A cross-disciplinary team of nutritionists, early years educators, health promotion experts, illustrators and literacy experts have developed new education materials that target building healthy habits during the pre-school years. Quality children’s literature designed to support dialogic book talk with children aged two to four years are the central components of the program. Accompanied by notes for educators, the resources aim to build healthy habits. Early engagement with simple interactive narratives is known to be effective for supporting young children’s oral language competence, enabling socio-emotional growth and regulation and is necessary for the emergence of literacy and language skills.

The Little Aussie Bugs story books feature inclusive characters that appeal to young children, including ‘ugly bugs’ – detrimental to health, and ‘healthy bugs’ that promote, for example, gut health.  These resources have been piloted with ECEC services in Western Australia to support educators nurture concepts of health literacy in young children, and the set of four books was launched in November 2022:

• When we are hungry
• When we are sick
• My healthy tummy
• My healthy teeth