Think Toddler-Sized Challenge – Share Your Idea & Win £1000!

Think Toddler-Sized Challenge – Share Your Idea & Win £1000!

Knowing what, how much and how often to feed your toddler can be a bit of a challenge whether they’re fussy or not. The Infant & Toddler Forum have lots of helpful information and guidance on this but would like your help to take this information and make it easy for parents to follow when planning their children’s meals.

It can be anything as long as it’s practical for parents to use. It could be a new app or using something you already have in the house differently or something completely new.

Just remember these points when developing your idea:

• Which types of food in the right balance – carbs, protein, dairy and fruit/vegetables
• How often different types of food should be offered every day
• How much should be on the plate – think toddler portions

Once ready, you submit your idea to be reviewed and then some will go to a shortlist and the next stage to be developed further. The final shortlist will be voted on by a panel of experts for an opportunity to be developed further and to win a cash prize up to £1000.

My Idea – 5532-a-day Fridge Planner / Meal Tracker with Food Group Magnets

I’ve thought of an easy and visual way to quickly see what your little one is eating and if he or she is eating the correct balance of food groups and what should be included in the meals for each day.

My idea is firsty to have a magnetic summary of the 5532-a-day guide for the fridge so that you can easily check how many servings of each food group is suitable and what the serving sizes are.

The next thing is a weekly planner to track your child’s meals and which food groups are included in the main meals and snacks each day for a full week. I chose a weekly planner as it’s the weekly balance that is more important.

To help parents track the food groups, there are magnets representing each one: Fruit and Vegetables, Protein, Dairy and Starchy Foods. Drinks/Water could be added too. The food group magnets are colour coordinated with the 5532-a-day guide to make it really easy.

This idea is really affordable/low cost and easy to use. It could be combined with an app for parents who prefer a more tech way of tracking but I like the constant visual in the kitchen as I think it works well as a reminder and encouragement and quicker and easier to use than an app, too.

Example: If it’s Monday and your little one has eaten toast, yogurt and a banana for breakfast, you add a Starch icon, a Dairy icon and a Fruit & Veg icon to the breakfast part of the Monday section to the planner. Now you can see, he or she has had one serving each of these food groups and this will help you plan the other meals for the rest of the day to reach the 5532-a-day goal.

Collaborative Post.