Attachment Q: English Handouts

Attachment Q: English Handouts

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Expiration Date: 9/30/2019

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Mealtimes With Toddlers

in the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Mealtimes With Toddlers in the
Child and Adult Care Food Program

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Children ages 1-2 years old are growing and developing
quickly. They are learning about themselves and the world
around them, even at mealtimes.
The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) meal pattern
for children 1 through 2 years old supports their growth and
development. As a child care provider, you can help a child
learn healthy habits at an early age during meals and snacks.

In this booklet, you will learn how to:
• Assist children in learning how to feed themselves.
• Encourage children to try new foods.
• Serve milk to children as part of CACFP meals.
• Offer more vegetables and fruit at meals and snacks.

How do you use this booklet?
You can use this booklet to assist you with feeding 1-2
year olds in your care.
Bonus: In the back of this booklet you will find a handout
to share with parents. It may help make mealtimes at home
with their toddler easier and more enjoyable.
pg. 2

What is a toddler ?
A toddler is a young
child ages 1 through
2 years.

Assist Children in Learning
How to Feed Themselves

Watch
Video
url.com/urlurlurl

1-2 Year Olds
Toddlers ages 1 through 2 years are improving their fine motor skills
every day. Certain activities give them a chance to strengthen the small
muscles found in their fingers—this includes meals and snacks.

You can help toddlers learn to feed themselves, by:

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Allowing
Offering
foods in
them to
bite-size
practice
pieces that eating with
are easier to spoons and
forks at
pick up with
their fingers. mealtimes.

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Using
child-sized
utensils,
bowls, and
plates.

Being okay
with messes.
When spills
do occur,
teach
children how
to help clean
them up.

Modeling
how to use
utensils at
mealtimes.

Look what I can do!
I can eat with a spoon and
my fingers, but I’m still
learning how to eat safely.

Prepare Foods to Lower a Toddler’s Risk of Choking
Help toddlers eat table foods safely. Prepare
foods to the right size and texture to lower risk for
choking by:

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• Cooking foods until they are soft.
• Cutting foods into bite-size pieces no larger than
½-inch or in small thin strips.
• Making sure vegetables and fruit are free of large
seeds, pits, and tough skins.
• Reminding children not to jump, play, or lie down
while eating.

What are table foods?

Table foods are any foods that older
children and adults eat. Prepare
foods in a way that makes it easy for
a toddler to chew and swallow.

pg. 3

Encourage Children
to Try New Foods
Toddlers are eager to learn, especially at mealtimes. Give 1-2
year olds a chance to try different foods while in child care by
offering a variety of items on the menu.

To encourage 1-2 year olds to try new foods you can:
• Introduce a new food outside of mealtimes through
art, science, and reading.
• Offer a new food with a popular food.
• Allow toddlers to help prepare meals and snacks.
• Plan where toddlers sit around the table. Toddlers
who need more help can sit closer to you. Toddlers
who need a bit more encouragement can sit next to
children who are more adventurous eaters.
• Describe the taste, texture, smell, and color of the
food. Talk about where the food comes from.
• Reward with kind words—not food.
• Toddlers are trying to understand how to deal
with their different emotions. Avoid using food as
a reward, bribe, or punishment.

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pg. 4

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Look what I can do!

I like to learn about everything, even
food. I may not like a food the first
time I try it, but please keep offering it
to me! You may need to offer a food to
me more than 10 times before I like it.

How Can 1-2 Year Olds
Help Prepare Meals?

Try giving toddlers small jobs to help
prepare meals or snacks. They can:
• Tear lettuce or greens.
• Rinse vegetables and fruits.
• Help pour and mix ingredients
in a bowl.

Serve Milk to Children as
Part of CACFP Meals
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, fat is
important for babies and toddlers for healthy growth and
brain development.

1-2 Year Olds
The USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program
(CACFP) meal pattern for 1-2 year olds allows
time for children to get used to milk with different
amounts of fat. In order to claim fluid milk as
part of a reimbursable meal for 1-2 year olds, you
can offer:
• Breastmilk and infant formula from
birth through 11 months.
• Breastmilk, infant formula, and/or unflavored
whole milk from 12 through 13 months.
• Breastmilk and/or unflavored whole milk from
13 through 23 months.

2-5 Year Olds
• Breastmilk, unflavored whole milk, unflavored low-fat
(1%) milk and/or unflavored fat-free (skim) milk from
24 through 25 months.

