EXERCISE AND NUTRITION

Food is joie de vivre & attitude to life

A wholesome meal and the quality of the nutrition have been proven to influence the physical and mental development of every person. Breakfast, snacks and lunch are therefore freshly prepared for our children by a cook. Every month, the children’s wishes are asked beforehand and integrated into our menu planning.

We attach great importance to a balanced, wholesome composition and high quality of the ingredients, whereby we follow the guidelines of the German Nutrition Society (DGE). It goes without saying that we cater for intolerances and different nutritional concepts individually within the scope of our possibilities.

A relaxed atmosphere is very important to us at mealtimes, so that the children feel comfortable and can associate eating with joie de vivre. We start the meals with a ritual such as a song, a story or a round of conversation. Small services (setting the table or even setting the table) are firmly integrated by the children into the daily routines.

Together with BARMER and the Sarah Wiener Foundation, we have been even more active in this direction since summer 2022 with the project I CAN COOK!

With Germany’s largest nutrition initiative for children, I CAN COOK!, BARMER has been working together with the Sarah Wiener Foundation to promote a balanced diet for children since 2015. It awakens children’s interest in handling fresh food and strengthens their nutritional knowledge – even at nursery and primary school age.

In Luna’s Diner, an educational specialist offers cooking and nutrition units as a ‘Pleasure Ambassador of the Foundation’ to get children as excited as possible about balanced nutrition at an early age and to try out new things. Once a week, for example, the children ‘get cooking’. Together with the children, we cook, cut, smell, taste, discuss, bake and eat.

We try out simple delicacies, drawing on both old and new recipes. A small group size offers the possibility to do justice to each child and to give the child enough space for his or her activity. Of course, sustainability is also addressed in this setting.

At the end of each session, the children receive a tasting jar to take home with them so that they can offer a sample at home and discuss what they have learned with their families.

Participation

All of this is based on voluntariness and participation at all times:

• No component of the meal has to be tried.
• Those who no longer have an appetite leave a rest.
• The children choose the ingredients of their meal themselves.
• The children fill their own plates (according to their individual developmental stage).
• The children eat independently as far as their level of development allows. Our pedagogues help if the child wishes.

Learning by moving

Brain research provides evidence that there is a close connection between motor coordination and thinking planning. Children learn by doing, and through movement they develop cognitive and language skills, as well as other skills they need to cope with everyday life. These include

• willingness to cooperate
• sense of responsibility
• initiative
• flexibility
• ability to solve problems
• empathy.

At Villa Luna, we provide enough space for the children to actively discover their living environment, and many of our pedagogical offerings include movement components. Through an additional varied offer of movement, they get to know themselves, their environment as well as their caregivers and the basic competencies mentioned above are promoted in the best possible way. For this purpose, we have multi-purpose rooms, a play hall and our extensive outdoor area as well as nearby green spaces at our disposal.