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Nutrition Education

Your child’s early experiences with food will have an impact on his or her future health. Providing nutritious meals and snacks and introducing new foods to children is the foundation of our nutrition education.

Kidango provides breakfast, a morning snack, lunch and an afternoon snack for all children in our full day preschool programs. Children in our part-day preschool programs receive either breakfast or lunch (depending on the session they attend) and our school age students receive an afternoon snack. Infants are fed formula (or expressed breast milk) on their individual schedules. The meals are tailored to the ages of the children with infants and toddlers transitioning to baby food and table food, as they are developmentally ready. All meals are prepared fresh daily from our central kitchen, meet the nutrition standards of the USDA Child Care Food Program and provided free of charge to children enrolled in our centers.

At mealtime, all preschool children are invited to sit at a table with their teachers and eat in a relaxed atmosphere at their own pace. Children are encouraged to try new foods, are introduced to a variety of culturally diverse foods and taught the importance of healthy choices. Teachers encourage children to try all components of the meal but children are never forced to eat. As appropriate, children are encouraged to serve themselves and to help clean up after meals.

Kidango’s nutrition education provides opportunities for children to participate in cooking projects, read about different foods in our Literacy Centers, take field trips to the grocery store and in many centers, grow their own vegetables. Kidango believes that all children deserve an equal opportunity to learn about foods, as the foods children eat influence their growth and overall development. With the recent focus on early childhood obesity, Kidango is focusing on our meal service and family education to reduce the consumption of foods that contribute to obesity and the onset of early diabetes.

Kidango is a sponsor of the Child Care Food Program (CACFP) and abides by the regulations of CACFP, USDA and the Alameda County Health Department. Kidango’s nutrition assistants are Food Safe Certified and are trained on sanitation and safe food handling practices. All Kidango center directors and regional directors are required to attend annual Nutrition and CACFP trainings. Kidango’s Nutrition Department conducts center audits to assure agencies compliance of the CACFP and Health Department’s regulations.

Parents/Caretakers are welcome to schedule a meeting with our Nutrition Services Manager, to visit our central kitchen or to discuss any special dietary concerns. Our nutrition staff makes special meals to meet children’s dietary restrictions and incorporate multi-cultural meals to introduce the children to an array of tastes and textures. Our central kitchen is licensed and inspected by the Alameda County Health Department.

For information regarding Kidango's Nutrition services please contact:
Jenny Dell'Osso
Nutrition Services manager
510-933-3960
jenny.dell-osso@kidango.org