Snack Café

 

We provide a healthy snack for all the children. The children are involved through choosing every week, what foods they would like, to preparing and serving and washing up. This is our Snack Team and all of the children of all ages enjoy helping. We are very proud of this and the food we provide and we have been celebrated by the County Council through the Lancashire Quality Award Verifiers.

 

Through this year we have served a very wide variety including: apples, pears, plums, apricots, strawberries, grapes, banana, oranges, mango, melon, carrots, peppers, cucumber, cheese, crumpets, malt loaf, cereal, toast, bread sticks, crackers… with milk or water to drink. We also have our own breadmaker and so regularly make fresh bread for snack time. We use this as a time for conversation and friendship.

 

The Snack Café is open for around 30 minutes during the session giving the children plenty of time to access it. Independence is encouraged appropriately for the child’s age and stage of development and the children wash their hands, select their own plate and cup and choose their own food and drink. They sit around a table in groups of around 6 at a time, although sometimes they choose to all come at once! It is a very social time as the children enjoy coming to the café together and there is always at least one member of staff present to help, chat and join in snack. Jugs of water are provided throughout the session so that children have free access to water.

 

We also offer the children regular cooking sessions and either send the cooking home with them or serve it at snack time. Again during this last year we have made a wide variety of foods with the children, including different cultural celebrations: bannocks, samosas, bread, pizza, soup, apple pies, granola bars, pancakes, scones… We have experience of catering for children with additional dietary requirements and we always plan for this during snack and cooking to ensure children always feel included, for example using gluten free flour.