About Appetite to Play

Appetite to Play is a province-wide initiative to promote and encourage physical activity and healthy eating with children in the early years (birth to 5 years old) by informing, engaging and empowering the communities around them.

Appetite to Play provides many useful and practical resources to help build the capacity of parents, caregivers, early years providers, health promotion providers, and many other service providers that support young children and their families. Resources include training, ideas, games, activities, recipes, recommended practices, self-assessment tools, and other resources that can be used in a variety of settings. We have resources for caregivers to use at home, as well as for providers to use in daycare centres, preschools, and parenting programs, to name a few. All Appetite to Play resources are evidence-based and aligned with recommendations from the BC Ministry of Health.

Appetite to Play is led by Child Health BC, and developed in 2017 in partnership with the BC Ministry of Health, BC Alliance for Healthy Living, Sport for Life, Childhood Healthy Living Foundation, YMCA of Greater Vancouver and the BC Recreation and Parks Association.

The Appetite to Play website is updated on a weekly basis by experts in the field of nutrition and physical literacy. We endeavour to provide timely seasonal posts and evidence-based information on upcoming topics areas in the sphere of healthy eating and physical activity in the early years for both early years providers and parents and caregivers.

Training opportunities include online training workshops, self-paced e-learning modules, and new training that is developed on a yearly basis. These trainings present opportunities for early years providers to gain knowledge, skills and confidence in providing environments that incorporate healthy eating and physical activity in the early years. We are also in the process of developing training modules for the parent/caregiver audience which will be ready in late 2023.

For an overview of the Appetite to Play program, check out this short video.