Government guidelines for relaunching early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs during the COVID-19 pandemic have required the implementation of various practices to minimize the risk of infection transmission. These directives include recommendations regarding serving and handling food, shared spaces, and physical distancing which have a direct impact on the health and development of children in care. The purpose of this study was to explore early childhood educators’ perspectives on how COVID-19 guidelines have impacted the nutrition and physical activity practices within their ECEC environment. A qualitative description approach was used to explore a purposive sample of 17 educators working full time in ECEC centres during the pandemic between July and August 2020. Semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted, audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using a thematic analysis. Educators identified environmental changes in their environments noting a reduction in the quality food available for children juxtaposed with increased outdoor opportunities and a perceived increase in physical activity time. Teaching practices were also identified as being impacted by the COVID-19 guidelines. Curriculum, life skills, and social connectedness around healthy eating education was disrupted. Promoting physical activity education was challenged due to equipment, space, and curriculum enrichment opportunities losses. These findings demonstrate pronounced negative effects of COVID guidelines on nutrition and physical activity best practices within the ECEC environment. There is a need to support educators in maintaining healthy and active environments for preschoolers while following guidelines to minimize the risk of COVID infection transmission.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) environments influence children’s early development and habits that track across a lifespan. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of COVID-19 government-mandated guidelines on physical activity (PA) and eating environments in ECEC settings. This cross-sectional study involved the recruitment of 19 ECEC centers pre-COVID (2019) and 15 ECEC centers during COVID (2020) in Alberta, Canada (n = 34 ECEC centers; n = 83 educators; n = 361 preschoolers). Educators completed the CHEERS (Creating Healthy Eating and activity Environments Survey) and MEQ (Mindful Eating Questionnaire) self-audit tools while GT3X+ ActiGraph accelerometers measured preschooler PA. The CHEERS healthy eating environment subscale was greater during COVID-19 (5.97 ± 0.52; 5.80 ± 0.62; p = 0.02) and the overall score positively correlated with the MEQ score (r = 0.20; p = 0.002). Preschoolers exhibited greater hourly step counts (800 ± 189; 649 ± 185), moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (9.3 ± 3.0 min/h; 7.9 ± 3.2 min/h) and lower sedentary times (42.4 ± 3.9 min/h; 44.1 ± 4.9 min/h) during COVID-19 compared to pre-COVID, respectively (p < 0.05). These findings suggest the eating environment and indices of child physical activity were better in 2020, which could possibly be attributed to a change in government-mandated COVID-19 guideline policy.