Eating My Colourful Vegies and Fruit

Our eating habits are established at a very early age and the more foods we are exposed to during this formative time the more diverse our diet is later in life. And so, the experiences a child has in an early childhood centre may be extremely influential in laying down foundations for a lifelong healthy relationship with food. With this in mind the Australian Avocado industry has funded the development of an early childhood food learning resource for educators to use with children aged 3 to 5 years entitled 'Eating My Colourful Vegies and Fruit'.

Eating more vegetables and fruit is recognised as an easy and effective way to improve our health and yet it's known that a quarter of children between the ages of two and four eat very few vegetables or fruit! 'Eating My Colourful Vegies and Fruit' has been created for early childhood educators to assist with guiding and encouraging children's food preferences in fun and positive ways. The resource includes lots of experiences with vegetables and fruit which help educators and children to understand that everyone's food preferences change and that it is easy to learn to like new foods.

Help children to: Eat the rainbow of colourful vegies and fruit
Try new foods	Eat more green plant foods

Through sensory food exploration, investigation and preparation, the 'Eating My Colourful Vegies and Fruit' resource also supports children's language development, food literacy, science discoveries and social skills.

'Eating My Colourful Vegies and Fruit' is a multi-faceted educational program that includes practical support for participating early childhood centres. There is a comprehensive educator's booklet supported by colourful and engaging resources including posters, colour swatches, food finder, songs and child-friendly recipes.

Please note that this program is intended for childcare and long day care centres with children aged 3 to 5 years. If you have any further queries, please contact earlychildhood@avocado.org.au.

	Program Support
	If you are registered in the current round of our program, and have received your kit, your tray of avocados will be sent out in the week commencing the 29th of August. If you have been informed that your location requires an alternative avocado delivery method, you will be contacted about this in the week commencing the 22nd of August, allowing sufficient time for you to obtain the avocados. Once you’ve delivered the program, please send your feedback on how the learning materials and avocados have been used. This might include photos of the materials in action, photos of children tasting or preparing recipes, samples of children’s work, a brief description of successful food learning activities using avocados and the resource provided. The avocado growers of Australia are committed to playing their part in improving the well-being of future generations of Australians and they see this resource, which is designed to encourage lifelong healthy food habits, as a valuable way to work towards this aim.