Healthy Eating and Active Living in Child Care

The early years are an important time to establish healthy behaviours that will promote children’s development, readiness to learn and life-long health. Child care centres are perfect settings to help children develop healthy behaviours and to support parents to provide healthy eating and active play at home.  

The resources on this page are evidence-informed and support creating healthy environments in child care settings. These resources will support you to: Provide children with healthy food and a positive eating environment.  

  • Help children to spend less time sitting and more time learning basic movement skills through play.  

  • Provide children with a wide range of opportunities to be active through adult-led activities, and active free play indoors and outdoors.  

  • Create a sun safe environment for children and staff.  

  • Encourage staff to role model healthy eating and physical activity.  

Child care centres promote healthy eating by providing a wide range of nutritious and safe foods in a positive and supportive environment in accordance with the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, Canada's food guide and Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants.  

*NEW* 2025 Nutrition in Child Care Settings eLearning Course 

  • Free, interactive two-hour online course is designed to empower Ontario child care professionals to support the healthy growth, development, and well-being of young children.  

  • This course draws directly on the provincial Child Care Menu Planning Practical Guide and other child care resources developed by Ontario Dietitians in Public Health (ODPH) to offer you practical, and helpful evidence-informed strategies to support everyday practice. 

Menu Planning  

Child Care Menu Planning - Practical Guide (ODPH) 

  • Supports child care providers to ensure all meals, snacks and beverages meet the healthy eating recommendations. 

Menu Revision Tool (ODPH) 

  • Tool to ensure menus align with the recommendations in the Child Care Menu Planning – Practical Guide.  

Meal and Snack Checklist (ODPH) 

  • Checklist to support completing Step 2 of the Menu Revision Tool (above).  

Fillable Menu Template (ODPH) 

  • Blank menu template to support balanced menu planning. 

Modifying Recipes to Meet the Practical Guide (ODPH) 

  • Tips to reduce sodium and sugar and incorporate more whole grains in recipes.  

Increasing the Use of Plant-based Proteins in Child Care Settings (ODPH) 

  • Tips on how to choose, prepare and add more plant-based proteins to menus.  

Common Food Allergen Substitutions for Child Care Settings (ODPH) 

  • Discover substitutions for common food allergens to accommodate children with allergies.  

Reducing Food Costs and Environmental Impacts (ODPH) 

  • Checklist of ways you can reduce food costs and environmental impacts.  

Menu Examples (ODPH) 

  • Sample four-week menu cycle that incorporates different foods to align with the Canada's food guide  

Spring and Summer menus (City of Ottawa Municipal Child Care) 

  • 4-week seasonal and culturally diverse menu.  Includes daily vegetarian alternatives. 

Fall and Winter menus (City of Ottawa Municipal Child Care)  

  • 4-week seasonal and culturally diverse menu. Includes daily vegetarian alternatives. 

Feeding practices (how we serve and talk about food) 

Nurturing Children through Responsive Feeding (ODPH) 

  • Describes how educators can nurture children in their care through responsive feeding practices and role modeling. 

Strategies for Mealtime Success (ODPH) 

  • Address common meal time situations and promote positive eating habits.  

Building Positive Relationships with Food Through the Four Foundations of Learning (ODPH) 

  • Learn how to create food experiences that support connection, joy and care through the four foundations for learning. 

Choosing Learning Resources: Nurturing Positive Relationships with Food through Play and Learning (ODPH) 

  • Checklist to assess books, toys, and other learning resources to ensure they promote nurturing and positive relationships with food. 

Promoting Food Literacy in Child Care (ODPH) 

  • Tips to create everyday opportunities for children to explore, grow, prepare, learn and enjoy food in engaging, age-appropriate ways.   

Celebrations (ODPH) 

  • Find new ways to celebrate without food.   

Facilitating Family-Style Meals (ODPH) 

  • Learn about the benefits of family style meals and how to do it.   

Fundraising (ODPH) 

  • Explore fundraising ideas that are not food related. 

Policies 

Sample Policies for Child Care Settings (ODPH) 

  • Explore sample policies on foods offered in child care settings and on responsive feeding. Consider implementing these policies in your setting to support lasting change. 

Reducing food waste 

Waste Reduction and Education (City of Ottawa)  

  • Get food saving tips and learn about local initiatives aimed at reducing food waste. 

Love Food Hate Waste 

  • Canadian organization that provides information and resources to help you reduce food waste creatively. 

Food safety 

Certified Food Handler Training (OPH)  

  • Learn about the approved options to obtain your Food Handler Certification, or to re-certify. 

Healthy and Sustainable Child Care Environments (Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health & Environment) 

  • Guidance and tools to reduce exposure to environmental hazards and support safer, more sustainable practices.  

Choking resource (TeachNutrition) 

  • Visual guide to inform staff on how to prepare foods to lower the risk of choking. 

Cultural foods 

Understanding Halal Foods (Toronto Public Health) 

Guide to help you understand and choose halal foods. 

