Family Style Dining in the Classroom

Three young children stand indoors smiling at the camera. The boy in the center holds a large zucchini and wears a shirt with

Sunflower follows Iowa Child Care Resource and Referral’s recommendation to utilize and teach family-style dining to our children!

What exactly IS family-style dining you ask?

It involves teaching our children from a very young age to sit at a table, converse with their friends/teachers, learn how to pass bowls of food, put food on their plate, eat with utensils, learn and use table manners, talk about their day, and much more! Lunch time is also learning time! A sense of community is fostered in a very meaningful way.

It is also recommended that children eat IN THEIR CLASSROOM – there are many benefits to this, including less wait time for children, fewer transitions for children to tolerate, etc.


Our Menus follow a 4 week rotation!