Child Health and Wellness

Child Health & Wellness encompasses the whole child as a state of physical, mental, intellectual, social, and emotional well-being. Engage these available resources to improve the way you reinforce child health and wellness in your programs.

Nutrition Education Resources
Early Care & Education settings play an important role in serving nutritious and appealing foods. Teaching children about healthy food choices and the food groups at a young age will help in setting the foundations for developing lifelong healthy eating behaviors. Nutrition Education is a vital part of a comprehensive health education program and empowers children with knowledge and skills to make healthy food and beverage choices.¹

For more information and resources, view the about Child Health & Wellness page.

¹Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School health guidelines to promote healthy eating and physical activity. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2011;60(RR-5):1–76.
- Breastfeeding
- Child Care Nutrition
- Nutrition Education
  - Activities
  - Information
    - A Guide to Smart Snacks in School
    - Interpreting a Nutrition Label
    - Nibbles for Health: Nutrition Newsletters for Parents of Young Children (English and Spanish)
- CACFP
  - Mealtimes with Toddlers in the CACFP Video Series (English and Spanish).
  - Growing a Healthier Future with the CACFP
  - Mealtimes with Toddlers Family Handout (English and Spanish)
  - Mealtimes With Toddlers in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Three Meals a Day: A Win-Win-Win – A Guide to Starting and Improving your Afterschool Meals Program
- SFSP
  - Summer Meals Toolkit
  - Summer Food, Summer Moves Resource Kit:
    - Operator Activity Guide (English and Spanish)
  - Family Engagement
    - Summer Meals, Summer Fun (English and Spanish)
    - Stay Cool with Summer Meals (English and Spanish)
    - Movin' with Summer Meals (English and Spanish)
    - Summer Meals, Summer Friends (English and Spanish)
    - Let's Celebrate Summer Meals (English and Spanish)
    - Eat Smart to Play Hard (English and Spanish)
- Food Allergies
- Training Tools
  - USDA
  - Other
- Useful Websites
  - MyPlate
  - Meal Sites
  - Strong4Life
  - Strong4Life Early Care Programs
  - HealthMPowers
  - The OrganWise Guys
  - Child Nutrition Sharing Site
  - USDA’s Team Nutrition (English)
  - USDA’s Team Nutrition (Spanish)
  - Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics
Meals and Menu Planning
The following resources are designed to assist CACFP and SFSP organizations with planning meals for Program participants. This section provides a wealth of information on what to serve – choosing the healthiest, most nutritious options and serving sizes per age group.
- COVID-19
- SFSP
  - SFSP Nutrition Guide
  - USDA’s Summer Meals Webinars and Videos
Farm to Child Nutrition Programs
- Farm to Early Care & Education
  - Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) incorporates the three core elements of local procurement, gardens, and food and agriculture education to advance health and wellbeing, engage families and communities, and enhance the quality of the ECE setting. #GAFarmtoECE
  - The USDA Farm to School Grant Program has awarded DECAL’s Nutrition Division with a Farm to School State Agency Grant in FY 2020. The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning will strengthen Farm to ECE across the state of Georgia. The project will provide accessible statewide training on the implementation of a successful Farm to ECE program, curating dialogue on local procurement between Child Nutrition Program (CNP) purchasers, vendors and farmers, creating a database of Georgia’s Farm to ECE initiatives, and fostering partnerships with Farm to ECE stakeholders. DECAL’s grant initiatives will include a 101 training series, traveling Vendor Summit, hands-on implementation workshop benefiting counties with high obesity and food insecurity, spotlight program, and Farm to School and ECE Summit. By leveraging the Farm to School State Agency grant and community partnerships, DECAL will build upon Georgia’s Farm to ECE foundations for improving access to local foods in CNPs across the state while emphasizing local procurement and nutrition and agricultural education efforts.
  - Farm to School and Farm to Early Care and Education Month
    Governor Brian Kemp has signed a proclamation stating October as Farm to School and Farm to Early Care and Education Month. Farm to School (F2S) and Farm to Early Care and Education (FTECE) programs represent an innovative opportunity to address some of the most critical issues facing Georgia through a comprehensive approach that seeks to improve child nutrition, thus improving academic performance and providing local market opportunities for Georgia farmers. Georgia agencies, schools, ECE providers, parents, students, farmers, and communities are collaborating to implement F2S and FTECE programs to increase access and education around fresh, local, and nutritious foods, reducing childhood obesity. View the proclamation here.
  - The Farm to ECE Coalition is a network that joins stakeholders in early care, food, farming, and nutrition to coalesce resources and support farm to early care and education, and to create dialogue for building statewide programming.
    - Georgia Farm to School Alliance and Georgia Farm to Early Care and Education Coalition 2021-2025 Strategic Plans
  - Resources
- Farm to Summer
  - Summer in Georgia is a time of agricultural abundance and bountiful harvests. Farm to Summer programs play an important role in summer feeding. Summer Meals Programs capitalize on the many opportunities that summer brings to serve fresh, local foods and hands-on activities that help children develop healthy habits. Learn more with the resources below! #SummerMealsGA
  - USDA's Farm to Summer
  - DECAL’s Farm to Summer
  - DECAL’s Virtual Farm Field Trip
  - Summer Meals: Incorporating Local Foods USDA Webinar
  - Farm to Summer: Why Summer Meals Programs are Ripe for Local Foods and Agriculture-Based Activities
  - Local Foods and Related Activities in Summer Meal Programs, with Questions and Answers
- Getting Started
  - Farm to Early Care and Education Frequently Asked Questions
  - Getting Started: Georgia Farm to Early Care and Education Guide
- Local Foods and Farms
- Gardening
- Food Education
  - Cooking & Tasting
  - Educating
- Harvest of the Month
  - Harvest of the Month (HOTM) is the Georgia Department of Education School Nutrition Program’s farm to school initiative that highlights an item each month that can be sourced locally and served in Georgia’s school and early care meals. This initiative encourages collaboration between early care sponsors, directors, providers, farmers, students, and communities.
  - Some examples of Harvest of the Month implementation in Georgia Early Care & Education settings include:
    - Serving locally grown foods in child nutrition programs
    - Curriculum connections through incorporating food, agriculture, and nutrition into the curriculum
    - Taste Tests conducted with local foods
    - Hands-on learning through school gardening
    - Farm field trips
    - Visits to ECE settings by farmers and related professionals including small business owners, registered dietitians, and culinary professionals
    - Partnerships with Culinary Programs
  - Harvest of the Month Calendar August 2021-July 2022
    (Spanish HOTM Calender)
    - Please note that DECAL’s Harvest of the Month calendar aligns with the Georgia Department of Education’s Harvest of the Month initiative. DECAL’s calendar was created in partnership with Quality Care for Children, Georgia Organics, and the Farm to Early Care & Education Coalition for Early Care & Education settings.
  - Department of Education’s Harvest of the Month
  - Quality Care for Children’s Harvest of the Month
  - Department of Education’s Harvest with Holly
- Training Tools
- Useful Websites
CACFP Meal Patterns
On April 25, 2016, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) published the final rule “Child and Adult Care Food Program: Meal Pattern Revisions Related to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010”. The final rule amended the CACFP regulations at 226.20 to update the meal pattern requirements. CACFP centers and day care homes had to start complying with the updated meal pattern requirements on October 1, 2017. Overall, the updated meal patterns strengthen the nutritional quality of the meals served, allow CACFP institutions to serve more diverse and culturally appropriate foods, and address dietary needs of Program participants. Meals and snacks served will include a greater variety of vegetables and fruit, more whole grains, and less added sugar and saturated fat. In this section, various forms of information will provide further guidance for institutions in implementing the CACFP Updated Meal Patterns.
- Adult Day Care: A Child and Adult Care Food Program Handbook
- Crediting Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program
- Feeding Infants in the Child and Adult Care Food Program
- Mealtimes with Toddlers in the Child and Adult Care Food Program
- Mealtimes with Toddlers in the CACFP Video Series (English and Spanish).
- Healthy Cooking in the CACFP with Chef Asata Reid: A Five Part Video Series
  
