Nutrition and Physical Activity Education in the Child Care Setting

1. Nutrition and Physical ActivityEducation in the Child Care Setting 2011 CACFP Summer Training

2. Creating Your Own Curriculum • Integrate nutrition and physical activity into daily activities and lesson plans • Small changes = beneficial • Assess your program • Implement policies on nutrition education and/or physical activity • Ensure that all program meals meet CACFP guidelines and are appealing to children • Provide education on healthy eating and physical activity concepts to: • Children • Parents • Caregivers • Providers • Make connections with community wellness activities

3. Creating Your Own Curriculum • Utilize Resources • Introducing • Healthy Bites • A Wisconsin Guide for Improving Childhood Nutrition • Active Early • A Wisconsin Guide for Improving Childhood Physical Activity • Both guides will be available in October 2011 • http://dpi.wi.gov/fns/cacfpwellness.html • See resource list for additional curriculums

4. Remember! • All children are capable and competent • Early relationships matter • Learning and development • Multidimensional • Various rates • Through play and active exploration • Range of skills and competencies

5. F.I.B. approach • Fun • Engage as well as educate • Children more apt to listen and retain information • Integrated • Into other learning activities • Link nutrition and physical activity to the home environment • Behavioral • Real experiences with food • Real-life, reachable goal

6. Reach Out to Parents • Newsletters/Fliers • For ideas refer to Nibbles for Health http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/resources/nibbles.html • Center Displays • Email list or Website • Health Council • Send home a list of • Healthy snacks • Ideas for physical activity • Provide menus with tips on physical activity and eating healthy on back • At parent nights or open house nights serve healthy snacks • Invite parents to come • Eat lunch with their child • Participate in different activities

7. Top ways to get kids involved in healthy cooking

9. Encouraging children to eat healthy foods • Offer new foods several times per month • Be patient • Serve foods that are easy to handle and chew • Serve foods in a simple form • Sit with children and eat the same foods • Express enjoyment of foods

10. Practice Tip • Formal Nutrition Education • When? • Circle time activity • Incorporate into daily schedule • Alphabet activities • Art activities • Games • Teach how to identify foods by talking about • Where it comes from • It’s color • How it promotes healthy bodies • Read a book with positive nutrition messages • Before or after meals

12. Practice Tip • Informal Nutrition Education • When? • During meal times or free play • Investigate foods during meal times • Textures • Colors • Sizes • Tastes • Smells • Shapes • Teach children about appropriate portion sizes through family style dining • Include healthy food models in the dramatic play area

13. Gardening with Children • Involve children in • Growing • Purchasing • Preparing • Serving • Ideas • Start a garden at your center • Participate in a community garden • Share in a gardening experience at a nearby child care site • Why? • Helps children learn where food comes from. • When taking part in the entire process, children learn to incorporate more fruit and vegetables into their diets.

14. Gardening with Children • How? • Contact your local UW Extension office • www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/ • Create ownership • By Involving children and staff in all stages of the gardening process • Incorporate a garden curriculum: • Got Dirt? Garden Toolkit • Find gardening tips, e.g.: • Seeds & tools needed • Garden timeline • Wisconsin gardening examples • View and download at http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/health/physicalactivity/gotdirt.htm • Got Veggies?Garden-based nutrition education: • Learn about nutrition in the garden • Seven full lesson plans • Garden recipes • View and download at http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/health/physicalactivity/gotveggies.html

15. Practice Tip • Pleasant and Positive reactions towards healthy foods • Facial expressions • Verbal responses • Body language • Serve foods in an attractive manner • Read stories and plan activities • Ask children who like newly introduced foods to explain why they like it • Respond to negative comments in a positive manner

16. Goals of Nutrition Education • Form positive attitudes • Learn to accept a wide variety of foods • Establish healthful eating habits • Learn to share and socialize at meal time • Be ready to continue learning

18. Physical Activity • Important for healthy growth and development • Teach the health benefits of physical activity • Teach in a manner appropriate to age level • Remember it is for everyone • Reinforce through a child’s innate desire to move • Should be fun! • How much? (For age-specific recommendations refer to handout) • Total of 60 minutes each day minimum • Aim for 1-2 hours each day • 2-3 active times per day

20. Infant Physical Activity • Remember infants need activity too! • Get down on the floor to help infants • Increase body awareness • Build strength and coordination • Learn valuable social skills with peers • Explore their environment • Develop motor skills • Avoid overusing baby equipment • Tummy Time • What • Supervised free play on their bellies in open and safe places • While infant is awake and alert • When • Several times throughout the day • Where • On a solid surface on the floor • Why • Encourages infant to • See • Touch • Feel • Move • Place favorite toys just out of reach • Strengthens • Neck • Shoulders

21. Outdoor Activities • Daily supervised outdoor play • Offer every day when the weather permits • For every hour spent in a quiet activity (i.e. reading), ten minutes or more should be spent in activities that involve active movement • Plan and organize • Active, noncompetitive games (handout) • Owls and Mice • Foxes and Rabbits • Kicking and Throwing • Station Activities

22. Outdoor Activities • Running • Walking • Jumping • Hopping • Climbing • Riding tricycles • Playing catch • Skipping • Playing tag • Sledding • Frisbee • Jump Rope • Playing on an obstacle course • Doing gymnastics • Taking hikes as a group • Building something from sand or snow • Collecting items such as leaves, nuts, and stones for an art project • Clean up an area with brooms or snow shovels

23. Active Inside Play • Music • Movement • Balancing • Hopping • Running • Crawling • Dancing • Yoga

24. Active Inside Play • Large-motor play bins • Throwing and Catching • Lightweight items • Scarves: colorful nylon, bandanas, any piece of light fabric • Streamers: two- to three-foot-long strips of wide ribbon • Shakers: small plastic containers filled with dried beans or rice • Parachute: sheet

26. Active Inside Play Coordination and Body-Space Awareness • Small plastic hoops • Uses: • Stand inside • Spin • Pull over bodies • Throw soft items into or through • Run, jump, march, or hop from one hoop to another • Home-made balls • Clean white cotton adult tube socks rolled into balls • Scrunch paper or tissue into balls • Uses: • Throw through plastic hoops • Catch • Play a pretend snowball-throwing game

28. Active Inside Play • Non-competitive relay race • Keep it simple • Small groups of two or four • Example: • Children move across the classroom balancing a beanbag or another item on a spoon without dropping it. • Tunnel • Provide a cloth, spring-supported tunnel • Allow children to crawl through or play games in • Example: children can pretend to be moles crawling into a hole. • Teachers can call the children’s names as they crawl out or guess which child will come out next

30. Available to download for free at: • http://www.sesameworkshop.org/initiatives/health/healthyhabits/ • http://kidshealth.org/classroom/index.jsp?Grade=cc&Section=hhfl • Clip from Sesame Street: • http://www.sesameworkshop.org/initiatives/health/healthyhabits/

34. Questions