We re-organized the morning tea box

We have a large clear morning tea box with a lid in the kitchen at playgroup with all our supplies for preparing a healthy morning tea and today we cleaned it out and replenished the supplies.

WHAT WE KEEP IN OUR MORNING TEA BOX:
20 bowls
20 adult cups with lids for tea and coffee:  we use theseas they have different coloured lids for easy identification and reuseable and BPA free
20 plastic cups: reusable
1 chopping board
1 large knife with a knife cover
Teaspoons: metal
Metal tongs for serving food
Large serving plates
1 water jug with lid
2 tea towels

WHAT WE REPLENISH:
Paper towel
Tissues
Tea
Sugar
Coffee
Plastic gloves for preparing food
Plastic bags for rubbish
Yellow sponges for kitchen
Red sponges for craft and toys

We made fruit salad

 

The parents had previously discussed trying to get their children to eat different kinds of fruit and not just stick to their one or two favourites, so this week we involved the children in making some fruit salad.

 

We found some fruit puzzles

 

and a fruit matching picture game

and we read Handa's Suprise which is a delightful book about fruit,

amongst other things

and everyone had a happy morning.

 

 

We used the Healthy Morning Tea checklist

Today at Play we ate:

A dairy or high calcium food of cheese spread

A cereal based food of savoury biscuits

For a fruit or vegetable we ate cucumber, strawberries and bananas

A good or moderate source of iron of raisins and the biscuits were wholemeal

A drink of water

These guidelines are from our favourite CHECKLIST FOR PLANNING HEALTHY SNACKS AND DRINKS AT PLAYGROUP (PDF) as it ensures simply that you are providing a complete healthy snack and gives coordinators and parents an easy tick guideline

 

"The best time to promote healthy eating is when children are young and developing habits that last a life time." This is an excellent publication, specific to playgroups, that can be used by anyone providing food for young children. Best of all it is available to download for free.

Everybody ate an egg

We had hard boiled eggs for morning tea - one each, and everyone tried them.

The children were fascinated watching the grownups peeling the eggs and they waited patiently to have their first bite. I know people usually do craft with egg cartons ( we do that too and most recently we painted them as ants ) but today we used them to hold the boiled eggs on the table for all to see. The children seemed amazed that they were allowed to touch the eggs and pass them to their parents to be peeled and some of the older children had a try at peeling themselves.

DID YOU KNOW?

Eggs contain ingredients to develop a healthy body including nearly all of the essential nutrients such as  folic acid, B1, B6 and B12. They provide the minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc and iron and they are complete in all amino acids making them the most complete food protein.

Infants ate no Honey

DID YOU KNOW? Infants under 1 year of age should not eat honey.
Honey may contain Clostridium botulinum spores that can cause infant botulism - a rare but serious disease that affects the nervous system of young babies (under one year of age). C. botulinum spores are present throughout the environment and may be found in dust, soil and improperly canned foods. Adults and children over one year of age are routinely exposed to, but not normally affected by, C. botulinum spores. Honey is safe to consume during pregnancy and lactation. While infants are susceptible to the infant botulism, adults, including pregnant females, are not. The concern for babies stems from the fact that infants lack the fully developed gastrointestinal tract of older humans.
Many thanks to the National Honey Board USA for this information from their article
'Why can’t I feed honey to my baby less than 1 year of age?'



Bees Hive Beezine and Baby Bees House for more info about bees.