October 2025 Events
1st October: World Vegetarian Day
World Vegetarian Day starts off Vegetarian awareness month. Could you offer a meat free day in your nursery e.g. Meat free Mondays? Remember to make sure that your meat free day contains iron and protein and meets the Startwell and Nutrition Guidance for Early Years Providers guidelines. (Check our out Menu Guidelines page here). Remember being a vegetarian isn’t just about having fruit and vegetables, there are some fantastic vegetarian resources/recipes for the under 5’s from First Steps Nutrition. We also have some vegetarian family recipes on our Startwell website.
3rd October: World Smile Day
World smile day is a day to think about how important kindness is and how smiling helps to lift the spirits of others around us. Why not have a day in setting where you talk about what makes us smile and look at everyone’s different smiles and how that makes us feel when people smile. I smile when the day is bright and sunny, and I am out walking my dogs – what makes you smile? Remember to link in Smiley Shen as we want to keep our smiles nice and healthy and link in Suzy Startwell as staff role model smiling and talking about kindness/emotions and looking after our smiles.
6th – 12th October: National Curry Week
It is described as the nation’s favourite dish. Do you feature curry on your nursery menu? We have several family friendly curry recipes on our Startwell website catering for vegetarians as well as fish and meat eaters. Why not share with your families so they can make a healthier home-made variety of their favourite take-away curry. It is also a good opportunity to remind families about ‘Me size Meals’ that Micky promotes and encourage families to use age-appropriate plates.
10th October: World Porridge Day
Porridge is a stable breakfast in many homes as it is very filling but lots of children still have not tried it. On World Porridge Day why not offer it on your breakfast menu. Why not try serving it with cherry and chia seeds, raspberries, strawberries, bananas, raisins, blueberries or any range of fruit combinations. Remember to link in the Startwell characters and encourage the children to cut the fruit and prepare the porridge with you.
14th – 20th October: National Baking Week
We are now in ‘The Great British Bake Off’ season and October also sees National Baking Week. We recommend you aim to cook at least once every half term with children across all age groups. Three quarters of the recipes should be savoury. We have some Startwell friendly baking inspired children’s recipes on our website. Don’t forget to look at the food skills-based planning sheet to see which skills the children can learn and practice while enjoying cooking. Remember to link in Sammy Skills and Micky Me Size.
13th – 17th October: Cycle to School Week
Cycle to School Week is a great way to get children moving and using a range of wheeled toys as we travel. Children on average spend more time travelling in cars rather than walking or cycling to places. Why not challenge yourself/setting for this week to see if you can ride or scoot more. Try to encourage active travel as a way of coming to and from your setting! Remember to link in Active Azra and Sammy Skills. You may even want to share a task for parents even if they have to drive, could they park a bit further away and allow the children to scoot or ride to the door?
21st October: Apple Day
There are so many apple varieties to choose from and so many activities you could do. Offer a range of apples to try at snack time. You could do a tasting activity and encourage children to try different varieties of apples. Are they sweet or sour, crunchy or soft? Can you eat them raw or do they need to be cooked? You could make mini apple crumbles with the children to take home or share some of the apple recipes from our website with parents. Remember to talk about Fay 5 a Day and the importance of eating fruit and vegetables every day to fight off illness.
31st October: Halloween
Halloween is celebrated on 31st October but no-one really knows the origins of Halloween but it is thought to be a Pagan festival. It is thought to be the one night of the year that ghosts, witches and fairies are particularly active. Visit our Autumn Pinterest board for spooky healthier food and physical activities! Remember to link in your Startwell characters.
