This article is taken from our March 2016 Parents Newsletter:

Creating independent thinkers and doers is one of our priorities as early educators at Polly's. We also want children to develop important social skills (like how to share, take turns and to be kind, considerate and helpful etc) because these things help us to make friends and get along with others.

We also want children to develop good listening and language skills because this makes expressing our ideas and thoughts and communicating with others easier and more fun.

Then there's maths: it's important to know about counting and numbers and shapes and colours isn't it?

And, of course, most of all we want our children to be healthy and happy.

If you are now thinking: 'That's all great but what on earth does this have to do with snack time!?' please stick with me!

When writing this article, I asked my husband if he could remember his snack times as a pre-schooler (not at Polly's!) and whether he learned anything during them. 'Yes' he said, 'I learned that milk was cold in winter and warm in summer and that there was only one type of biscuit in the world. We sat there quietly and the grown-ups did everything for us'.

Fortunately, the world has moved on. Nowadays snack times (and all other meal times) at the best early years settings are interesting and fun and carefully designed to nourish the minds and spirits, as well as the bodies, of our young children.

For example, at Polly's our pre-school children help to set the table for snack (first covering it with a table cloth and then counting out chairs and cups and plates etc to ensure that everyone has what they need). Children help to wash and prepare the fresh fruit and vegetables we will be eating and we talk about the names, origin and physical characteristics (colour, shape, texture, quantity etc) of the food we're preparing and we learn how to handle the tools we're using safely.

Having washed and dried their own hands, children find their own place at the table. They do this by finding the place mat that they have made and upon which they have carefully written their own name. Sometimes we have fresh flowers on the table. At other times we have a centrepiece, which we call a 'talking point' (maybe somthing we've collected on a walk or a model a child has made) which is used to stimulate discussion and conversation among the children.

Children take turns to carefully pour their own drinks from a jug (which we only fill a quarter of the way so it isn't too heavy for them to manage) and to choose and serve themselves to what they'd like to eat using tongs or serving spoons.

At the table, the adults present encourage good manners and discussion. We talk about healthy eating, our most and least favourite kinds of food and about how the food we're eating gets to our table. We share stories and experiences from home, ideas about all sorts of things and we talk about what we have been doing and about what we're going to be doing.

After we've eaten the children help to clear away, collecting cups and bowls and plates and wiping the tables and sweeping the floor. If there have been any liquid spillages children know to go and get the 'wet floor' sign to alert their friends and help keep everyone safe until the spillage is cleaned up.

Meal times in early years settings shouldn't simply mean a break from whatever else is going on to 'feed and water' the children. They shouldn't mean children 'just sitting there' while adults do everything for them. They should be considered as a time for learning and development. They should be treated as opportunities for adults to support young children's quest for independence, chances to cultivate children's ability to think and do and, of course, to show children how good it feels when we work together and help each other.