After school and other out-of-school time programs like vacation or summer camps offer a wonderful setting for teaching children positive health behaviors. Schools and community organizations are looking for more creative ways to help children and families develop healthy eating and physical activity habits.

The goal of Food & Fun Afterschool is to assist program staff in providing healthier environments to children during out-of-school time. The curriculum is designed to incorporate lessons and activities about healthy eating and physical activity into regular after school program schedules. Food & Fun Afterschool includes 11 teaching units that encourage healthy behaviors through active play, literacy and math skills development, creative learning, and hands-on snack time activities. With over 70 activities to choose from and a user-friendly layout for each lesson, Food & Fun makes it simple to promote healthy eating and physical activity in your program every day!

In addition to encouraging kids to embrace a healthier lifestyle, Food & Fun Afterschool supports the academic objectives defined by the Common Core State Standards Initiative. This alignment guide shows how Food & Fun activities can support the academic objectives defined by the College and Career Readiness Standards for English Language Arts and the Standards for Mathematical Practice.

Download the About Guide PDF here

About the Unit Themes

Ten topic units offer a variety of games, learning activities, and recipes for after school settings. While some units reinforce others, each unit can stand alone. Use all ten units over the course of a school year, or use only a few. Some unit themes connect to a national month or other special events, as noted, which allows you to find other resources to support the messages in the units. Check out the Food & Fun Web Resources in each unit for some great places to start. Unit 11 is an opportunity to review the key messages from Food & Fun, play a popular game or activity from a previous unit, and make your favorite recipes again. Try it out half way through Food & Fun, or when you have finished all of the units.

The curriculum and program tools were created by the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center for educational use in after school programs for children from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Unit (Month)	Title	Theme
Unit 1 (September)	Take a Bite!	Fruits and vegetables
Unit 2 (October)	Get Moving	Physical Activity
Unit 3 (November)	Be Sugar Smart	Sugar-Sweetened Drinks
Unit 4 (December)	Go For Good Fat	Healthy and Unhealthy Fats
Unit 5 (January)	Go for Whole Grains	Whole Grains National Oatmeal Month
Unit 6 (February)	Super Snacks	Healthy Snacking
Unit 7 (March)	Mix it Up	Fruits and Vegetables National Nutrition Month
Unit 8 (April)	Tune Out the TV	Reduce TV viewing TV Turn Off Week (3rd week)
Unit 9 (May)	Play Hard	Physical Activity National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
Unit 10 (June)	Be Active, Stay Cool	Keeping Hydrated
Unit 11 (Anytime!)	Food & Fun Finale!	Food & Fun Review