Snack Time

[AnonyMouse_96656]

Hello all,

I would like some ideas of how you all do snack time in your settings. At the moment, we sit all of the children round the table and hand out individual plates of fruit to each child. And then a cup with either water or milk(they choose).

Once the children have finished they then start getting down from the table. 
 

My questions are…..do you have a rolling snack bar? Do the children prepare and serve their own food? What do you do if some children have finished and some are still eating? Do you let them get down from the table or wait until the others have finished? 
 

Thank you in advance for any ideas that you have 

Emma

 

[AnonyMouse_30128]

Im sure you will gets lots of responses to this ...all saying something slightly different! Why are you questioning your current system? is it not working for you? What do you feel is wrong with it? I have done snack time in a variety of ways but currently we have a serve yourself snack, but our children are two and a half plus. What age are you talking?

[AnonyMouse_96656]

Our system needs some updating. We are thinking that we should let the children be more independent by serving it themselves. Also, when the children have finished, some staff members will then proceed to get their coats on for outside play. Personally, I think that the children should have time to finish altogether instead of rushing to the next stage, as the ones left eating rush because they then want to go outside…but then it is hard to keep the 2 year olds sat at the table until everybody has finished. The children are between 2-4 

[AnonyMouse_30128]

On 24/03/2022 at 07:43, Emma Bailey_902595195 said:

Our system needs some updating. We are thinking that we should let the children be more independent by serving it themselves. Also, when the children have finished, some staff members will then proceed to get their coats on for outside play. Personally, I think that the children should have time to finish altogether instead of rushing to the next stage, as the ones left eating rush because they then want to go outside…but then it is hard to keep the 2 year olds sat at the table until everybody has finished. The children are between 2-4 

All of our children serve themselves (and get themselves dressed for outside!!) we run a free serve , help your self system for the am and pm session. I wouldn't want anyone hanging around waiting when they could be up and active...especially if they are only doing 9 hours a week. Could you maybe do a section at a time...groups? key worker group snacks if you don't want everyone to have free flow/

[BenTapestrySupport]

One thing I used to do which worked well for us was, we had a photo of each of the children in one pile. When the children wanted snack, they would then go find their photo, put it in a pot, and then take their snack. This was so we could see who had taken their snack that day, and we didn't use it to make children have snack if they hadn't - but we at least knew who we could mention it to in passing if they wanted snack. 

It takes some getting used to for the children - some forgot to move their photo (sometimes because they forgot, others so they could get more snack!) but once it was established, it really helped as it didn't interrupt anything. 

 

[AnonyMouse_30128]

On 24/03/2022 at 08:23, BenTapestrySupport said:

One thing I used to do which worked well for us was, we had a photo of each of the children in one pile. When the children wanted snack, they would then go find their photo, put it in a pot, and then take their snack. This was so we could see who had taken their snack that day, and we didn't use it to make children have snack if they hadn't - but we at least knew who we could mention it to in passing if they wanted snack. 

It takes some getting used to for the children - some forgot to move their photo (sometimes because they forgot, others so they could get more snack!) but once it was established, it really helped as it didn't interrupt anything. 

 

yes we do something similar with name magnets ...they take them off and put them in the basket. We often talk about have they 'Paid' for their snack! good bit of learning about money too! 

[AnonyMouse_96656]

On 24/03/2022 at 08:23, BenTapestrySupport said:

One thing I used to do which worked well for us was, we had a photo of each of the children in one pile. When the children wanted snack, they would then go find their photo, put it in a pot, and then take their snack. This was so we could see who had taken their snack that day, and we didn't use it to make children have snack if they hadn't - but we at least knew who we could mention it to in passing if they wanted snack. 

It takes some getting used to for the children - some forgot to move their photo (sometimes because they forgot, others so they could get more snack!) but once it was established, it really helped as it didn't interrupt anything. 

 

I really like this idea. Thank you 

[AnonyMouse_96656]

On 24/03/2022 at 16:11, finleysmaid said:

yes we do something similar with name magnets ...they take them off and put them in the basket. We often talk about have they 'Paid' for their snack! good bit of learning about money too! 

That's a really lovely idea. Thank you 

[AnonyMouse_19782]

Once the children are given their independence at snack time Emma you will wonder why you had your current system.  There is so much to be gained from letting the children do as much for themselves as possible.   

Have a brainstorm with your staff and come up with other things they could be doing rather than getting the children's coats on to go outside which might give your slower eaters a bit more of a chance if you all have snack at the same time - we all had snack at the same time at my setting, but that's not to say we didn't try to change that,  we trialled doing snack bar/rolling snack for a whole term we just couldn't get used it it - neither the children nor the adults.  What we came up with in the end was a self service system, and jugs on the tables etc.   Children helped to make the snack and lay it out for everyone.  At the end of snack one or two were helpers collecting up cups and plates etc others "cleaning" the tables (an adult would go around afterwards cleaning, but out of sight of the children)  Ours self-registered each morning when they arrived, and so the same name cards were used again to "pay" for snack - as Finleysmaid explained, our youngest were 2 and a half - some jobs were a rite of passage!

Perhaps there's another group nearby you could go and observe?  Could your LEA set this up for you, so that you can see it work in action.  Sometimes it is hard to believe just how much the younger children are capable of without seeing it for your own eyes, it can be quite the slick operation.

 

Good luck with it.

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by Panders

[AnonyMouse_96656]

On 24/03/2022 at 18:41, Panders said:

Once the children are given their independence at snack time Emma you will wonder why you had your current system.  There is so much to be gained from letting the children do as much for themselves as possible.   

Have a brainstorm with your staff and come up with other things they could be doing rather than getting the children's coats on to go outside which might give your slower eaters a bit more of a chance if you all have snack at the same time - we all had snack at the same time at my setting, but that's not to say we didn't try to change that,  we trialled doing snack bar/rolling snack for a whole term we just couldn't get used it it - neither the children nor the adults.  What we came up with in the end was a self service system, and jugs on the tables etc.   Children helped to make the snack and lay it out for everyone.  At the end of snack one or two were helpers collecting up cups and plates etc others "cleaning" the tables (an adult would go around afterwards cleaning, but out of sight of the children)  Ours self-registered each morning when they arrived, and so the same name cards were used again to "pay" for snack - as Finleysmaid explained, our youngest were 2 and a half - some jobs were a rite of passage!

Perhaps there's another group nearby you could go and observe?  Could your LEA set this up for you, so that you can see it work in action.  Sometimes it is hard to believe just how much the younger children are capable of without seeing it for your own eyes, it can be quite the slick operation.

 

Good luck with it.

 

Thank you for an amazing reply. I love this forum so much.

[BenTapestrySupport]

On 24/03/2022 at 16:11, finleysmaid said:

yes we do something similar with name magnets ...they take them off and put them in the basket. We often talk about have they 'Paid' for their snack! good bit of learning about money too! 

I love the idea of getting them to understand 'buying' the snack too!