Feature: Decoda Literacy Solutions LEAP BC Food Flair

Interested in healthy child development or just want to know more about healthy eating?

Decoda Literacy Solutions is a literacy organization committed to fostering individual and community change and serving as a catalyst for a culture of literacy and learning for people of all ages. TheLEAP BC programs for children and families offers a set of resources that promote health child development and integrate literacy, education, activity, and play. The resources are designed for families, caregivers, and early learning practitioners who engage with young children.

Source: Decoda Literacy Solutions

The Food Flair component includes activities that help to create environments that support healthy eating for young children from birth to age 5. While targeted towards early learning practitioners and other professionals, the resources offered may also be useful for caregivers and families looking for ways to foster and promote healthy eating practices and habits for young children.

The materials for the four modules of Food Flair are available as free PDF downloads from the Decoda Literacy Solutions website and cover topics from the feeding relationship to health eating and how to make the process fun.

Want to know more or check out the Food Flair materials?

Visit the Decoda Literacy Solutions Food Flair website for more information and to download activity cards for each module: http://decoda.ca/children-families/leap-bc/food-flair/

The Food Flair Early Learning Practitioners Resource is also available for order for $30.

Feature: Growing Chefs!

Founded in 2005, the non-profit Growing Chefs! Chefs for Children's Urban Agriculture program pairs volunteer chefs with elementary school classrooms, and with the help of chefs, students learn how to plant, grow, and cook their own vegetables. Just this year, over 2 dozen elementary schools from Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, West Vancouver, and Richmond participated in the program.

Each year, elementary schools sign up for the Classroom Gardening Program, which starts every year after spring break and extends from March through June. The program is available for Grades 1 through 3.

Credit: Growing Chefs!

Wait a second: urban agriculture? Cue the looks of interest. How exactly does that work?

Urban agriculture is often used to refer to the restructuring of urban spaces to incorporate food production operations into areas that are densely populated -- in short, growing food in the city. This could mean anything from keeping chickens in your backyard, tending a small garden on your apartment balcony, or growing herbs in a pot on your windowsill.

The Growing Chefs! program tackles themes of food sustainability by attempting to get children involved, in the steps from gardening and grocery shopping to meal planning and preparation.

The mission of the non-profit society is to support and encourage the development and growth of urban agriculture and to provide an avenue for chefs and food growers to engage in the community and to support food sustainability.

For more information on Growing Chefs!, visit their website: http://www.growingchefs.ca/

For teachers and schools and to sign up: http://www.growingchefs.ca/teachers-program-info

For chefs interested in signing up to volunteer: http://www.growingchefs.ca/volunteer-program-info

FREE Workshop: Healthy Food for Kids!

Burnaby Food First and the Burnaby Public Library are hosting a FREE workshop on Healthy Food for Kids.

Healthy Food for Kids
Tuesday, March 27

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Tommy Douglas Library (7311 Kingsway - map)

Come and learn how to plan and cook easy meals that you can afford and your kids will love!

The workshop is FREE but space is limited. Please register in person at the Tommy Douglas information desk or by calling (604) 297-4821.

**REGISTRATION CLOSED**

*15 free child-minding spots available. Please register quickly as these spots are first come, first serve! Child-minding is provided by South Burnaby Neighbourhood House.