13 Tips for Mealtime Supports in Early Childhood Programs - Brookes Blog
13 Tips for Mealtime Supports in Early Childhood Programs
June 2, 2026
Mealtime and snacktime can provide opportunities to help children build a variety of skills and strengthen adult–child and peer relationships. Through frequent repetition and growth, children can acquire complex adaptive, social-communication, and fine motor skills during mealtime routines. Some young children may need extra help with aspects of mealtime and snacktime. Support strategies can include a variety of adaptations or modifications to daily routines, activities, and environments to meet targeted outcomes at home and in classrooms. Use these tips from Volume 4 of the AEPS®-3 Curriculum—Growing to support children during meals.
- Pay attention to children’s cues for when they are getting hungry, and make sure mealtime occurs before they get too sleepy to participate.
- Give children plenty of alerts about transitions to mealtime, especially if they are engaged in an activity that is difficult for them to leave.
- Assign table buddies by pairing children who have slightly more advanced mealtime skills and more varied food preferences with children who are more cautious and have less advanced skills.
- Thin or thicken new foods to encourage young children who are sensitive to new textures to try them.
- Remove children who become distressed at the table for a minute or two to let them calm down, and reseat them afterward if they want to come back to the table.
- Position children for comfort and stability during mealtimes. Seat a young child who is learning independent eating skills in a child-size chair or highchair if possible. Provide seating with foot and arm support and a comfortable seat with a back, so the child can focus on eating rather than maintaining their sitting posture. (For children who have more intensive positioning and mobility needs, ensure seating that offers a secure base as well as arm and wrist fixation, such as an adaptive chair with seat belt, tray, or cushions that can be repositioned to meet the child’s needs.)
- For children who struggle with participating in family or classroom mealtimes, encourage practice with the social routines and expectations of mealtime by providing a pretend food or kitchen set to play with.
- Teach the child to use culturally accepted table manners and language they may need to be successful at the table.
- Address concerns about extreme eating habits and resistance to change by having a specialist do an oral-motor examination to rule out physical causes for eating issues.
- Teach children who cannot speak to use simple signs (more, all done) so they can communicate their preferences.
- Learn to recognize children’s cues and preferences. Pair sign language with spoken words for children who are nonverbal or who have hearing impairments.
- For children who are picky eaters, start with foods the child likes or tolerates, and introduce new foods gradually. A picky eater may have a sensitive gag reflex, sensitive taste buds, or increased sensitivity to smells. Keep a food journal to see if any patterns emerge, and keep close track of food consistencies, tastes, and textures the child will eat. Offer small amounts of new foods many times.
- For children who need intensive physical support during mealtime, provide hand-over-hand graduated guidance (physical prompts) for skills that children find difficult (bringing one hand to the mouth to eat, scooping food from a bowl, drinking from a cup). As the child begins to perform the specific skill or step with full support, fade help gradually from hands, to wrists, to elbows.
Meaningful Mealtimes
If mealtimes are especially challenging in your program, you may want to check out the book Meaningful Mealtimes, a unique user-friendly planning guide for early childhood educators and care providers. You’ll find lots of how-to guidance, helpful examples, and practical tools for making mealtimes a rich, engaging, and inclusive experience for all young children.
Is your program doing the most for the children and families you serve? With its seamlessly linked assessment and curriculum for birth–6, AEPS®-3 empowers your program to ensure that children with disabilities make more progress. Goal setting, IFSP/IEP development, teaching and intervention, progress monitoring, family communication—it’s all integrated in AEPS-3, powered by the AEPSi web-based management system!