E. louise@thehealthkick.co.uk T. 07557 343 896
Simple, practical support to help you understand how food supports your child's growing body and brain, make mealtimes a little easier, and know what good food provision should look like when your child is in Early Years.
Welcome to the Tiny Tums Parent Zone
Everything in the Tiny Tums Parent Zone is free to explore.
Meet the Tiny Tums gang
During the Early Years, children are building brains, bones, muscles, teeth, gut microbes, eating habits and relationships with food that can influence them for years to come.
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You don't need to spend years learning about nutrition to support them. Tiny Tums translates the science into practical, everyday information that makes sense for busy families.
How Food
Shapes You
You’ve met them online. Now meet them together.
How Food Shapes YOU introduces young children to the amazing things happening inside their growing bodies - with a little help from the Tiny Tums gang.
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Read it together, meet the characters and then continue the conversation with the free activities and resources in the Parent Zone.
What should I ask my nursery?
It’s OK to ask about food
Choosing a nursery means trusting other people with a significant part of your child’s day, and that includes their meals, snacks and eating experiences.
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Food in the Early Years is about much more than filling tummies. It supports growth, brain development, oral health, energy, learning and the development of a positive relationship with food. How children are supervised, encouraged and kept safe at mealtimes matters too.
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Yet many parents worry that asking questions will make them seem difficult or critical.
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It won't
A good Early Years setting should welcome respectful questions and be able to explain its approach. You don’t need to inspect the kitchen, challenge every dish or arrive with all the answers. You are simply entitled to understand how your child is being fed and cared for.
A little help knowing what to ask
It can be difficult to know where to begin - especially when a menu looks healthy but doesn’t tell you what happens behind the scenes.
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The Tiny Tums Ask Your Nursery guides give you example questions, explain why they matter and help you recognise what a reassuring answer might include.
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They are not scorecards and they are not designed to catch nurseries out. Use the questions that are relevant to your child, start a conversation and listen for a setting that is informed, open and willing to work in partnership with you.
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You don’t need to be a nutrition expert. You just need to know what to look for and what to ask.
Downloads
Tiny Tums
Bowl of Approval
Does your nursery take food seriously?
Look out for the Tiny Tums Bowl of Approval.
The Tiny Tums Bowl of Approval recognises nurseries working with Tiny Tums to put excellent nutrition, safer eating and positive food experiences at the heart of everyday practice.
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​It means the setting has gone beyond simply providing a menu - it has taken steps to understand, review and improve the food culture surrounding its children.​
Because great nursery food is about what’s on the menu - and everything that sits behind it.
More help for family life
Professional Early Years knowledge - made practical for family life
Tiny Tums supports Early Years educators through specialist training and resources. Here, we’ve translated some of that knowledge into friendly, practical guidance created especially for parents.
Check out my Free Resources
Food education doesn’t have to happen around a worksheet - or even at the dinner table. Explore free activities designed to get children talking, cooking, moving and discovering.
A little help with family food
Simple recipes for real family life
You don’t need complicated ingredients or hours in the kitchen to help children experience nourishing, varied food.
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Here you’ll find a small seasonal selection of Tiny Tums family recipes, created for cooking at home, sharing together and helping little ones explore different tastes and textures.
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From quick family teas to something naturally sweet, each recipe uses straightforward ingredients and family-sized quantities.
Looking for nursery menu support?
Our family recipes are designed for cooking at home. Early Years food provision requires a much wider approach.​​
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Tiny Tums works with nurseries to provide complete seasonal menus, master recipe packs, age-and-stage adaptations, allergen guidance, EYFS compliance, safer-eating support, staff training and parent partnership resources.
Food shapes childhood.
Let's shape it together.
Whether you’re choosing tonight’s tea, helping your child explore something unfamiliar or wondering what happens at nursery lunchtime, Tiny Tums is here to make Early Years nutrition easier to understand.