exercising, fresh air, outdoor play, yoga and meditation. The children at Bonkers Beat Kindergarten have also begun to really enjoy blending and making smoothies with our educators. This is a fun and interactive way for the children to learn about fruit and vegetables in a delicious way, and is great for the warmer weather coming up. With this activity and also incorporating exercise daily, the children have a great grasp on what nutrition and healthy living is.

So, what is nutrition and healthy eating for you? We recently put these two questions to our Facebook page –

Q1. What Does Good Health Mean to You?

Q2. What Do You Do or Want To Do More To Improve Your Health?

Answers varied, but mostly we all agreed that we need to eat more healthy food, exercise more and take better care of ourselves.

With the summer months upon us, now is the time to really take stock. Warmer days and summer fruit are the perfect way to kick start a healthy eating and exercise pattern to take us into 2016.

Here are is a little list of our top tips to healthy eating

  • Eat a variety of foods
  • Enjoy plenty of fruits and vegetables
  • Maintain a healthy body weight and feel good
  • Eat moderate portions – reduce, don’t eliminate foods
  • Eat regularly
  • Drink plenty of water
  • Meditation and stretching
  • Exercise regularly for a healthy state of mind
  • Start now! – and make changes gradually
  • Remember, its all-out balance

So, take the pledge to eat more fruit and vegetables: http://pickrightfeelbright.com

Here are some healthy smoothie recipes which are perfect for a warm day: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/smoothies

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Healthy Lunches for a Healthy Future

Whether it’s back to school or just starting, healthy, nutritious lunches are crucial for children to make the most of every day.

The first step to a great lunch with lots of variety is a good lunch box. Aim for something with a few different compartments to minimise the need for wrappings. The Organised Housewife also suggests that lunch boxes are:

-BPA-free
-Sealed tight for freshness
-Easy to clean
-Not too big, not too small
-Dishwasher safe

Depending on your climate and choice of snacks, an option for a lunch bag or box that is insulated or able to be cooled is a great idea too.

From carrot sticks to crackers, popcorn to berries and everything in between – the options are endless for lunchbox snacks. There are plenty of creative and fun ideas available online for cutting sandwiches into adorable shapes and presenting fruit and veg as fun-size kebabs too – see our list of resources at the end of the blog and explore.

Healthy alternatives can take a little more planning and/or time, but it’s well worth the extra effort just to know exactly what is going into children’s little, growing bodies. Some muesli bar and slice recipes are actually incredibly simple AND incredibly delicious. Give them a go and share your recommendations with us on Facebook or here on the blog. For a healthy alternative that’s as easy as can be, fruit is always a winner!

Another great tip to consider when putting lunches together is to include children in preparing the lunch. Simple spreading, arranging and cutting of sandwich toppings is a useful life skill. Plus, children tend to be more interested in eating something they helped to make too! Eventually, children will be excited to make their own healthy lunches and might even come up with some tasty combinations you hadn’t thought of.

While you’re focusing on the wellbeing of children, spare a thought for the wellbeing of the environment too and aim for a rubbish-free lunchbox. This means less risk of flyaway wrappers not making it to the correct bin and chances are the less packaging a lunchbox item has, the healthier and more natural it is.

Another very important consideration is allergies – please make sure you’re aware of the allergen policy at your child’s place of education as this can vary. We all have to do our bit to protect young children from risks, and in some cases allergic reactions pose enormous risk to some children.

Did you know that Bonkers the Monkey happens to be a huge fan of healthy eating? Take a look at Bonkers and his healthy eating adventure here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.829328450436364.1073741953.343913688977845&type=3

Resources for you:

http://www.nudefoodmovers.com.au

https://www.ohsobusymum.com.au/category/all-recipes/lunch-box-recipes-all-recipes/

http://www.kidsfoodtalk.com.au/contents/en-us/d31_naked-wrapper-free-food.html

http://www.kidspot.com.au/Back-to-School-Lunch-box-nutrition-10-days-of-lunch-box-loving-recipes+7196+181+article.htm

 http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/kids+healthy+lunch+box+ideas

 

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