To gain insight into the farm to school practices implemented across the country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS) regularly conducts the Farm to School Census (Census). The Census is an online survey sent to all school food authorities (SFAs) in the U.S. and its territories that participate in the National…

Aim: This study sought to investigate the relationship between knowledge and the practical application (including grocery lists, meal plans and food-related pedagogical plans) of Norwegian national guidelines for food and meals in kindergartens, together with the quality of food served in adherence to these guidelines. The study also examined the…

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), provides cash payments to childcare providers that serve nutritious meals and snacks to eligible children enrolled in these settings. CACFP is a critical component of the Federal food safety net, serving meals…

The purpose of the present study was to examine Norwegian kindergarten children's knowledge about the origins of commonly consumed food items. Data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews of 56 children (aged five to six years old) from nine different kindergartens based on open-ended questions and with the use of pictures showing…

Play has long been understood as an important pedagogical practice, particularly in early childhood education and care settings. Playing with food, however, has typically been overlooked, and very little is known about food play during mealtimes. The apparent dichotomy between rule-following and playfulness at mealtimes has led to a paucity of…

The purpose of this study is to investigate how young children define trust and to find out if there is a relationship between the people whom they trust and the people with whom they share their favorite food and toy. The participants consist of 273 kindergarteners enrolled in five public kindergartens. Research assistants asked the participants…

The Australian Early Years' Learning Framework aspires to put democratic participation at the centre of policy and practice by positioning children and families as able, and children as contributing citizens from birth. Examination of current pedagogical efforts to achieve this aspiration are needed to expand knowledge of the supports and…

This study explores how observed emotion-focused teaching in preschool classrooms differs across classroom activity settings. Forty-three teachers were observed across several mornings. A total of 1,604 video cycles were coded for levels of emotion-focused teaching (e.g., total, modeling, responding, and instructing) and their activity settings…

There is nothing new about teacher educators collaborating across Europe, but when the surging pandemic required extraordinary creativity in the spring of 2020, two art teachers in early childhood education (ECE) in Serbia and Norway--improvised by teaching with what they had on hand: short videos of the first author's son that simulated what…

Understanding experimental design (e.g. control of variable strategy or CVS) is foundational for scientific reasoning. Previous research has demonstrated that demonstrations with cognitive conflict (e.g. asking students to evaluate and explain different experimental designs) are effective in promoting children's scientific reasoning, however, the…

The diversity of children within the preschool classroom is dramatically changing as children with autism spectrum disorder are increasingly included within it. To engage in the benefits of inclusion, social skills are needed. Yet, children with autism commonly experience difficulties in this area. Extant literature indicates that social skills…

Narrative language abilities are foundational to literacy development and are a culturally grounded measure of early literacy for Latino children. This study evaluates the impacts on narrative language abilities and the costs of a 4-week, strengths-based program that leverages two valued sociocultural practices with built-in benefits, personal…

Narrative language abilities are foundational to literacy development and are a culturally grounded measure of early literacy for Latino children. This study evaluates the impacts on narrative language abilities and the costs of a 4-week, strengths-based program that leverages two valued sociocultural practices with built-in benefits, personal…

Kindergarten has the potential to influence children's food choices and habits at an early age and prevent nutrition-related diseases later in life. This paper comparatively analyzed the goals and requirements for kindergarten food and meal policies and guidelines in Norway and China based on the author's self-constructed 'NES' analytical…

The purpose of this research brief is to report on the impact of Harvest of the Month (HOM) for Early Care and Education (ECE) at home to better understand parent perspectives and influences on children's nutrition behavior. Harvest of the Month (HOM) is a farm to school programming strategy that features a locally grown food in at least one…