  Follow Chef Asata Reid on a culinary journey as she models cooking skills and best practices to enhance your CACFP meal service program! Learn about Knife Skills, CACFP Snacks, Enhancing Meal Appeal, Using Seasonal Produce, and Using Spices and Herbs. Use this Healthy Cooking in the CACFP video series presented by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning’s Nutrition Services Division for your training sessions, webinars, and professional development meetings with food preparation and menu development staff.
- One-Page Summaries of Meal Patterns
  - Infants
    - English
    - Spanish
  - Children and Adults
    - English
    - Spanish
  - Best Practices
    - English
    - Spanish
- Meal Pattern Charts
  - Infants
  - Children
  - Adults
- Grains
  - Grain Ounce Equivalents Webinar Recording
  - CACFP Trainers' Circle: Training Program Operators to Use Grains Ounce Equivalents Webinar Recording
  - Exhibit A Grains Tool to the Rescue Webinar Recording
  - Crediting Single-Serving Packages of Grains in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Determining Ounce Equivalents of Grains in CACFP Recipes (English and Spanish)
  - Calculating Ounce Equivalents for Grains in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Feeding Infants Using Ounce Equivalents for Grains in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Grain-Based Desserts in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Using Ounce Equivalents for Grains in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Adding Whole Grains to your CACFP Menu (English and Spanish)
  - How to Spot Whole Grain-Rich Foods for the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Reducing the Risk of Choking in Young Children at Mealtimes (English and Spanish)
  - Identifying Whole Grain-Rich Foods for the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Is My Recipe Whole Grain-Rich in the CACFP? (English and Spanish)
  - Using the WIC Food Lists to Identify Grains for the CACFP (English and Spanish)
- Vegetables
  - Serving Vegetables in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
- Meats / Meat Alternates
  - Serving Meats and Meat Alternates at Lunch and Supper in the USDA CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Serving Meats and Meat Alternates at Breakfast (English and Spanish)
- Milk
  - Serving Milk in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
- Sugar Limits
  - Choose Breakfast Cereals That Are Lower in Sugar (English and Spanish)
  - Choose Yogurts That Are Lower in Sugar (English and Spanish)
  - Calculating Sugar Limits for Breakfast Cereals in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Calculating Sugar Limits for Yogurt in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
- Nutrition
  - Offering Water in the USDA CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Serving Adult Participants in the USDA CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Serving Snacks in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Methods for Healthy Cooking (English and Spanish)
  - Offer Versus Serve in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Mealtimes with Toddlers Family Handout (English and Spanish)
  - Using the Nutrition Facts Label in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Calculating Ounce Equivalents of Grains in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Reducing the Risks of Choking in Young Children at Mealtimes (English & Spanish)
  - Crediting Store-Bought Combination Baby Foods in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
  - Feeding Infants Using Ounce Equivalents for Grains in the CACFP (English and Spanish)
- Training Tools
  - USDA
USDA Recipe Box

