Educating Young Children Volume 2 - Summer 2026 July 1, 2026 | Farm to Early Care and Education

By Meagan K. Shedd and Avery Shedd

Partnering with Families to Support Children’s Health and Nutrition

Good nutrition is important for promoting healthy growth and development in young children, who are rapidly developing mentally and physically in the early years. Healthy eating has many benefits, including giving children increased energy to learn and play. Research shows that the habits that children learn in the early years continue into adulthood. For these reasons, access to nutrient-dense, affordable food is key, as is recognizing that food can be a source of joy and comfort and a way to connect with community and culture.

Early learning programs play an important role nurturing children’s healthy habits. They can increase exposure to nutrient-dense foods while honoring children’s communities and cultures. To support these goals, early childhood educators can partner with families and communities to create opportunities for children to experience healthy food and learn about nutrition.

One important avenue for these partnerships is farm to early care and education. We (the authors) are mother (Meagan) and daughter (Avery). We are both educators, and we share a mutual enthusiasm for nature-based play and connecting young children to the origins of their food. In this article, we offer an overview of farm to early care and education. We describe how early learning programs can partner with families to reap the benefits of farm to early care and education programs for children’s health and well-being.

What is Farm to Early Care and Education?

For nearly 30 years, farm to school programs have worked to provide children with nutritious meals while fostering a deeper understanding of local food, farming, and nutrition. Over the past decade, the farm to early care and education movement has successfully adapted these goals to support children in birth–5 settings.

Farm to early care and education consists of three core elements:

·      Increasing access to nutrient-dense, locally grown foods (food purchasing)

·      Providing education about food, nutrition, and agriculture

·      Offering opportunities for hands-on learning through gardening

Farm to early care and education is an avenue for partnering with families and communities to facilitate children’s access to and knowledge about healthy foods. These programs focus on improving educational opportunities for all children while also increasing access to locally produced, nutrient-dense foods. To implement these programs, educators need policy and funding support. (For more on these aspects of farm to early care and education, see “Supports for Farm to Early Care and Education: Planting the Seed for Healthy Environments” in the Winter 2025 issue of Young Children.)

Following, we focus on two of the core elements of farm to early care and education: Food purchasing and education about food, nutrition, and agriculture. We offer strategies for partnering with families through these activities.

Purchasing Locally Grown Foods

Locally grown food is harvested at its peak and travels fewer miles to reach the consumer, allowing it to retain superior freshness, flavor, and nutritional value for growing bodies. By purchasing locally, families and early learning programs support their regional economy while enjoying nutrient-dense produce that is often harvested only hours before it is purchased or served. When children experience the taste of farm-fresh food, they may be more likely to explore and enjoy a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Educators can share their program’s menus with families and indicate which products are local and where they are sourced. This encourages families to purchase from reliable, local producers as well. Educators can also check in with families to determine if there are additional foods that are important to them that the program can offer, ask them to share their favorite fruits or vegetables, and give them opportunities to offer recipes. Educators can use this information to review and update their program’s menus. One of our favorite examples is the school cookbook created at the center where Avery first attended as a preschooler and later returned as a lead teacher. Ahead of the year-end potluck, families were invited to share their favorite recipes, which were collated and printed for every family to take home and enjoy.

Early learning programs also address potential biases about food by examining menus and the foods they serve with an eye toward including foods beyond those the program’s leaders or decision makers typically eat. We have seen the impact of family-led decision making in practice. For instance, during Meagan’s time on a family advisory board, she worked with a center to align their cooking-from-scratch program with the diverse backgrounds of children in their setting. Families partnered with program leaders to evaluate the menu and introduce vibrant dishes that reflected the community’s assets and interests.

If there are concerns that children won’t like certain foods or that food will be wasted, educators can introduce children to new foods through tasting demonstrations. Children are also more likely to try and enjoy foods they’ve prepared themselves, so cooking a recipe together is a great way to learn more about new foods and other cultures. Educators can use hands-on cooking activities to bridge the gap between familiar foods and new nutritional experiences. For example, one program encouraged children to prepare savory oatmeal bowls. By incorporating miso paste and a variety of roasted vegetables from the farmers’ market, educators introduced the children to umami flavors (a savory taste often described as brothy or meaty) and seasonal eating. Inviting children to build their own bowls gave them a sense of agency, making them more likely to try and enjoy different foods—like roasted sweet potatoes—for breakfast.

Sharing About Food, Nutrition, and Agriculture

Early learning programs play an important role in partnering with families around food and nutrition. One way to do this is to feature different activities that take place in the program. Educators can take photos and post them where families can see them, along with follow-up questions for families to ask their children at home. For example, if the dramatic play area is set up like a farmers’ market, families might ask their children how they decided what foods would be sold at the market or what types of vegetables they think will be a “best seller” and why.

Sharing information about nutrition and food can be more than simply handing out fliers. Conversations with families at drop-off or pickup times, along with daily photo boards or simple tasting journals, show families how their children are learning about new foods. At the same time, families can share their own recipes or favorite new foods from home (see “Intentionally Engaging with Families Through Farm to Early Care and Education” below). This back-and-forth helps make sure that the health habits children are learning at school become a part of their life at home too.

These connections can also extend into other parts of the curriculum, including science, where children might chart their observations of growing bean plants. Educators can encourage families to ask questions about what the children noticed since the day before or about how long it took for the plant to grow from seed to sprout.

To bring the experience full circle, educators can host a tasting activity using different varieties of beans, such as crisp sugar snap peas or long green beans. Documenting the tasting with photos and short notes about which textures or flavors the children enjoyed invites families to share the experience. This not only highlights the children’s scientific discoveries but also illustrates for families the food their children might be excited to try again at home. Educators can offer materials and books (we recommend the public library as a great resource!) to help children see more diversity in food, nutrition, and farming.

Reflecting on Family Engagement in Farm to Early Care and Education

To partner with families to incorporate farm to early care and education in your setting, consider these questions:

·      Do the foods in your current menu or food-related activities represent mainly what you or your staff typically serve or eat? How might you intentionally change menus to include a “new-to-you” food that is a staple for families?

·      How can you move beyond a simple recipe request and ask families to share the story or tradition behind a specific ingredient?

·      How might you replace a handout or flier with a more interactive type of communication, such as a daily photo board or tasting journal, that elicits families’ responses?

·      What vegetable or herb could you grow in your setting that could be used in a tasting activity once it’s harvested? How could families be included in the growing activity? Could plants be sent home with children to extend the learning at home?

·      What are the potential barriers to participation in family events, such as potlucks or field trips? How can you ensure that the timing, cost, and activities allow every family to participate in a meaningful way?

About the Authors

Meagan K. Shedd, PhD, has over 25 years of experience working with families with young children and is the director of evaluation with Food Insight Group (FIG). meagan@foodinsightgroup.com

Avery Shedd has over six years of experience working in early childhood education and is currently a first-grade teacher.

Photographs: first photo, © Getty Images; second and third photos, courtesy of authors. Copyright © 2026 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See permissions and reprints online at NAEYC.org/resources/permissions.