Family and School Nutrition

California WIC has developed a variety of easy-to-understand educational materials for parents of young children. Examples of resources available:

• Veggies are Yummy! gives tips on how to help children learn to like vegetables, ways to get them involved in choosing, growing and preparing vegetables, and steps children can do when making a pizza recipe.
• Tips for Picky Eaters lists problems, such as “My child won’t eat new foods” and provides suggestions on what to do.
• Starting Solid Foods offers tips for parents of children about 9 months old who are ready to feed themselves, plus quick and healthy food ideas.

Check out the Healthy Food Choices in Schools Community of Practice at eXtension.org

Find educational/informational tools and resources that empower school food service directors and staff, school administrators, teachers, health professionals, and wellness committees to make changes that encourage children to make healthier food selections in school food environments, without undermining revenue.

Kids Eat Right (KER) has toolkits available to help promote healthy family behaviors, meal planning and preparation.

Note that you must become a member of Kids Eat Right at http://www.eatright.org/resources/for-kids to access materials.

Let’s Go! is a nationally recognized childhood obesity prevention program founded in Portland, Maine in 2006. This program targets children and families in a variety of everyday settings. Messages revolve around the 5-2-1-0 daily recommendations:

5 – 5 or more fruits & vegetables

2 – 2 hours or less recreational screen time (no TV and computer in bedroom, no screen time for kids under age 2)

1 – 1 hour or more of physical activity

0 – 0 sugary drinks, more water & low-fat milk

Free toolkits and other resources are available for parents, childcare and school settings as well as outpatient healthcare. 

• Cafeteria Tools
• Childcare Providers
• Developmental Disabilities
• Healthcare
• K-5
• Middle and High School
• Out-of-School Programs
• Parents

5-2-1-0 Goes to School helps teachers and administrators figure out how to increase physical activity throughout the school day and provide healthier foods in the classroom and cafeteria. School toolkits include lesson plans and activities for the classroom; student handouts and accompanying materials for parents; school-wide challenges; calendars; sample letters to parents, businesses, and other partners; fill-in-the-blank certificates of achievement; and more.

The Let’s Go! Healthcare Setting toolkit focuses on educating primary care physicians on childhood obesity. The toolkit provides educational outreach, supporting materials, and training to physicians working with patients and their families on promoting healthy eating and physical activity to prevent obesity. The toolkit supplies a guide for implementing 5-2-1-0 messages into practice, patient handouts, guides for measuring BMI, display posters, a patient health behavior questionnaire, and more.

A variety of stand-alone handouts from the toolkits are available for download in PDF format.

Examples include:

• A Meal is a Family Affair
• Breakfast is Best
• Healthy Sleeping Habits
• Limit Recreational Screen Time
• Nonfood Rewards at Home
• Promote Healthy Viewing Habits
• Snacks to Fuel Your Brain
• What’s a Healthy Portion

Thanks to NEP member, Emily Cooke, RDN, LD for sharing this resource.

• HOT Project: Healthy Outcomes for Teens

A place for teens to learn about food, fitness, and diabetes prevention... have fun! The site is organized by topic into "sections" but you can move around the site or go to the Fun Place for activities related to the information within each section. The teachers' guide provides background information for teachers wanting to use this site in a more formal teaching lesson. Parents and teens can also visit the teachers' guide to obtain more background information. The HOT Project was developed and tested as a research project. More information about the researchers, funding, and results can be found on the Credits page.

• Food Fun from Apples to Zucchini

This website has been designed for use by elementary grades, but can be adapted and modified by adding activities and study skills appropriate for that grade level. This program is interdisciplinary and is designed to introduce students to produce they may not be familiar with by talking about fun facts and nutritional information. The website will also help to enhance students' math, reading, writing, and creative arts skills. This website is an excellent resource to use with the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable programs as well as other childhood obesity programs.

Description from USDA: You can meet core education standards through these ready-to-go lessons that help children become food-smart as they practice counting, reading, writing, and more! Fun characters and developmentally appropriate activities engage children in exploring healthy food choices and discovering fun ways to be physically active.

The Discover MyPlate Teacher's Kit includes:

• Teacher's Guide With 6 Lessons and Classroom Celebration Ideas
• 6 Emergent Readers (mini books for students & and a teacher's big book)
• Reach for the Sky Original Song
• 40 Food Cards
• 4 Look and Cook Recipes (English & Spanish)
• Student Workbook with 19 Activity Sheets
• The Five Food Groups Poster
• 5 Parent Handouts (English & Spanish).

Additional MyPlate Nutrition Education Materials

The SNAP-Ed Connection is a dynamic online resource center for State and local SNAP-Ed providers. SNAP-Ed Connection is funded by USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and maintained at the National Agricultural Library's Food and Nutrition Information Center.

It provides information on valuable training and continuing education resources for educators and facilitates access to educational materials developed specifically for SNAP participants and eligibles. Educators nationwide can use this site to identify curricula, lesson plans, research, participant materials and professional development tools.