Dear Constituent,
Thank you for contacting me about sensory food play for early years settings and steps to improve healthy eating.
Like you I believe it is very important that young children have the opportunity to explore food, use their senses and develop a love of eating vegetables and fruit.
I am aware that the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework sets the standards that all early years providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to the age of five. This framework can be viewed here: Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) The Department for Education has also published guidance for early years settings on how to deliver sensory food education.
The Department works with TastEd, which is an organisation that gives children the opportunity to experience the joy of fresh vegetables and fruits through delivering sensory food education that follows the National Food Strategy recommendations. I know that over 600 schools and nurseries are already signed up to TastEd's programmes and the Government is committed to ensuring that all settings benefit from these lessons. You can learn more about TastEd here: What is TastEd? | Taste Education.
In response to two written parliamentary questions the Government further confirmed their position with regard to sensory food play in nurseries and other Early Years settings. I include the text of this response below:
“The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards that all early years providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to age five.
The department has published an article promoting sensory food education on the ‘Help for early years providers’ online platform, which is a resource for childminders, nursery leaders and pre-school practitioners. This supports practitioners to look at incorporating sensory food education into their practice, while delivering the statutory EYFS requirements. The sensory food education article can be found here: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/get-help-to-improve-your-practice/sensory-food-education.”
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Sincerely,