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Look what I can do!

I can drink from a cup. Help me get used
to whole milk slowly. Try adding a little
whole milk to my cup of infant formula.
Gradually increase the amount of whole
milk over the course of a few weeks. You
can do this with my older friends too
when they switch from whole milk to
low-fat (1%) milk or fat-free (skim) milk.

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• Breastmilk, unflavored low-fat (1%) milk, and/or
unflavored fat-free (skim) milk from 2 years through
5 years.

pg. 5

Offer More Vegetables and
Fruit at Meals and Snacks
1-2 Year Olds
As best practice, offer a fruit and a vegetable to toddlers at snack. Offer two
vegetables, instead of a fruit and a vegetable, at breakfast, lunch, and supper.

What is in a Breakfast?
Milk (4 fl. oz. or ½ cup)
Vegetables, Fruit, or Both (¼ cup)
Grains (½ oz. eq.)
Optional: Meat/meat alternate
may be served in place of the
entire grains component up to 3
times per week at breakfast.

What is in a Lunch
or Supper?

What is in a Snack?
Pick 2:

Milk (4 fl. oz. or ½ cup)
Meat/Meat Alternate
(1 oz. eq.)
Vegetables (1/8 cup)
Fruit (1/8 cup)
Grains (½ oz. eq.)

Milk (4 fl. oz. or ½ cup)
Meat/Meat Alternate
(½ oz. eq.)
Vegetables (½ cup)
Fruit (½ cup)
Grains (½ oz. eq.)

Offer and Make Water Available All Day.

Check out This One-day Sample Menu for Ideas!
Breakfast
Toasted O’s Cereal
½ cup toasted o’s cereal
¾ cup diced strawberries
1-year-olds:
½ cup unflavored whole milk
2-year-olds:
½ cup unflavored low-fat (1%)
or fat-fat (skim) milk

pg. 6

Lunch

Snack

Chicken and Rice Bowls
1 ounce shredded chicken
¼ cup cooked brown rice
1/8 cup steamed bite-size
broccoli florets
1/8 cup cooked, diced carrots

Baked apple and sweet
potato fries
½ cup baked
apple sticks
½ cup baked sweet
potato sticks

1-year-olds:
½ cup unflavored whole milk
2-year-olds: ½ cup
unflavored low-fat (1%) or
fat-fat (skim) milk

Family Handout:

Feeding Tips for Toddlers
Does your child like a food at one meal, but not at the next? Don’t worry, it’s very common.
Toddlers are busy learning new things, and may not be interested in a food at mealtime.
Avoid calling your child a “picky eater.” Instead, think of each meal or snack as a different
event. If your child refused to eat a food or an entire meal or snack, let’s find out why.

What did your child do at this meal?
¤¤Grabbed the spoon from you.
Your child is learning how to eat with his or
her fingers and with spoons and forks. He
or she wants to practice every chance he or
she gets.
Try this! Give your child pieces of food
to pick up with his or her fingers and also
provide a child-sized spoon. To help with
clean up, place a mat or towel under the
high chair to catch any food that may fall on
the floor.
¤¤Did not eat a lot.
Children have small stomachs. They may
not need as much food as you think.
Try this! Offer your child meals and snacks
around the same time each day. Let your
child decide how much he or she wants to
eat. He or she does not have to finish all
of the food on the plate to grow healthy
and strong.

¤¤Refused to eat a food he or she has
tried before.
Your child is learning to express his or her
independence, even at mealtimes. This
means he or she may refuse to eat a certain
food at a meal—that’s okay!
Try this! Keep offering the food. It may take
your child 10 tries or more before they
might try it.
¤¤Did not want a certain texture of food.
Your child is learning through all senses—
touch, taste, smell, and sight.
Try this! Cook a food a different way to give
it a different taste and texture. For example,
if your child does not seem to like a steamed
vegetable then try roasting it in the oven.
¤¤Stared at you.
Your child is learning from you! If you make
a funny face at a food, then your child is less
likely to try that food.
Try this! Eat the same foods your child is
eating. Eat them enthusiastically and talk
about how much you like them.

FNS-XXXX — Month 2019 — USDA is an equal
opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

pg. 7

FPO
USDA is an equal opportunity
provider, employer, and lender.
https://teamnutrition.usda.gov
FNS-XXXX Month 2019