Food for Thought is a nutrition and wellbeing program designed to support early childhood services to strengthen children’s health, wellbeing and positive relationships with food.

Delivered by Hourglass Time Education in partnership with Nutritionist Rebecca Harwood, the program supports educators, kitchen teams and children through a whole-service approach to nutrition, mealtimes and play-based food learning.

Educators and kitchen teams build confidence in balanced nutrition, menu planning, calm mealtime practices and the connection between food, wellbeing, growth, energy and children’s capacity to engage in learning. Children are supported through age-appropriate, play-based food experiences that introduce nutrition concepts in fun, practical and meaningful ways.

The program includes professional learning, implementation support, child learning experiences, menu and recipe resources, and coaching to help services embed sustainable practices over time.

Food for Thought supports children to explore real foods, understand everyday and sometimes foods, and begin developing lifelong healthy habits through positive, inclusive and engaging experiences.

Expected outcomes of this program are:

• improved healthy eating habits and
• improved understanding of physical development milestones.

Food for Thought is delivered through a flexible hybrid model by the Hourglass Time Education team in partnership with Nutritionist Rebecca Harwood.

The program begins with a 4-hour pre-recorded online training component. This includes 2 hours of kitchen team training focused on meal planning, menus and balanced nutrition, and 2 hours of educator training focused on mealtime practice, child wellbeing and nutrition-rich curriculum. Services also receive practical resources such as a 6-week meal plan guide and recipe book.

Following the online learning, services receive implementation support through face-to-face coaching, mentoring and classroom-based support. This may include child learning experiences, food exploration, mealtime reflection, educator mentoring, kitchen team support and resource sharing.

Food for Thought has two pricing options:

Educator Practice & Child Learning Program – $4,300

Whole-Service Nutrition & Wellbeing Program – $6,700.

Prices are GST exclusive. Online training has no travel cost. Face-to-face delivery more than 40km from Adelaide CBD may include travel at $80/hour and accommodation of $200–$300.