Positive Body Image 

Booklist and Conversation Guide on Positive Body Image for Children and Youth (OPH)

  • Explore books that help children appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of all bodies, to build self-confidence, self-acceptance and respect for others.

Page last updated: 2026/10

Child care centres promote active living by providing children with a range of opportunities to be active in accordance with the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, and the Canadian 24 Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years (0-4).

Time spent outdoors in nature is very important for healthy child development. Children in child care should be provided with the opportunity to spend time outdoors each day, engaging in self-directed play, in a variety of weather conditions. To learn more about the benefits of active play, check out the 2025 Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play, released by Outdoor Play Canada and available in all UN official languages.

Implementing a physical activity policy is the best way to ensure that children in child care get the recommended levels of physical activity and spend less time being sedentary (sitting or not moving much).

Physical Literacy

“Physical literacy is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life.”
– The International Physical Literacy Association, May 2014

Children need to learn fundamental movement skills – basic movement skills such as running, jumping, throwing, catching, hopping and skipping - to be able to participate in many types of physical activity. Child care settings play an important role in helping young children learn and practice fundamental movement skills.

For more information on physical literacy and physical activity:

Limiting children’s exposure to ultraviolet radiation is important, as it increases the risk of skin cancer when they are older. 

The Canadian Cancer Society recommends the following for being safe in the sun:

  • Check the UV index daily
  • Seek shade
  • Cover up with clothing
  • Wear a wide brimmed hat
  • Wear sunglasses with UVA and UVB protection
  • Use sunscreen correctly

For key messages related to sun safety, review Sun Safety and Tanning and the following links:

Child care plays a key role in creating healthy environments where children learn and thrive and child care providers are well-positioned to influence the health of young children. 

The following evidenced-informed trainings will help you to feel more confident and able to create a supportive environment for children in your care. These online trainings are self-paced and provide supporting resources. A certificate of completion is provided following the completion of all the modules for each of the two eLearning courses. These can contribute to your professional portfolio.

 Nutrition in Child Care Settings eLearning course

Learn about menu planning and how to apply the recommendations outlined in the Child Care Menu Planning Practical Guide.

Cooks, supervisors and managers will benefit from exploring menu planning, how to select nutritious food for children in their care, and managing allergies and substitutions.

Educators will benefit from learning practical strategies for successful mealtimes, how to talk about food and tips to nurture a positive relationship with food.

This eLearning course covers:

  • Module 1: Responsive Feeding
  • Module 2: Menu Planning
  • Module 3: Label Reading
  • Module 4: Beverages
  • Module 5: Food and Beverage Choices
  • Module 6: Allergies 

To take this 2-hour online training, go to Nutrition in Child Care Settings.  If you do not have an account, you will need to create one. 

Training pre-service EArly Childhood educators in physical activity (TEACH) e-learning course

Child care providers will benefit from learning more about the importance of physical activity in child care settings, and practical tips for how promote and role model physical activity. 

Note: This eLearning course is only available for childcare educators working in Ottawa, Ontario.

To access this online training, go to TEACH eLearning. You will need to create a new account and it may take a few days for your account to be validated. It should take about 5 hours to complete these interactive modules:

  • Module 1: An Introduction to Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour in the Early Years 

  • Module 2: Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour in the Childcare Environment 

  • Module 3: How to Promote Physical Activity and Minimize Sedentary Time in Childcare 

  • Module 4: Professional Learning, Resources, and Video Library of Activities. 

 Sun Safety Training

You can create a sun safe environment for children in your care by registering your child care centre for the Sunsense program offered by the Canadian Cancer Society. The program gives access to a one hour training and resources, and provides a certificate of completion.

The SunSense program offers child cares, schools and summer camps access to free tools, resources, and parent information to protect children from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Information about best practices will help your organization to develop policies, provide shade where children play, and teach young children sun safety habits that will contribute to their health for years to come.

 

Parents/guardians can be positive role models for children by leading by example. Their actions and words shape what children perceive as normal. The resources below can be shared with families to help them create a supportive environment for healthy eating and active living at home.

Talking to children about food

Raising our healthy kids videos brought to you by Dietitians of Canada

Physical activity resources for parents

Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology)

Active Kids, Healthy Kids (Canadian Paediatric Society)

What is Physical Literacy (Learn Through Active Play)

Active for Life

Have a Ball Together! (Best Start)

2020 ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth: Family Influence: The Role of the Family in the Physical Activity, Sedentary and Sleep Behaviours of Children and Youth. (Highlight Report)

Do you have questions about immunization, food safety or other public health topics? Visit the Child Care Providers page for additional public health child care resources.

Share feedback or ask questions about nutrition and physical activity in child care setting at NutritionPhysicalActivity@ottawa.ca

Welcome to the new OttawaPublicHealth.ca

Ottawa Public Health has moved to a refreshed website. During this transition, some links, redirects, documents, pages or display features may be temporarily affected.

Your feedback will help us review and address issues during the stabilization period.

Report an issue with our website