Families are invited to sign up to bring snacks up to once a month for their child’s class. Please trust that at New Creation Preschool, there is no obligation to participate in this way. Simply having your child at preschool makes you a FULL participant in our program.
Snack Time is a very important part of our day. We use this time to relax, visit and try new foods in a safe way (at preschool you are allowed to smell, lick, taste and even spit out things you don’t like…I’m happy to explain more). We make connections to the themes of the week (“These cheerios are like the wheels from our book! We’re eating rabbit food -carrots and lettuce! The crackers are the same shape as our book! Everything is the Color of the Month! Everything starts with the Letter of the Week!…”).
We believe that the way we communicate about food can help prevent children from having food hang-ups or dysfunctional issues with body image. Knowing that Snack Time can be a vulnerable time for children who are sensitive (often referred to by the world as “picky”) eaters, we will listen with genuine curiosity to what they have to say about what they like or don’t like about the food. By doing this in the preschool setting, we can help instill confidence in the child that perhaps one day they will like the taste (children’s taste buds are constantly changing!).
Knowing that children are intuitive eaters and that preschool is a unique setting, we will not tell children to finish food or insist they try something they don’t want to. There is no disappointment or shaming in a child’s choices on what order they eat their food, what to eat or not to eat nor is there praise for finishing all of their food.
In the same vein, we will not provide judgment on foods or restaurants. Unless it causes food poisoning, no food is inherently good or bad. We take the opportunity to explain what different foods can give us in terms of nutrients and energy rather than healthy/unhealthy. Staff and volunteers will strictly avoid commentary on their own food choices (ex: I’m going to be bad and eat another cookie or This is going to put on some pounds or I’ll have to work out after this snack.).
It is not unusual for children to not like the food provided for snack or to have not finished (or started!) breakfast before preschool. It is absolutely appropriate for your child to bring their own food to eat during the morning (including during Snack Time). Teachers will help them find a place at a table or they can choose to eat it while sitting in their cubby if they like.
For the 2024-2025 school year, we will have up to 12 children in each class. There will be at least 3-4 teachers in each class, but please don’t feel pressured to include enough for us.
Snacks can be as simple as a box of dry cereal or as complex as a letter themed food. While we usually finish at least one box of crackers/gallon bag of fruit or veggie, we will always have back up snacks, so don’t worry about there being enough. For individually packaged items, bringing one of each is also completely fine (or if there is an odd number left over we can divide it up!). We also enjoy “real food” like pasta, cereal, mashed potatoes, quesadillas. We do have an oven, stove, microwave, fridge and freezer for our use.
We will gladly keep leftover snacks for use another day or for when children are hungry outside of snack time.
We serve cold water (or warm water for those who prefer) so drinks are not necessary.
Per our “Safe School” policies, parents are required to indicate dietary restrictions/food allergies on the required Medical Record and Allergy Alert form. If there are foods that preschoolers are not permitted to eat, parents will provide “safe snacks” for their child. These are labeled by child’s name and will be stored in the preschool cupboard in the kitchen. They will be used only for that child. Parents will be notified when “safe snack” supplies are running low. In the case of a severe food allergy, we will communicate that to families so the allergen is not brought on site.
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