Exercise group helps local Aboriginal women feel physically and mentally stronger
Two local Aboriginal women are hailing the physical and mental health benefits of being active after joining an exercise group on the Central Coast.
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Munch & Move
Free resources and support for early childhood educators, cooks and families to introduce healthy habits to children aged 0 to five years.
What is Munch & Move?
Munch & Move is a fun play-based program that supports the healthy development of children from birth to five years by promoting healthy eating, physical activity and reduced small screen time.
The program is designed for children attending early childhood education and care services and family dare care services across NSW. It aligns with the National Quality Framework, in particular Quality Area 2, as well as the Early Years Learning Framework.
Watch this video to learn more about the benefits of Munch & Move.
Munch & Move on the Central Coast
We work with early childhood education and care services on the Central Coast to develop resources and provide practical support that enables children in your care to learn lifelong healthy habits.
Here you’ll be able to find all the resources you need, access training and professional development and stay up to date, all in one place.
Many of the Munch & Move resources are also available for direct download by parents and carers, providing practical advice and tips on healthy eating, active play and reducing screen time for your child.
Munch & Move resources for educators, cooks, parents and carers
Whether you’re an early childhood educator looking for tools and resources to provide a healthy environment for the children in your care, a cook looking for healthy menu support, or a parent or carer after handy tips and information to give your child the best start in life, our Resource Library has everything you need.
Early childhood educators can also check out our page of 2025 calendar planner resources to help them plan Munch & Move activities throughout the year.
To stay up to date with new and available resources, join our mailing lists.
Hire our Blender Bike
You can now hire our junior-sized Blender Bike for your early childhood service.
Just pop in your healthy ingredients and pedal to blend them up!
Read the Blender Bike User Manual for details on how to operate the Blender Bike and suggested recipes and use our Resource Order Form to secure its place at your service. The form also contains other resources like fun fruit, veg and water costumes you may wish to hire.
Munch & Move training
The Munch & Move eLearning program is currently being updated.
Subscribe to the Munch & Move newsletter below to receive an update once the new program becomes available.
Our termly Munch & Move e-newsletter is loaded with valuable healthy development information and resources for teachers and educators in early childhood education and care services.
Small Bites for Big Steps professional development courses
Northern Sydney Local Health District has developed Small Bites for Big Steps, a series of professional development courses to support early childhood educators in giving children (birth to five years) the healthiest start in life.
Choose from general or NESA-accredited professional development courses across a range of settings and groups including nursery, toddler, preschool and family day care courses.
Nursery course
Toddler course
Preschool course
Family day care course
How healthy is your childcare menu?
If you’re an early childcare cook and would like support to supply menus that meet nutritional guidelines and that children enjoy, then you’ll want to check out our Early Childcare Menu Support page.
Visit the page to download resources, access training, or join us at our next Cooks Network meeting. You can also submit your menu for our dietitians to assess if it meets nutritional guidelines, ask them a burning question you have about your menu and view answers to other healthy menu-related questions. And if you want inspiration, view some tasty meals in our healthy recipe bank.
The First 2000 Days
The first 2000 days (conception to age five) of life are for life.
This period is a critical time for physical, cognitive, social and emotional health as what happens in the first 2000 days has been shown to have an impact throughout a child’s life.
That’s why it’s never too early to talk, read, sing and play with children.
Watch this video to learn more about the role we can play in supporting the positive growth and development of all children, as well as the support services available on the Coast.
You can also read NSW Health’s Brighter Beginnings: The First 2000 Days of Life factsheet to understand the role you can play in the healthy development of children during this period.
Stay up to date
Early childhood teachers and educators
Our termly Munch & Move e-newsletter is loaded with valuable healthy development information and resources for teachers and educators in early childhood education and care services.
Parents and carers
Our monthly Refresh e-newsletter contains details on our healthy lifestyle resources, programs and information for the Central Coast community.
You can also follow us on Facebook.
Useful websites for early childhood services
Here are some other websites with helpful resources and information to support early childhood education and care services.
Child Safe Standards – view the 10 Child Safe Standards for organisations that work with children and young people and download the Guide to the Child Safe Standards for early childhood education and care and outside school hours care services
SunSmart (Cancer Council NSW) – a free program that partners with early childhood services to develop and implement a best-practice sun protection policy
Safe sleep resources (Red Nose Australia) – download safe sleep resources tailored to early childhood services
Other pages you might be interested in
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