ABSTRACT
With children now staying for lunch at Bowhouse Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), it was clear our approach to mealtimes was lacking in creativity and innovation. In the beginning, our lunch provision was based within the school dining hall – within the centre of the primary school. This meant that our children had to eat in an unfamiliar environment, and play had to be stopped for all children to enable this routine to take place. Our children in the ELC had 30 minutes to eat a two-course lunch. There was no flow, choice or continuity to the approach and as a staff team we felt that this part of the day contradicted our play-based, children’s choice practice. We knew this part of the day had to change. Our aim was for children to experience snack and mealtimes in a relaxed and unhurried atmosphere. In September 2018, Marvellous Mealtimes was established and our journey to providing high quality snack and mealtime experiences began. This meant children were eating in their own environment. They chose when to come for lunch and were relaxed and unhurried; all positively impacting on our children’s learning and development. The next part of our journey is to facilitate children’s capacity in using their voice, enhancing their involvement in choosing foods, evaluating their experiences and providing safe and creative spaces where children’s many voices shape the decisions and practice demonstrated by practitioners.
