Toni Bingham
Home Child Care Provider
December 13, 2016
A full spread of fruits of every variety - familiar and different - is laid out to see, touch and taste. The children will each be given age-appropriate instructions to make individual fruit salad with their chosen fruits. Next week, vegetables are on the menu, when the kids will again be able to experience a wide assortment.Â
Eating healthy and making good food choices is incorporated into everyday learning. "It's just a part of our program," Toni notes. Wednesdays are "food experience" days, involving the children tasting new foods and working on basic kitchen/cooking skills.Â
They plant a garden each year, help with preparing food, and learn every day from the very active role model they have in Toni. Parent volunteers even lead the kids on weekly fitness walks through the neighborhood.
As part of the CACFP, nutrition is a key ingredient in Toni's child care, but what is also more than apparent when speaking with Toni is her love and passion for what she does.
"I give 150%. I'm ready. I love what I do!"
After 40 years of working in child care and over 20 years of owning her own facility, Toni knows that learning is not all about the end product. Much can be learned from the process, spirit of giving and life-long lessons. Her goal as a child care provider is to integrate nutrition, education and life lessons into her loving child care home.
From Austin, Texas, Toni has been a CACFP participant through SW Human Development Services since 1993.