In Summer 2022, it was evident that staff and providers had a lot of passion and enthusiasm to support children to follow a healthy lifestyle. However, the lack of resources and confidence to deliver food related activities that were educational meant not as many providers were able to engage in these activities. . In addition, from feedback gathered, children told us they really wanted to engage in more cooking and practical activities with food that they don’t get the opportunity to do at home.
We wanted to find a way to give children access to practical, interactive workshops and offer opportunities which broaden their experience of food, primarily fruit and vegetables. The key to the offer however, was to provide an open, accessible, no pressure, no worries environment- and so, Hakuna Fruitata was created!
- Local provider organisations received training and resources (basic cooking equipment) to deliver a programme of activities for children during Bring It On Brum delivery.
- Bring it on Brum linked with partner organisations to supply fresh high-quality produce, delivered directly to the providers.
- Additional items of food were supplied to support the planning, making and creating of meals, hot or cold depending on access to appropriate facilities
- Providers were encouraged to include potting and planting of seeds and plants alongside cutting/chopping/touching/smelling/tasting different fruits and vegetables
- The training provided staff with the confidence to have healthy conversations around food and nutrition and to challenge established habits around key topics such as snacking, portion sizes, takeaway/fakeaways and hydration.
The confidence of providers and staff to get involved in making more things with food has drastically increased. All providers are now very able and confident to deliver a fruit-based workshop for children to make either fruit kebabs or fruit sundaes. Children have fed back how much they have enjoyed being able to engage in more cooking-based activities and from this we are looking to expand the provision to include (where possible) cooking hot meals, and having children help to plan menus.
“It will take time before we see an impact on eating habits and behaviours of children, but this project provides additional opportunities to increase the frequency and repetition of expanding the breadth of taste palates of children, which we know has a direct correlation on positive feeding habits.” Pam Noel, Food and Nutrition Lead, Bring It On Brum