The Child Nutrition Recipe Box provides Child Nutrition program operators with recipes to prepare healthy and delicious meals that meet meal pattern requirements. These recipes are standardized to provide meal pattern crediting information for all meal pattern components and include recipes made with legumes, whole grains, and vegetables from the vegetable subgroups including dark green, red, and/or orange vegetables. Browse recipes for the Child and Adult Care Food Programs (CACFP) and for school nutrition programs.
Food Safety
Food safety is a vital part of CACFP and SFSP meal preparation and service. Organizations are required to ensure proper health and sanitation measures are in place so that safe and healthy meals are served to children.
DECAL’s Food Safety Video Series

Proper Cooling of Food

Proper Hand Washing

Proper Labeling of Food

Thawing of Food

Prepararing Ready to Eat Food

Hot Holding of Food

Cross-Contamination of Food

Cold Holding of Food
Physical Activity
Physical activity is a key component of childhood development. As children spend a large amount of time in child care facilities, ECE settings are one of the best places to provide children with physical activity. The Centers for Disease Control recommends 60 minutes or more of physical activity for children ages 3 through 5 years old.
Georgia SHAPE

The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) and Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) are proud to recognize and honor early care centers across the state with the Georgia Shape Award. The award honors and recognizes early care and education programs that employ exceptional nutrition and physical activity practices that go above and beyond current licensing standards. The award is open to all childcare facilities that become Quality Rated through Bright from the Start.

Childcare facilities can market themselves as a Georgia Shape recognized program and parents will be encouraged to select “Georgia Shape” programs. Recognized childcare programs will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Commissioner of Public Health; Georgia Shape decals that can be placed on the entrance(s) of the facility; access to the Georgia Shape logo; and inclusion on the Georgia Shape list of designated child care facilities available on the DPH and DECAL websites.

Award Criteria:

The Georgia Department of Public Health and Bright from the Start will use information obtained from the Quality Rated Portfolio to determine which centers qualify to receive the Georgia Shape Award. Centers must be Quality Rated to meet the minimum criteria of the award.

As the award criteria is being updated, check out Georgia Shape for additional resources for early child care facilities.

For further questions, reach out to Diana Myers, Nutrition Health Educator at diana.myers@decal.ga.gov.

Child Health and Wellness

Award Criteria: