The Survey

The Survey

The Survey

Instructions: Check the boxes to mark what you have seen relating to nutrition and physical activity during the afterschool day. If you're not sure about an answer, take your best guess.

About Snack Sense

A PDF version of Snack Sense is available here.

This menu planning tool aims to help managers and staff purchase and serve fun, healthy, and budget-friendly snacks for children in after school and out-of-school time programs.

Snack Sense guides managers and staff towards incorporating the Environmental Standards for Healthy Eating into their regular snack time routine at a low price.

Environmental Standards for Healthy Eating

• Do not serve sugar-sweetened beverages
• Serve water every day
• Serve a fruit and/or vegetable every day
• Do not serve foods with trans fat
• When serving grains (like bread, crackers and cereal), serve whole grains

Snack Sense Tips

Snack Sense includes tips for buying healthy and inexpensive snacks, information on each of the Environmental Standards, budget-friendly sample snack menus, and a shopping guide.

Budgeting for healthy snacks

Although people worry that healthy foods can be expensive, there are a lot of healthy snack options that are inexpensive. When shopping, remember to select foods that are consistent with the Environmental Standards for Healthy Eating.

• Buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are inexpensive and available year-round, like bananas and baby carrots.
• Buy canned fruits in 100% juice or light syrup and canned veggies without added salt. Stock up on canned fruits and veggies when they are on sale because they don't go bad!
• Avoid highly processed and refined packaged foods like cookies and animal crackers. These can be expensive, less healthy, and may contain trans fats.
• Serve tap water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages- tap water is a refreshing, healthy, no-calorie beverage that is virtually free!
• Buy foods that are on sale.
• Buy in bulk. If available, buy snacks from a wholesale retailer (e.g. BJs®, Costco®, or Sam's Club®). Or, buy snacks in large containers; individually wrapped "single serving" sizes are expensive.
• Buy generic or store brand foods, which are usually less expensive than brand names.

Do not serve sugar-sweetened beverages

Why shouldn't you serve soda, juice drinks, or sports drinks? Because they all contain sugar! Sugar-sweetened drinks are the top source of added sugar in kids' diets. Drinking too many high sugar drinks increases the risk for overweight in kids. These drinks add extra calories our bodies don't notice. Soda, juice, and sports drinks can also cause dental cavities. Diet sodas contain artificial sweeteners. They train kids to crave "sweetness" in drinks and foods. Their long-term safety is not fully known, so it is best to avoid them. All of these sugary drinks are much more expensive than tap water which costs only pennies! If you do serve 100% juice, limit to 4 ounces per day. But remember, juice doesn't substitute for whole fruit.

Do not serve these drinks in your after school program!

• Soda
• Sweetened iced teas
• Fruit punches and fruit-ades
• Fruit drinks
• Sports drinks
• Energy drinks
• Drinks with sugar substitutes, like diet soda

Serve water every day

Water is a great drink choice for kids. It is calorie-free and low cost from your nearest tap! Make sure that a pitcher of water and cups are available every day at snack time. Kids should also drink plenty of water when they are playing and being active. Even with a slice of fruit or splash of 100% fruit juice, this is the most inexpensive beverage option you can make available to children after school.

Jazz up water with these simple tricks!

• Add sliced fruit like oranges to the water fruit for a light yummy flavor
• Serve sodium-free seltzer water
• Mix a splash of 100% juice with sodium-free seltzer water
• Mix 4oz of water with 4oz of juice for a refreshing drink

Serve a fruit and/or vegetable every day

Fruits and vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. A diet high in fruits and vegetables can help kids grow and fight illness. The fiber and water in fruits and vegetables also help you to feel full. Serving 100% juice doesn't substitute for whole fruit! Some fruits and veggies are less-expensive in season, such as strawberries and blueberries. On the other hand, many fruits and veggies are inexpensive year-round. Check out the Snack Sense Shopping Guide for some examples of inexpensive fruits and veggies frequently served in YMCA after-school programs!

Do not serve foods containing trans fat

Trans fat is an unhealthy fat because it increases the risk of certain diseases. Trans fat is often hidden in packaged foods like muffins, cookies, brownies, and crackers. Some brands of popcorn and peanut butter may have trans fat too. Read nutrition labels and only select foods with 0g of trans fat. By law, products containing up to 0.49 grams trans fat per serving can still be listed on the nutrition label as 0 grams trans fat. Check the ingredient list and avoid buying any foods that list "partially hydrogenated oils"; this means there are trans fat in the food.

When serving grains (like bread, crackers, and cereals), serve whole grains

Whole grains contain fiber, vitamins, and healthy fats that are good for you and help you feel full longer. Many of these nutrients are not contained in refined "white" flour or sugar. Whenever possible, substitute whole grain products for refined grain foods; whole grains are often available at the same price as refined options. These are some frequently served snack foods at YMCA after school programs that are available as whole grain for a similar price!

Snack Sense Shopping Guide

Fruits, vegetables, proteins, and grains are the building blocks of healthy bodies. Each day at snack, offer a fruit or veggie AND a protein or grain. Serving sizes are on the Nutrition Facts Label of packaged foods. In general, 1 medium fresh fruit or 1/2 cup of chopped or canned fruit counts as a serving. One serving of dried fruit is 1/4 cup. 1 cup of raw leafy veggies, or 1/2 cup of other vegetables is one serving. These are standard serving sizes, but children may eat more or less of a food based on individual needs.

Below are some examples of budget-friendly healthy options for fruits, veggies, proteins and grains that YMCAs are serving in their after school programs!

Snack Sense Serving Guide

What counts as a serving? It depends on the type of food! Check out the general guidelines below and a few examples for each type of food. For packaged foods, check the nutrition label- it lists the serving size! Note that serving sizes are standard serving sizes for planning purchases, but children may eat more or less of a food based on individual needs.

Snack Sense Sample Menus

Below are some sample snack menus that YMCAs are serving at after schools. These menus are great because they achieve all 4 Environmental Standards for Healthy Eating, they qualify for USDA snack reimbursement AND they are less than 74¢!* Remember! Tap water should be served at every snack for virtually no cost. What a bargain!

Click here for a PDF version of this sample menu

Occasionally, you may want to do a special cooking project. Here are some examples of special snacks less than $1.50 per serving!

About Snack Sense

A PDF version of Snack Sense is available here.

Snack Sense for Parents aims to help parents incorporate the Environmental Standards for Healthy Eating into their regular snack time routine at a low price.

Hints for a Healthy Home

• Serve water at every meal and snack
• Do not allow sugar-sweetened beverages in your home
• Serve a fruit and/or vegetable at every meal and snack
• Choose foods with 0g of trans fat that do not have partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list
• When buying grains (like bread, crackers, and cereals), choose whole grains

Snack Sense Tips

Snack Sense includes tips for buying healthy and inexpensive snacks, information on each of the Environmental Standards, budget-friendly sample snack menus, and a shopping guide.

Budgeting for healthy snacks

Although people worry that healthy foods can be expensive, there are a lot of healthy snack options that are inexpensive. When shopping, remember to select foods that are consistent with the Environmental Standards for Healthy Eating.

• Buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are inexpensive and available year-round, like bananas and baby carrots.
• Buy canned fruits in 100% juice or light syrup and canned veggies without added salt. Stock up on canned fruits and veggies when they are on sale because they don't go bad!
• Avoid highly processed and refined packaged foods like cookies and animal crackers. These can be expensive, less healthy, and may contain trans fats.
• Serve tap water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages- tap water is a refreshing, healthy, no-calorie beverage that is virtually free!
• Buy foods that are on sale.
• Buy in bulk. If available, buy snacks from a wholesale retailer (e.g. BJs®, Costco®, or Sam's Club®). Or, buy snacks in large containers; individually wrapped "single serving" sizes are expensive.
• Buy generic or store brand foods, which are usually less expensive than brand names.

Do not allow sugar-sweetened beverages in your home

Why shouldn't you serve soda, juice drinks, or sports drinks? Because they all contain sugar! Sugar-sweetened drinks are the top source of added sugar in adults' and kids' diets. Drinking too many high sugar drinks increases the risk for overweight in kids. These drinks add extra calories our bodies don't notice. Soda, juice, and sports drinks can also cause dental cavities. Diet sodas contain artificial sweeteners. They train kids to crave 'sweetness' in drinks and foods. Their long-term safety is not fully known, so it is best to avoid them. All of these sugary drinks are much more expensive than tap water which costs only pennies! If you do serve 100% juice, limit to 4 ounces per day. But remember, juice doesn't substitute for whole fruit. Not buying sugar-sweetened beverages is the best way to make sure your kids don't drink them!

Do not allow these drinks in your home!

• Soda
• Sweetened iced teas
• Fruit punches and fruit-ades
• Fruit drinks
• Sports drinks
• Energy drinks

Serve water at every meal and snack

Water is a great drink choice for adults and kids. It is calorie-free and low cost from your nearest tap! Offer water with every snack and meal time. Drink plenty of water when you or your children are playing and being active. Even with a slice of fruit or splash of 100% fruit juice, this is the most inexpensive beverage option.

Jazz up water with these simple tricks!

• Add sliced fruit like oranges to the water fruit for a light yummy flavor
• Serve sodium-free seltzer water
• Mix a splash of 100% juice with sodium-free seltzer water
• Mix 4oz of water with 4oz of juice for a refreshing drink

Serve a fruit and/or vegetable at every meal and snack

Fruits and vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. A diet high in fruits and vegetables can help fight illness. The fiber and water in fruits and vegetables also help you feel full. Serving 100% juice doesn't substitute for whole fruit! Some fruits and veggies are less-expensive in season, such as strawberries and blueberries. On the other hand, many fruits and veggies are inexpensive year-round. Check out the Snack Sense Shopping Guide for some examples of inexpensive fruits and veggies!

Choose foods with 0g of trans fat and do not have partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list

Trans fat is an unhealthy fat because it increases the risk of certain diseases. Trans fat is often hidden in packaged foods like muffins, cookies, brownies, and crackers. Some brands of popcorn and peanut butter may have trans fat too. Read nutrition labels and only select foods with 0g of trans fat. By law, products containing up to 0.49 grams trans fat per serving can still be listed on the nutrition label as 0 grams trans fat. Check the ingredient list and avoid buying any foods that list "partially hydrogenated oils"; this means there are trans fat in the food.

When buying grains (like bread, crackers, and cereals), choose whole grains

Whole grains contain fiber, vitamins, and healthy fats that are good for you and help you feel full longer. Many of these nutrients are not contained in refined "white" flour or sugar. Whenever possible, substitute whole grain products for refined grain foods; whole grains are often available at the same price as refined options. These are some frequently served snack foods that are available as whole grain for a similar price!

Snack Sense Shopping Guide

Fruits, vegetables, proteins, and grains are the building blocks of healthy bodies. For each snack, offer a fruit or veggie AND a protein or whole grain. Serving sizes are on the Nutrition Facts Label of packaged foods. In general, 1 medium fresh fruit or ½ cup of chopped or canned fruit counts as a serving. One serving of dried fruit is ½ cup. 1 cup of raw leafy veggies, or ½ cup of other vegetables is one serving. These are standard serving sizes, but children may eat more or less of a food based on individual needs. For more information on serving sizes, see our Snack Sense Serving Size Guide.

Below are examples of budget-friendly healthy options for fruits, veggies, proteins and grains!

Snack Sense Serving Guide

What counts as a serving? It depends on the type of food! Check out the general guidelines below and a few examples for each type of food. For packaged foods, check the nutrition label- it lists the serving size! Note that serving sizes are standard serving sizes, but children may eat more or less of a food based on individual needs.

Snack Sense Ideas

Below are some sample snack menus that YMCAs are serving at after schools. These menus are great because they achieve all 4 Environmental Standards for Healthy Eating, they qualify for USDA snack reimbursement AND they are less than 74¢!* Remember! Tap water should be served at every snack for virtually no cost. What a bargain!

Basic Information

Food & Fun After School

Food & Fun After School (© President and Fellows of Harvard College and YMCA of the USA) is a curriculum designed to develop healthy habits out of school time. Eleven teaching units help programs infuse healthy snacks and recipes, physically active games, and creative learning activities into regular program schedules. Curriculum materials are available free of charge. The Food & Fun curriculum supports the skills and development set forth by the Common Core State Standards, which have been adopted by 45 states to date.

Food & Fun materials were designed based on qualitative research conducted through a national partnership with YMCA of the USA, America's largest provider of school age childcare services. As part of the YMCA's Activate America initiative, the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center was a partner in a pilot organizational change project (The Gulick Youth/Family Collaborative) in which a sample of YMCA childcare programs participated in a structured process to achieve higher program standards in nutrition, physical activity, and parent connectedness. All Food & Fun First Edition curriculum materials were field tested in local YMCA child care settings for acceptability, feasibility, and ease of use. Food & Fun Second Edition lesson extensions, tips sheets, assessment guides, Recipe Packet, and Snack Sense guide were reviewed by YMCA staff and tested in YMCA programs.

Food & Fun After School Second Edition was created by the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity in collaboration with YMCA of the USA.

Project Director: Steven Gortmaker, PhD
Project Coordinator: Rebecca Mozaffarian, MS MPH
Research Coordinator: Rebekka Lee, SM
Research Assistants: Emily Sanders SM, Analisa Andry SM, Maria Sequenzia MSEd

Food & Fun After School First Edition was created by the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity in collaboration with YMCA of the USA.

Project Directors: Jean Wiecha, PhD and Steven Gortmaker, PhD
Project Coordinator and Health/Nutrition Writer: Suzanne Nobrega, MS
Research Associate: Toben Nelson, MS ScD
Curriculum Developer: Lori P Marcotte, MPH, MS, RD
Recipe Developer: Julia Grimali, MLA

Out of School Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative (OSNAP)

The Out of School Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative (OSNAP), works with out of school time (OST) programs in Massachusetts and Maine to improve nutrition- and physical activity-related practices, environments, and policies.

With our community partners, OSNAP helps identify and support sustainable policy and environmental strategies that promote increased access to healthy snacks and opportunities for physical activity that can be used in a variety of OST settings.

For more resources and information, visit The Out of School Time Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative at OSNAP.org

The OSNAP initiative is supported by the Prevention Research Center cooperative agreement number 5U48DP001946 from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center

The mission of the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center is to work with communities, community agencies, state and local government, and other partners to develop, implement, and evaluate methodologies and interventions to improve nutrition and physical activity and reduce overweight and chronic disease risk among children, youth, and their families and to reduce and eliminate disparities in these outcomes.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank those who provided valuable insight and feedback with Food & Fun 2nd Edition, including: YMCA of Greater Seattle; YMCA of Central Massachusetts; Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA; YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas; YMCA of the Suncoast; Jackie Thurneau; David Ludwig; Lilian Cheung; Sari Kalin; Kendrin Sonneville; Madeleine DeBlois; Amanda Fine; Fatima Akrouh; and Cynthia Hannon. Many thanks to Jeff Gortmaker and Jake Burchard for their work in developing foodandfun.org.

The Food & Fun After School Training Video was made possible through the hard work, dedication, and support from many people, including: JaVaughn Anderson, Laurie Chroney, Madeleine deBlois, Bekka Lee, Charlynne Smart, and Speedy Toeum who shared their insight about after school programs through engaging interviews; Matthew Simon and Jonathan Simon who served as the production crew with great creativity and focus; Steve Gortmaker, Becky Mozaffarian, and Bekka Lee for thoughtful feedback throughout the entire process; Shaniece Criss for serving as director, producer, script-writer, and host of the video; The Donald and Sue Pritzker Nutrition and Fitness Initiative, who generously funded the creation of the video; the YMCA, the Boys & Girls Club, Boston Centers for Youth and Family, Dotwell Community Health Center, and the Leadership Studio at the Harvard School of Public Health for their cooperation in providing filming locations, staff, and students; and last, but certainly not least, all the children and their parents for their energetic participation as the main stars of this video.

The developers would like to thank the YMCA childcare staff that pilot tested Food & Fun 1st Edition curriculum and parent communication materials, including: YMCA of Greater Boston, MA Burbank-Wakefield Branch, at Dolbeare School; YMCA of Greater Charlotte, NC, Lake Norman; YMCA of Greater Houston,TX Vic Coppinger Branch, at Carleston Elementary; YMCA of Greater Indianaolis, IN Baxter Branch, at Rosa Parks School; YMCA of Greater Louisville, KY, at Tully; YMCA of Metuchen-Edison, NJ, at Our Savior's Childcare Center; YMCA of Greater Seattle, WA, Shoreline Branch, at Beverly and Meadowdale Elementary; YMCA of Tampa, FL; and YMCA of Wichita, KS, at Beech Elementary School.

The developers would also like to thank the YMCA Gulick Project Planning Team who worked with great commitment and humor to make YMCA child care programs a healthier place to be.

Contact Information

For more information contact:

It is easy to find nutrition, fitness, and health information online, however not all web sites offer reliable information. Check out the following internet sites to find information about general nutrition and health, the various food groups, and physical activity information, as well as resources geared towards children, parents, and communities. These websites have been approved by the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center as being high quality and trustworthy. The PDF version of this list is located here.

General Nutrition and Health

• Harvard School of Public Health publishes an online nutrition news and resource center
• The Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity works with community partners to design, implement and evaluate programs that improve nutrition and physical activity, and reduce overweight and chronic disease risk among children and youth. The Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center offers additional materials and resources that compliment this Food & Fun curriculum.
• Let's Move is First Lady Michelle Obama's initiative to provide parents with the support they need to make healthy family choices, provide healthier school foods, help kids to be more physically active, and make healthy, affordable food available in every part of the U.S.
• Alliance for a Healthier Generation is a joint venture between the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation with a mission to reduce the nationwide prevalence of childhood obesity by 2015 and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices.
• The Nemours Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media created KidsHealth to provide families with doctor-approved information that they can understand and use. Includes sites for parents, children, and teenagers and provides a variety of health information, including nutrition and fitness topics. Also available in Spanish.
• Ways to Enhance Children's Activity and Nutrition (We Can!) provides families and communities with helpful resources to help prevent childhood overweight.
• The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) MyPlate website provides information about healthy eating, and interactive program about how to eat healthy on a budget.
• CDC Healthy Youth contains statistics, science-based intervention strategies, policy guidelines, and information on local and national programs for a range of health topics (including nutrition and physical activity) that impact children and adolescents.
• Neat Solutions offers free nutrition lesson plans, plus a comprehensive listing of nutrition education resources and children.s books.
• Planning healthy celebrations can be challenging. The Center for Science in the Public Interest offers some great suggestions for celebrations throughout the year:

Fruits & Vegetables

• The Produce for Better Health Foundation provides tips for eating a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables, nutritional information, as well as ideas about planning, shopping and cooking meals and snacks packed with fruits and vegetables.
• Dole produces a website that has a section for educators with lesson plans and activities about fruits and vegetables.
• The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a website dedicated to information about fruits and vegetables. It includes recipes, budgeting tips, and guides to healthy meals.

Fat

• Trans free America is a campaign by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to eliminate trans fats from the food supply.
• BanTransFats.com, Inc is a non-profit organization that has the goal of reducing and eliminating trans fats from all food products.

Whole Grains

• The Whole Grain Council is an educational program helping consumers achieve better health by increasing their consumption of quick, easy, and delicious whole grains. Their website includes information on the health benefits of whole grains. Although their Whole Grain Stamp helps consumers spot foods containing at least 8g of whole grains, these products may still contain a lot of sugar! Some of their materials are also available in Spanish.

Healthy Hydration

• The Department of Nutrition at Harvard provides tips and information on making healthy beverage choices.
• The Center for Weight & Health at U.C. Berkeley provides answers to frequently asked questions about sports drinks.
• BANPAC offers curriculum materials and campaign tools in English and Spanish for a Soda-Free Summer
• The National Environmental Services Center website has links to a variety of lessons and educational materials, both about drinking water and water as a resource great if you're looking for a chance to integrate some science lessons into your program.
• The Environmental Protection Agency's annual water quality report provides information on water safety in every state, including information on fluoridation.

Physical Activity

• The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans describe the types and amounts of physical activity that offer substantial health benefits to children and adults.
• National Association for Sport and Physical Activity (NASPE) offers guidelines on activity for children and publishes curricula for in-school and out-of-school time.
• President's Fitness Challenge inspires children (and adults) to get moving each day. Use the guidelines and log charts to create a challenge within your center, or enroll children in the challenge through the web site.
• The CANFIT Physical Activity Pyramid is a fun, colorful guide to different types of physical activities kids can enjoy after school.

Screen Time

• CommonSense Media provides parent education and advice about children's media consumption.
• Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition (We Can) provides families and communities with helpful resources to reduce screentime and stay healthy.
• Media Smarts aims to help empower kids to understand how media and advertising target them.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics published a position paper which recommends no more than 1 to 2 hours of quality programming per day.
• Media-Smart Youth: Eat, Think, and Be Active! is an interactive education program designed to help teach kids about the media world around them. It helps youth to think about the connections between media and their health.

Nutrition and Physical Activity Policy

• The CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity includes links to policy resources for professionals working in the physical activity, nutrition and obesity arenas.
• The School Nutrition Association is a professional organization that offers tips for designing school wellness policies and promoting healthy meals, as well as recipes and educational resources.
• The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) works to improve public policies to eradicate hunger and under-nutrition. It provides resources on connecting to federal food programs, including those that help fund nutrition snacks in after school programs.
• The Center for Science in the Public Interest works with policy makers to improve food offered in schools and restaurants, and has a particular interest in removing soda from schools and foods with trans fats.
• AAHPERD Legislative Action Center provides information and resources on the health, physical activity, dance, and sport issues being debated on Capitol Hill.

Children and Teens

• The BAM! (Body and Mind) program provides tweens with information on various health topics, nutrition, and physical activity. Children can use an interactive survey to help them identify activities that might fit their personalities, and find detailed descriptions, including the necessary gear and how to play so that children may try new things.
• KidsHealth also has a website especially for kids in English and Spanish.
• The Produce for Better Health Foundation has a fun interactive website designed just for kids! It includes recipes, games, activities and more!
• The Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston produces the Young Men's and Women's Health websites to provide carefully researched health information to teens. Each has a section on nutrition and fitness.
• Nutrition Explorations, sponsored by the National Dairy Council, is an interactive site with activities, information, and cool recipes for kids.
• ChooseMyPlate.gov has a page of activities and materials for kids ages 6 to 11. It includes The MyPyramid Blast Off Game as well as kids posters.
• The Center for Science in the Public Interest produces Smart Mouth, a site created for older children to find out fun facts about food and the food industry. It includes a scale that allows people to see how many calories and fat are in various fast food meals.
• The International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation developed ACTIVATE and the kidnetic website to encourage healthy habits with games and fun activities.
• The Best Bones Forever campaign encourages pre-teen and teenage girls to be active and get enough calcium and vitamin D for strong bones.

Parents

• Healthy Family Home is a YMCA initiative that supports families in their efforts to build the five pillars that support a healthy family home: Eat Healthy, Play Every Day, Get Together, Go Outside, and Sleep Well.
• The Alliance for a Healthier Generation has a special "At Home" parent section.
• Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition (We Can!) provides families and communities with helpful resources to help prevent childhood overweight.
• The parent's pages on KidsHealth provide families with doctor-approved information on nutrition and fitness that they can understand and use. Also available in Spanish.
• VERB is a national, multicultural, social marketing campaign which encourages tweens to be active every day. For information about the VERB campaign, which includes materials for parents, go to:
• Meals Matter is a website that promotes healthy food choices and strives to assist the family meal preparer in making healthy meal planning decisions. The site is also available in Spanish.
• The Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston have a special section of their website on nutrition information for parents of teens.
• ChooseMyPlate.gov provides parent handouts with tips for families. Also available in Spanish.

Working With Diverse Communities

• CANFIT helps to bridge the gap between scientific research and on the ground best practices by providing professional development and translated theory and cutting edge research. The organization promotes youth involvement in the planning, implementation and evaluation of projects. CANFIT primarily focuses on low income, African-American, American Indian, Latino/Hispanic, Asian American and Pacific Islander adolescents. Many of these historically underserved populations have limited access to affordable, healthy foods and safe places for physical activity.
• The National Alliance for Hispanic Health has developed a website containing fact sheets, in English and Spanish, covering health topics of special concern to Hispanic Americans.
• The Latino Nutrition Coalition (LNC) is an Oldways educational program inspiring Latinos to improve and maintain their health through traditional foods and active lifestyles. The LNC creates practical, culturally-aware materials in English and Spanish that help Latinos combine the best of their healthy food traditions with the realities of modern American life. (Site is available in English and Spanish)
• The Network for a Healthy California African American Campaign is designed to improve the health of the low-income African American community by providing education, advocacy, and policy development about healthy eating and physical activity and empowering them with positive strategies for creating healthier communities.
• The "Reshaping Our Communities, Reclaiming Our Health" report, drafted by The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Leadership for Healthy Communities, identifies potential solutions for reducing overweight and obesity in the African-American community.
• The Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with SAMHSA and Indian Health Services developed an American Indian and Alaskan Native Culture Card intended to serve as a general briefing to enhance cultural competence while providing health services to American Indian and Alaskan Native communities.

Research

• The Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center's key research projects and research papers are availble here.

Community Connections

• Action for Healthy Kids is a nonprofit and volunteer network fighting childhood obesity and undernourishment by working with schools to help kids learn to eat right, be active every day and be ready to learn. Their website includes tools and fact sheets about childhood obesity, nutrition and physical activity.
• School Food Service Directors can partner with local programs, offer tips on meal or snack preparation, or help with taste tests and other promotions around food and nutrition.
• The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) serves to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, & young children who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care. Their website includes a listing of state nutritional coordinators and farmers markets.

Themes to Promote Each Month

• For health-related observances, the National Health Information Center provides a comprehensive list along with links to sponsoring organizations.

Other Ways to make Local Connections

In addition to the above websites that connect you to state or local organizations working to improve nutrition and health of young children and teens, you can make many great connections simply by flipping through the local phone book or with a quick web search. Here are some folks to invite into your program:

Your local school food service director could work with you on special promotions or taste tests, especially if your after school program is held in a school building. Food service directors also receive a lot of promotional materials in the mail and may be able to pass healthy freebies onto you.

Many grocery stores have started providing free tours designed to teach kids about making nutritious choices. Kids can tour the produce section to learn about the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables available or learn how to pick a healthy cereal. Invite families to join you on the tour and see if the store will do a healthy taste test.

If your program is held within a school, connect with the principal or teachers. Building solid relationships with school personnel can help you secure resources like gym space or kitchen facilities to enhance your program offerings.

Promatoras are community members who work as liaisons between the Hispanic/Latino community and health organizations. They raise awareness about health issues, including nutrition and physical activity.

Farmers or master gardeners are other great resources for teaching kids about fruits and vegetables.

Check to see if your local children.s museum has exhibits on healthy eating or physical activity.

Physical education teachers could help run a fitness event or health fair, or they may allow programs to borrow or share physical education equipment.

Local chefs are often happy to share their knowledge and food preparation tips with local organizations, and some restaurants or grocery stores may donate food for taste tests (chefs may even prepare simple snacks with kids!).

Fitness instructors can lead a special activity or partner with you to develop optional programming for children, such as a one-month yoga introduction or dance class.

Outside Resources Available in Spanish

• The Nemours Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media created KidsHealth to provide families with doctor-approved information that they can understand and use. Includes sites for parents, children, and teenagers and provides a variety of health information, including nutrition and fitness topics. Also available in Spanish.
• The Whole Grain Council is an educational program helping consumers achieve better health by increasing their consumption of quick, easy, and delicious whole grains. Their website includes information on the health benefits of whole grains. Although their Whole Grain Stamp helps consumers spot foods containing at least 8g of whole grains, these products may still contain a lot of sugar! Some of their materials are also available in Spanish.
• The Center for Weight & Health at U.C. Berkeley provides answers to frequently asked questions about sports drinks.
• BANPAC offers curriculum materials and campaign tools in English and Spanish for a Soda-Free Summer.
• CommonSense Media provides parent education and advice about children's media consumption. Their junk food advertising page has great tips for limiting exposure to harmful marketing for kids of all ages. Spanish translations of materials are available.
• KidsHealth also has a website especially for kids in English and Spanish.
• The parent's pages on KidsHealth provide families with doctor-approved information on nutrition and fitness that they can understand and use. Also available in Spanish.
• Meals Matter is a website that promotes healthy food choices and strives to assist the family meal preparer in making healthy meal planning decisions. Parent tip sheets for healthy eating are also available in Spanish.
• ChooseMyPlate.gov provides parent handouts with tips for families available in English and Spanish.
• The National Alliance for Hispanic Health has developed a website containing fact sheets, in English and Spanish, covering health topics of special concern to Hispanic Americans.
• The Latino Nutrition Coalition (LNC) is an Oldways educational program inspiring Latinos to improve and maintain their health through traditional foods and active lifestyles. The LNC creates practical, culturally-aware materials in English and Spanish that help Latinos combine the best of their healthy food traditions with the realities of modern American life. (Site is available in English and Spanish)
• United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service. Eat Smart Play Hard Materials include bookmarks, activity sheets, and posters in English and Spanish.

About Food, Fun & Family

Learning healthy behaviors begins at home. As a parent or guardian, you have the greatest influence over the foods your child eats and the activities that they do when out of school. Making sure your family has healthy habits can be a challenge when your time and budget are tight! The goal of Food, Fun & Family is to help busy parents provide a healthier home environment for their children. The Food & Fun curriculum contains 7 core standards for healthy afterschool programs. Below are some ways that you can adapt those program standards to your home.

Hints for a Healthy Home

• Serve water at every meal and snack.
• Do not allow sugar-sweetened beverages in your home.
• Serve a fruit and/or vegetable at every meal and snack.
• Choose foods with 0g of trans fat and do not have partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list.
• When buying grains (like bread, crackers and cereals), choose whole grains.
• Limit screen time (TV, video games, computer) to less than 2 hours each day.
• Do not allow TV sets in children's bedrooms.
• Provide opportunities for your child to engage in at least 1 hour of moderate physical activity every day.

Establishing a healthy and active lifestyle early on contributes to children's wellbeing in so many ways. This handbook contains lots of tips and ideas for meals and activities that are healthy and fun for the whole family! Inside you'll find information on how to make healthy food and drink choices when grocery shopping and planning family meals and snacks; recipes that are fast, inexpensive and child friendly; ideas for getting your family more active and limiting TV time; and easy-to-find resources that can help you find information, ideas and support for making your home a healthy environment.

Some days coming up with ideas to be healthy will be easy, with opportunities for cooking together or taking a walk. Other days will be harder, but setting up a routine with regular healthy habits may help you stay healthy. Remember that as a parent or guardian, you are a role model to your children. Show your children that you enjoy healthy habits through the choices you make in your own life, and chances are they will too!

About the information pages

Links to each of the information pages can be found to the left. Each page will contain useful information that will help you make sure that your family has healthy habits.

Healthy Food is Fun!

What does it mean to "eat healthy"? Here are a few guidelines that you can use as a rule of thumb:

Eat your fruits and veggies.

Go for five! Try to eat at least five servings of fruits or vegetables a day. Make sure to serve a variety of fruits and vegetables in different colors.

Include "whole grains."

Whole grain breads, crackers and cereals as well as whole-wheat pasta and brown rice help you feel full longer. Check the ingredient list! Serve foods that list a whole grain (like whole wheat flour, oats, or barley) as the first ingredient, and which does not include sugar as one of the first 3 ingredients.

Choose healthy fats.

Eat "good for you" fats found in fish and plants like vegetable oils (such as olive and canola), nuts, and seeds. Limit saturated fats found in butter, whole milk, and red meat. Avoid foods with trans fats; choose foods with 0g of trans fat and check that partially "hydrogenated vegetable oil" or "shortening" are not in the ingredient list. Avoid fast foods with trans fats.

You're sweet enough already.

Sugar-sweetened drinks like soda, juice drinks, and sports drinks can cause cavities and increase the risk for overweight in kids and adults. In fact, even juice can have just as much sugar as soda! When your kids are thirsty, serve water and low fat milk. Do not serve juice drinks and limit 100% juice to 4 oz. per day (juice box size).

How Much Do I Need?

When preparing dinner for the family, think of your plate as a pie chart*:

• 1/2 of your plate should be filled with vegetables and fruits. Go for lots of different colors!
• 1/4 filled with a whole grain. Try brown rice or quinoa!
• 1/4 should be a protein source. Try fish, chicken, beans, tofu, nuts, or eggs.

Remember that different sized bodies need different amounts of food. Children's portions should be about 2/3 the size of an adult portion. Start with small servings, and if kids have room for seconds, let them decide.

Hints for figuring out standard serving sizes:

• A serving of whole grains could be 1 slice of whole grain bread, 1 cup of whole grain cereal or 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice, whole wheat pasta or hot cereal like oatmeal. One cup is the size of a tennis ball.
• A serving of whole fruit (an apple, banana, etc) should be about the size of a baseball. For chopped or canned fruits and veggies, like pineapple or strawberries, a serving is about a half cup (the size of a light bulb). A serving of dried fruit is about half that amount.
• For dairy, a serving could be one cup of low fat milk or yogurt, or 1 ounce of cheese. One cup of milk is the size of a small juice glass. One ounce of cheese is the size of four dice.
• One serving of protein is three ounces of lean meat, chicken or fish. Three ounces of meat looks like a deck of cards. You can also try alternative proteins like: 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, 1/2 cup of cooked beans or 1/3 cup of almonds or mixed nuts.

How to Be a Smarter Shopper

When you're tight on time and money, being a savvy shopper can be a difficult task. But it's not impossible! Here are some tips to help you shop smarter and eat better. Read the Nutrition Facts on food labels to help you make better choices, even when you are in a hurry!

Shopping for Fruits and Veggies

• Buy fresh fruits and veggies on sale.
• Pick up pre-cut and washed fresh fruit or veggies, like bagged salad mixes. These mixes can save you time, but are usually more expensive than preparing fruits and veggies yourself.
• Stock up on frozen fruits and veggies. Add a handful of frozen veggies to soups, stir-fry or homemade pizza or frozen mixed berries to yogurt.
• Dried fruit makes a great snack!

Shopping for Whole Grains

• Select whole-grain foods by looking for key words on the food labels and ingredient list. Here's how you do it:
  • Read the ingredient list. Choose breads, crackers, and cereals that have a whole grain (like whole wheat, barley, oats, rye, or brown rice) listed first on the ingredients and contain no added sugars.
  • Don't be fooled! Foods that are "multi-grain," "100% wheat," or made with whole grains," often are not made with whole grains. Check the ingredients list to make sure that a whole grain is listed first!
  • Watch out for added sugar. Avoid foods that list sugar as one of the first 3 ingredients. Sugar comes in different forms: corn syrup, dextrose, fructose... it is all just sugar! A good rule of thumb is to choose whole grains with no more than 5 grams of sugar.
• Short on time? Pick up some whole-wheat pitas, whole wheat or corn tortillas, or whole-wheat English muffins for a change from sandwich bread.
• Try something new! Choose quick-cooking grains such as whole grain pasta, brown rice or quinoa.

How to Be a Smarter Shopper

When you're tight on time and money, being a savvy shopper can be a difficult task. But it's not impossible! Here are some tips to help you shop smarter and eat better. Read the Nutrition Facts on food labels to help you make better choices, even when you are in a hurry!

Choosing healthy Fats

Shop for these easy substitutes to cut down on the unhealthy fat in your favorite recipes:

• Instead of 1 cup cream -> Use 1 cup low-fat milk
• Instead of 1 cup melted butter, stick margarine, or shortening for baking -> Try 1 cup vegetable oil
• Instead of 1 Tbsp of butter or stick margarine for sauteing -> Use 1 Tbsp canola, olive, or vegetable oil

Cutting Salt in the Shopping Isle:

• Look on the nutrition label of canned, boxed, frozen and prepared foods to ensure sodium (salt) levels are below 300 mg/serving.
  • Watch for hidden salt in bread: Compare different brands and types of bread for the lowest sodium content. Wonder Stoneground 100% Whole Wheat Bread® has 400 mg/serving, while Pepperidge Farm 100% Natural Soft 100% Whole Wheat Bread® has only 260 mg/serving.
  • Choose real cheese instead of cheese products: 1 ounce of Kraft Velveeta Cheese® contains 410 mg- that's 27% of your daily sodium intake! One ounce of Cabot Cheddar® has only 180 mg- 12% of your daily sodium intake, making it a healthier choice.
  • Compare lunch meats: Lunch meats are high in sodium, but can vary by brand. Also, consider sandwich options that are lower in salt, like low sodium peanut butter and bananas, or fresh vegetables with hummus!
  • Fresh is best: Most processed foods are high in salt, so choose fresh foods and try seasoning them with various spices, herbs and citrus instead of salt.

Reading Nutrition Labels

Eating Healthy Doesn't Have to Be Expensive

While there's a big difference between choosing whole wheat bread over white bread for your health, there is little to no difference for your wallet. You don't have to break the bank to eat healthy. Follow these tips to find out how you can load up your grocery cart with healthy food without blowing your budget!

Change your shopping habits!

• Plan ahead. Design a weekly menu, and match your grocery shopping to the meals on the menu. This will help avoid wasting food.
• Eat before you shop. It will help you stick to your shopping list!
• Shop around the edges of the store, where the food is healthier and fresher. The middle aisles has more processed and junk foods.
• Try store brands. These are often cheaper and just as good!
• Keep an eye out for sales, specials and coupons for healthy foods! Sign up for your grocer's bonus/discount card for additional savings.

Change what you buy!

• Choose your fresh fruits and veggies! Some produce costs less when it is in season. Other fruits and veggies like apples, bananas, carrots, and celery are available at a low price year round!
• Convenience is key! Try frozen or canned fruits in light syrup or 100% juice, and frozen or canned veggies without added salt. They are great options that make eating healthy easier!
• Buy in bulk, if you will use it and can store it.
• Switch from brand names to generic store brands.

The Price is Right!

Check out these low priced healthy foods:

Water: The best choice for your wallet and your body!

Water is a great drink choice for kids. Make sure that a pitcher of water is available every day at the dinner table. Kids should also drink plenty of water when they are playing and being active.

Jazz up water with these simple tricks!

• Add sliced fruit like oranges to water for a light, yummy flavor
• Serve sodium-free seltzer water
• Mix 4oz of water or seltzer with 4oz of 100% fruit juice for a refreshing drink

Make Mealtimes Fun For the Whole Family

Eating together as a family is not only a great way to stay close but has been shown to help children maintain healthy habits later on in life. Here are some tips to help make your mealtimes healthy AND fun for the whole family!

Be a Role Model

• Turn off the TV! Dinnertime is Family Time!
• Even if your kids say they don't like "healthy foods," if YOU keep enjoying them, your child might try again. It might take months. It might take years. But keep trying!
• Ask for a salad or a side of veggies instead of fries whenever you eat out.
• Limit fast food to no more than once per week.

Set Famliy Goals and Keep Track of Your Progress

• For example, one goal may be to eat five fruits and veggies a day, or to cook one new healthy dish each week!

Involve Your Child in Healthy Eating

• Get your kids to help in planning meals. Make a weekly menu and shopping list together, and bring the kids with you to the store. Let them choose the fruits and veggies they would like to try!
• Cooking is an art, and kids love art. There's room to be inventive, creative, and colorful. If your kids see you having fun cooking, they will want to be part of it!

Have Fun With Your Food

• Have kids make menus for the table, take orders, and serve the food!
• Cut foods into creative shapes. Try out the cookie cutters!
• Try out new recipes. See the Food, Fun and Family Recipe Packet for ideas!

Tips for Parents of "Picky Eaters"

• Be patient with kids who are shy about trying new foods. Children's tastes change as they grow, so don't be afraid to introduce new foods more than once or twice.
• Most fussy eaters will eventually come out of this stage on their own, particularly if their closest role models (parents!) have healthy eating habits. Your child will look for your reaction to new and different foods. Show them that trying new things can be yummy and fun!
• Encourage kids to try everything on their plate! Don't force your child to eat if he or she is not hungry, but also make sure to offer your kids the fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and water that they need!
• Don't be a short-order cook. Make ONE family meal but be sure to include one or two options you know your child likes. Parents of picky eaters tend to offer their child new foods less often. However, many kids will need to be offered a new food at least 10 times before they are willing to try it!*
• Don't give up!

NOTE: It's OK for kids to want the same thing over and over as long as their choice is a healthy addition to their day. A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread is perfectly fine, especially if you add bananas, strawberries or 100% fruit spread.

*Source: Carruth et al., 2004.

Planning for the Week

Planning ahead can help you save time at night and spend your money wisely at the grocery store (preventing wasted food!) Plan your weekly dinner menu as a family:

• Include ideas from each family member.
• Include meals where leftovers can be stored and frozen (like soup and stews) or plan to fix a double meal and freeze the extra for later use.
• Not a fan of leftovers? Make meals that can be re-purposed into another dinner. For example, use leftover roast chicken to make chicken quesadillas.
• Remember-breakfast can be dinner sometimes. Try omelets or scrambled eggs!
• Try one new recipe at least once a month. Keep a folder of possible new recipes, but don't add them to the list until they are table-tested!

Tip: For a fun project, use a piece of cardboard or construction paper to record your family's weekly dinner menu. Let the kids decorate the paper and post it on the refrigerator so that everyone can see what's for dinner each day!

Here's an example of a weekly dinner menu that is healthy, yummy, and most importantly, budget friendly!

*Prices are estimates based on national price averages. Prices in the area where you shop may be more or less expensive.

Snack Time - A Bridge Between Meals

Snacks are an important part of your child's daily diet. Children need healthy snacks between meals to give them energy and nutrients. A good snack includes: at least one fruit or vegetable AND one whole grain or protein. Here are some tips for when your child says:

"I'm Hungry!"

• Homemade snack packs! Rather than buying more expensive and less healthy prepackaged snacks, assemble snacks at home in small baggies. Mix together nuts and seeds, whole grain cereal, and dried fruit.
• Be prepared. Have a supply of washed, cut up fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator. Store them in clear containers at eye level so kids can see them.
• Cut out the trans fat! Partially hydrogenated oils are often hidden in packaged foods like cookies and crackers as well as some popcorn and peanut butter.
• Try naturally sweet. Replace high-sugar options with snacks that don't have added sugar. Use fresh, frozen, or dried fruit in yogurt or to make smoothies!
• Serve cereal? A cup of whole grain cereal with less than 5 grams of sugar + low fat/skim milk + fruit (like cut up strawberries or bananas) = a great snack!
• Try something new! Bored with the same old thing? Wander the grocery aisles and check nutrition labels.
• Don't forget the fun. Try recipes that engage your child. See the recipe packet for fun and healthy snacks like Bugs on a Log, Tasty Bug, and Butterfly Bites.

"I'm Thirsty!"

• Serve water or milk. For added fun try:
  • Adding fruit or frozen 100% fruit juice ice cubes to water.
  • Making juice "spritzers"- Mix a splash of 100% juice with sodium-free seltzer water.
  • Making "sun tea" by placing teabags or fresh mint leaves in a pitcher of water and leaving it out in the sun for several hours.
• Do not buy drinks with added sugars. Remember that sugar is sometimes listed as sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, or dextrose. Don't be fooled, it's all just sugar!
• Set limits. Limit soda and other sugary drinks (sweetened ice teas, fruit punch, etc.) to one 8-ounce serving per week.
• Skip the sports drinks. Water is the best drink for active kids.
• Avoid "diet" drinks with sugar substitutes like saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, or Splenda.
• Limit 100% juice to 4 ounces per day (juice box size).

Helpful Hints for Healthy Choices

*Health Valley?, Trader Joe's?, Nature's Valley? and Nature's Promise? brand granola bars contain no partially hydrogenated oils, and therefore no unhealthy trans fat

Active Families Have More Fun!

When adults think about exercise we imagine going to the gym or playing a sport. But being physically active can be anything from playing on a baseball or basketball team to taking the stairs instead of the elevator or playing at recess. Whenever you move your muscles, breath heavier and feel your heart beat faster you are engaging in physical activity. It's important to be physically active every day to stay healthy.

Kids should get at least 1 hour or more of physical activity every day. This can be done all at once, like playing in a soccer match, or be spread out in periods of 10-15 minutes such as taking the dog for the walk, raking leaves, and playing on the jungle gym.

Physical activity can be moderate or vigorous. Kids should do vigorous activities at least 3 times each week (Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans). What's the difference between moderate activity and vigorous activity?

Here are some examples:

Tip! Make getting more physical activity a family project. Encourage everyone to think of fun things to do during the week and plan for fun weekend activities. Making a physical activity log and posting it on the refrigerator can help everyone plan for and keep track of their activities each month!

Parents and caregivers are important role models!

Don't forget that grownups need to stay active too! Adults should try to do at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate activity or 1 hour and 15 minutes of vigorous activity each week. Show your kids that you enjoy being active and chances are they will follow your lead! Kids with active families are more likely to stay active as adults.

When thinking about how to be more active, make sure to choose activities that are right for you and your family. This means getting to know what resources are available in your area and selecting activities that are safe and appropriate for your children's ages. Most importantly, find ways to incorporate more activity into your daily routine. Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Walk whenever possible
   • Walk (or bike!) whenever you can. To find safe routes for walking or biking to your child's school check out this link.
   • Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator
   • Go up hills instead of around them
2. Move more in your home and neighborhood
   • Involve kids in active chores, like putting away groceries or sweeping the house
   • Do yard work. Get your children to help rake, weed, or plant at home or at a park in your neighborhood
3. Play with your kids after school
   • Play a game of catch or tag after school, or help your child practice their favorite sport
   • Play a round of Simon Says with your kids
   • Go for a swim at your community pool or local YMCA
4. Plan active family weekends
   • Head to a nearby park for a family game of Frisbee™ or Wiffle ball™. If there's a good breeze, bring a kite with you!
   • Pack a healthy picnic and go on an adventure. Check out local spots nearby, including national parks and recreation areas. Go to this page to find sites near you!

Whatever your family chooses to do to stay active, make sure that you find activities that fit into your daily lives. Be sure to select activities that you enjoy and ask your children what activities they want to do. Don't be afraid to explore and try new things! For more tips and ideas check Play Works USA and Kids Health or head to your local community or recreation center. To find a playground in your neighborhood check out this link.

Take Control of TV (And Other Screen Time)

After a stressful day, kids and parents often look to the TV to help them relax and unwind. It's an easy way to beat boredom or get the kids to settle down. While we all enjoy watching TV sometimes, each day kids watch an average of 4 hours of television and then spend 2 additional hours using the computer or playing video games!

Why is this a problem? Sitting in front of a screen for hours on end leads to less physical activity, overeating, and a higher risk for becoming overweight. When we watch TV our bodies are still and we tend to snack more. While we watch we also see lots of advertising for high calorie, high sugar foods which have a big influence on kids. Spending time in front of the screen can also take away from time that could be spent reading or working on homework.

While taking control of your family's screen time may seem like an big task, it is one of the most valuable things you can do for your kids health now and as they grow into adulthood. Check out these suggested house rules that you can put in place to help everyone in your family reduce screen time!

Here are some tips to help you and your family work together to reduce screen time:

• Be a good role model. Tell your children that sitting less and moving more is an important way to stay healthy. They will have more energy and more fun. Most importantly, try to cut down on your own TV viewing habits. Your kids will follow your lead!
• Don't use TV as a reward or a punishment. This makes TV seem even more important to children!
• Use technology. Screening devices can remove commercials and limit the time kids spend on the computer or watching TV. TiVo, TV Allowance, and parental controls in Windows Vista are all helpful tools.
• Be an active watcher. Whenever you do spend time in front of the TV, try to do something active like yoga or lifting weights. Challenge your family to a push-ups, jumping jacks, or sit-ups competition during commercial breaks.

What can kids do instead of watching TV?

Provide your kids with alternatives to watching TV, such as playing outside, getting involved in a new hobby, or joining a sports team. Check into local sports and recreation programs that are offered after school and on weekends in your neighborhood. Some programs are free through schools or towns, and many offer scholarships. You may be surprised by the choices you find once you begin to look!

Here are some other ideas:

• Get outside! Go for a bike ride or roller-skate around the neighborhood. Check out nearby public parks or gardens. Bring a kite with you or a basketball to shoot some hoops.
• Take up a new hobby! Encourage your kids to learn to play a musical instrument, take dance or art classes at your local community center, try out for a part in the school play, or join a club!
• In the summertime, check out the community pool in your area or find a miniature golf course (you can also make your own in your back or front yard!)
• Volunteer together! Check with your community center or local soup kitchen and spend the day helping out and getting to know your community as a family.
• Join the kids! Try out old-fashioned games like hopscotch, tag, jump rope, and hide-and-seek. Set up a scavenger hunt around the house or your neighborhood.
• On rainy days, head to the library, a museum, or the zoo. These are often free and fun for the whole family! At home, work on an arts and crafts project like making bead necklaces or making your own play dough. Card and board games as well as reading together are also great ways to spend time indoors as a family.

For more ideas of things to do instead of watching TV, check out "Do More, Watch Less" by the CA Department of Public Health:

Food Fun and Family Recipe Pack

The recipe pack contains a grand total of 23 recipes all ready for you to cook for your kids!
Click here to download the recipe pack.

Handouts

Below is a list of all of the parent handouts for each unit

About Food & Fun

Food & Fun is an after-school program that helps kids (that's you!) stay healthy and feel good. Food & Fun is broken up into 11 different units, such as Fruits and Vegtables, Exercise, and Whole Grains that feature activities, recipes, even games and videos! These units help you stay active and healthy so you can do all of the things you like to do! To find out more information about how you can stay healthy, check out the links in the sidebar on the left.

Eating Well

Fruits and Veggies

• Go for Five! Eat 5 or more fruits and vegetables (combined) each day.
• Try to eat a fruit or a vegetable with every meal and snack.
• Just take a bite! Don't be afraid to try a new fruit or vegetable - chances are you'll like it.
• Fruits and vegetables come in lots of colors. Try to eat as many different colors as you can.

Fats

• You need to eat fat to keep your body healthy, but not all fats are the same. Try to choose fats that are good for your body.
• Fats from fish, nuts, and seeds are healthy for your body.
• Limit fats from animal sources, like butter, whole milk, and red meat.
• Do not eat trans fats found in fast food like French fries and baked goods like cookies.

Whole Grains

• Whole grains are important because they help you feel full longer and make your body healthy.
• Eat whole grains (like whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat crackers and brown rice) instead of refined grains (like white bread, muffins, pasta, and white rice) whenever possible.
• Breakfast is a great time to try whole grains. Try whole grain cereals, waffles, bread, or bagels.

Snacking

• Our bodies need healthy snacks to stay energized between meals.
• Choose healthy snack foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy foods, and lean meats or proteins.
• Snacks that have a lot of sugar, unhealthy fat, and salt like candy, cookies, and chips are "slow" snacks.

Be Sugar Smart

• Sweetened drinks like soda, fruit drinks, and sports drinks are loaded with sugar.
• Eating and drinking too much sugar is not healthy for your body and it can cause cavities.
• Water and low fat milk are the best drinks to have at snacks and meals
• Juice is not as healthy as it seems. It can have as much sugar as soda.

Drink Water

• Water is the best thirst quencher.
• Drink water when you are thirsty and before, during, and after physical activity.
• Drink water instead of juice or soda at every snack and meal.
Learn more about drinking water

Advanced Information on Drinking Water

Water is the best drink for kids. It is calorie free, hydrates kids, and is low-cost from your nearest tap! Kids do not need sport and energy drinks because most sports drinks are designed for endurance athletes who exercise for hours at high intensity. They contain lots of sugar and calories.

Being Active

Get Moving

• Moving your body is fun and helps your body be healthy and strong.
• All types of physical activities like playing, dancing, and sports are good for you.
• Do something active every day.

Play Hard

• Doing activities that make you sweat or breathe hard will make you strong and keep your bones and heart healthy.
• Playing hard is fun when it’s something you like to do.
• Do an activity that makes you sweat or breathe hard at least 3 times per week.

Hydration

• Water is the best thirst quencher.
• Drink water when you are thirsty and before, during, and after physical activity.
• Drink water instead of juice or soda at every snack and meal.

Tune Out TV

• Moving your body keeps you fit!
• Do something active instead of watching TV playing videogames, or spending time on the computer.

Videos

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

Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center Environmental Standards for Nutrition and Physical Activity in Out-of-School Time Programs

A PDF version of these Environmental Standards is available here.

A poster of these standards is available here.

The aim of the Environmental Standards for Nutrition and Physical Activity are to help program leaders create healthier out-of-school environments for children by achieving 7 simple standards. These Environmental Standards are based on current scientific evidence about healthy eating and physical activity. These standards have been developed for part-day out-of-school time settings like sport programs and after school programs, but can easily be modified for full day programs like summer camps.

For each Environmental Standard below, we provide a brief rationale and a few suggested strategies for putting them into practice at your out-of-school time program. For more ideas on incorporating these standards into your program, check out the Tip Sheets in the Change section!

It is important to keep parents involved and educated about healthy eating and physical activity so they can reinforce the Environmental Standards at home. Use the Parent Handouts and Parent Communications from Food & Fun to help develop and maintain your connection with parents.

Environmental Standard #1:
Do not serve sugar-sweetened beverages.

Rationale:

The amount of sugar-sweetened beverages that children drink has significantly increased over the past 20 years. Sugar-sweetened beverages are the top source of added sugar in kids' diets. Examples of sugar-sweetened beverages are soda, sweetened iced teas, fruit punches, fruit drinks, and sports drinks. Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages has been associated with obesity in children. They provide a lot of calories with little to no nutritional benefit. These beverages also lead to dental cavities. If you do serve 100% juice, limit to 4 ounces per day.

Suggested strategies:

• Offer water instead of sugar sweetened beverages every day.
• Implement policies that prevent using vending machines during program time.
• Restrict bringing drinks in from outside the program.

Environmental Standard #2:
Serve water every day.

Rationale:

Water is a great drink choice for kids. It keeps them hydrated, it is calorie-free, and it is almost cost free from the tap! Replacing caloric beverages with water at snack time saves money, and is an easy way to eliminate calories from sugar-sweetened beverages. Our bodies are the best judge of how much water we need. Teach kids to take a drink whenever they are thirsty.

Suggested Strategies

• Serve tap water- it costs only pennies!
• Serve water in a pitcher with cups at the snack table every day.

Environmental Standard #3:
Serve a fruit and/or vegetable at every meal and snack.

Rationale:

Children should eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. However, most U.S. children are only eating about 2 1/2 servings each day. Fruits and vegetables contain vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They protect against heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and some cancers. The fiber and water in fruits and vegetables also help you feel full. Serving 100% fruit juice does not substitute for whole fruit because juice does not contain fiber.

Suggested strategies

• Use taste tests to learn kids' preferences and to find new fruits and vegetables that kids like.
• Cut and peel fruits and vegetables before serving so they are easier for kids to eat.

Environmental Standard #4:
Do not serve foods with trans fat.

Rationale:

The type of fat you eat is more important than the total amount of fat in your diet. Avoid foods with trans fat, which is a type of unhealthy fat. Trans fat has many harmful effects on your body. It is commonly found in packaged bakery foods (like muffins, brownies, cookies, and crackers) and deep fried foods (like chicken fingers, fish sticks, and french fries). Products labeled as 0 grams trans fat can still have up to 0.49 grams per serving by law. Avoid foods with the words "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" on the ingredient list; this means the food contains trans fat.

Suggested strategies

• Read nutrition labels and only select foods with 0g of trans fat.
• Review vendor lists and only order foods without trans fat.

Environmental Standard #5:
When serving grains (like bread, crackers, and cereals), serve whole grains.

Rationale:

Whole grains contain fiber, vitamins, and healthy fats that can lower your risk for heart disease and diabetes. They can also help you feel full longer. Refined "white" flour and sugar do not have these nutrients or health benefits. Serve whole grains instead of refined ones whenever possible. Whole grain options are often available at the same price as refined options.

Suggested strategies

• Select breads, crackers, and, cereals that list a whole grain as the first ingredient on the label. Examples are whole wheat, barley, oats, and rye.
• Select foods containing at least 3 grams of fiber and 5 grams of sugar or less per serving.

Environmental Standard #6:
Eliminate broadcast and cable TV and movies.
Limit computer time to less than 1 hour each day.

Rationale:

Children should spend no more than a total of 2 hours each day watching TV, playing video games, or surfing the web. These activities can lead to overeating, less physical activity, and a higher risk for becoming overweight. TV watching also may influence children to make unhealthy food choices because they see a lot of advertisements for foods that are high in sugars and calories. Setting limits on kids' TV, video game, and computer time is important for their health.

Suggested strategies

• Remove TVs from the out-of-school time space or cover them with a cloth so they can't be seen.
• Try new indoor games or an arts and crafts project if weather limits outdoor playtime.

Environmental Standard #7:
Provide all children with at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day.
Offer 20 minutes of vigorous physical activity at least 3 days per week.

Rationale:

Children 6-17 years old need at least 60 minutes or more of physical activity every day. Most of the 1 hour or more a day should be moderate or vigorous physical activity. Children should participate in vigorous activity on at least 3 days per week. Examples of moderate physical activity are bike riding, hopscotch and playground play. Vigorous activity are more intense and make you sweat, like running, basketball, and aerobic dancing. Regular physical activity is important for preventing chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis.

Suggested strategies

• Schedule at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day.
• Convert cafeteria or classroom areas for dance or fitness if space is limited.

References
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Childhood Overweight and Obesity. www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/causes.html. Accessed 9/15/09
2. American Academy of Pediatrics; Prevention of Pediatric Overweight and Obesity: Family Portal. www.aap.org/obesity/families.html?technology=1. Accessed 09/15/09
3. Harvard School of Public Health; The Nutrition Source. www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource. Accessed 9/15/09
4. United States Department of Agriculture; Mypyramid.gov. www.mypyramid.gov. Accessed 09/22/09.
5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. www.health.gov/paguidelines/factsheetprof.aspx. Accessed 09/15/09
6. Wang YC, Bleich SN, Gortmaker SL. Increasing caloric contribution from sugar-sweetened beverages and 100% fruit juices among US children and adolescents, 1988-2004. Pediatrics. 2008 Jun;121(6):e 1604-14.
7. Ludwig DS, Peterson KE, Gortmaker SL. Relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective, observational analysis. Lancet. 2001 Feb 17;357(9255):505-8.
8. Mozaffarian D, Katan MB, Ascherio A, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC. Trans fatty acids and cardiovascular disease. N Engl J Med. 2006 Apr 13;354(15):1601-13.
9. Wiecha JL, Peterson KE, Ludwig DS, Kim J, Sobol A, Gortmaker SL. When children eat what they watch: impact of television viewing on dietary intake in youth. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006 Apr; 160(4):436-42.

Getting Other Staff On Board!

A PDF version of Getting Other Staff on Board is available here.

Getting other staff on board with healthy eating and physical activity changes is a challenge many programs face. Some staff members might be hesitant about their knowledge of what "healthy" means, while others might feel conflicted because they drink too much soda, don't eat enough healthy foods, or spend more time in front of the television than being physically active. The good news is that Food & Fun Afterschool teaches kids, family, and childcare staff a simple set of healthy goals to live by and provides fun activities and accessible information to help change behaviors and environments. Staff are encouraged to learn along with the children and families and make healthy changes in their own lives. Below you'll find some simple tips for involving staff with Food & Fun!

Who & What?

All staff should understand the healthy messages of Food & Fun Afterschool. Although the whole staff does not need to know how to deliver the curriculum, it is important for consistency and clear messaging that all staff know about the basic health objectives. One way to get started is to review the behavioral goals and key messages for kids at the beginning of each unit with your staff so they have a sense of what children are learning. You could also walk staff through the Environmental Standards for Nutrition and Physical Activity in Out-of-School Time Programs or the parent communications as a way to teach the aims and rationale of the curriculum.

Where and When?

Afterschool is a busy, bustling place! Try to incorporate review of the key messages or environmental standards into your current routine-maybe during a monthly staff meeting or during set up at the beginning of the afterschool day. The goals of Food & Fun Afterschool are designed to be easily incorporated into the way the program runs and shouldn't feel like a lot of extra work. You should also try to have trainings and periodic refreshers for staff who are in charge of delivering the curriculum. This way staff (new and old) will continue to feel confident about their knowledge and Food & Fun will start to become a regular part of your afterschool program.

Why and How?

Equipping staff with the knowledge and skills to successfully delivery Food & Fun Afterschool has many benefits! First, staff will likely gain confidence and enthusiasm for implementing the curriculum. Reviewing key messages with the entire program staff will help with consistency and facilitate program change. With these pieces in places, the curriculum will be able to make a positive impact on children and their families. Try to make use of the many materials available in Food & Fun Afterschool 2nd Edition. There are staff tip sheets with practical strategies for making healthy changes in afterschool programs, the Snack Sense Guide with healthy and low cost snack ideas, and colorful posters to reinforce the environmental standards.

• Refer to the Staff Enagagement Tip Sheet PDF for more ideas.
• The browser version of this tip sheet is located here
• The fast map for is available here
• The browser version of this fast map is available here

Articles, Emails, and Handouts

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Fruits and Vegetables for Better Health" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Get your 5 servings of fruits and Veggies" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Fruits and vegetables: Eat 5 or more servings for your health". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Unit 2: Get Moving

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Get Moving! Feel Great!" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Get Moving!" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Activate your Family!". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick-up at your program's sign-out area.

Unit 3: Be Sugar Smart

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Sugar is Sweet. And Drinks are too?" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Be Sugar Smart" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "More whole grains, less added sugar for good health". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Unit 4: Go For Good Fat

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Go For Healthy Fats!" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Fats in foods" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Dietary Fats: The good, the bad, and the ugly". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Unit 5: Go for Whole Grains

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Get the Whole Story on Whole Grains" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Go for Whole Grains" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "More whole grains, less added sugar for good health". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.
4. Other Whole Grain Resources: "Healthy Whole Grains". More tips on choosing healthy whole grain snacks.

Unit 6: Super Snacks

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Snacking the Healthy Way!" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Super Snacks" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Snacks: A Bridge Between Meals". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Unit 7: Fruits and Veggies Mix it Up

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Fruits and Vegetables for Better Health" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Get your 5 servings of fruits and veggies!" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Fruits and vegetables: Eat 5 or more servings for health". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick-up at your program's sign-out area.

Unit 8: Tune Out TV

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Tune Out Your TV for Better Health" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Tune Out the TV" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Take Control of TV (and other screen time)". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Unit 9: Play Hard

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Get Moving! Feel Great!" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Get Moving!" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Activate your Family!". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick-up at your program's sign-out area.

Unit 10: Hydration

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Hydrated Kids are Healthy Kids" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Stay Cool" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Quenchers!". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Unit 1 Information for Leaders

To view the individual activities for this unit, click on them in the highlighted orange box to the left

Behavior Goal

Children will eat more fruits and vegetables (5-a-day!)

Key Messages for Kids

• Go for Five! Eat 5 or more fruits and vegetables (combined) each day.
• Try to eat a fruit or a vegetable with every meal and snack.
• Just take a bite! Don't be afraid to try a new fruit or vegetable - chances are you'll like it.

Key Information for Program Staff

Fruits and vegetables are important foods to include in a healthy diet, but many children (and adults!) eat much less than the recommended 5 or more servings each day. Fruits and vegetables are packed with lots of vitamins and nutrients. They are also a great source of fiber, which helps you feel full.

The trick is that each type of fruit or vegetable has unique benefits, so it is important to eat different types. Encourage children to eat a variety of different fruits and vegetables so they get all the vitamins and nutrients they need to be healthy. Tell children it is fun to try new fruits and vegetables, and they taste great! They say that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away", but don't forget your oranges and broccoli! Striving for variety also means you should also try to incorporate fruits and vegetables that are relevant to the lives of the children you serve. Take time to talk to kids about the kinds of fruits and vegetables they eat at home and make sure to incorporate them into your snacks and activities in this unit.

Tip: September is National 5-a-Day month, so check out the resource section and connect to organizations that may offer free materials or ideas. School food service directors may also have promotional material, or they may be interested in working with school-based programs on taste-tests or other activities.

• Refer to the Fruits and Veggies Tip Sheet PDF for ideas on how to serve fruits and vegetables for snack at your afterschool program.
• The browser version of this tip sheet is located here
• The fast map for this unit is available here
• The browser version of this fast map is available here

What's a Serving?

• 1/4 cup of dried fruit, like raisins
• 1/2 cup of cooked or raw vegetables, like baby carrots or cooked green beans
• 1/2 cup of canned or cut-up fruit, like applesauce or canned pineapple
• 1 medium piece of fresh fruit (an apple the size of a tennis ball, or 1 medium banana)
• 1 cup of leafy greens like spinach and lettuce (dark greens pack more nutrients than pale iceberg lettuce)

Unit 2 Information for Leaders

To view the individual activities for this unit, click on them in the highlighted orange box to the left

Behavior Goal

Children will be more physically active.

Key Messages for Kids

• Moving your body is fun and helps your body be healthy and strong.
• All types of physical activities like playing, dancing, and sports are good for you.
• Do something active every day.

Key Information for Program Staff

It is important to create an afterschool environment where children are able to participate in physical activity every day. When regular activity is not part of a healthy lifestyle, children are more likely to develop chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis when they grow up. Physical activity tends to decline as children enter the adolescent years, and inactive children and teens are more likely to grow into sedentary adults.

The goal is to engage all children in regular physical activity, regardless of physical or mental abilities, and for them to have fun being active. Many schools have reduced physical education and recess times so children come to afterschool programs ready to move! Children ages 6-17 need at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. This can occur in 15 minute periods of activity throughout the day. They should participate in vigorous activity on at least 3 days per week. To help children meet this goal, provide all children with at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day. Offer at least 20 minutes of vigorous physical activity on 3 or more days per week.

In this unit, children will recognize that traditional forms of exercise, like sports, are not the only way to get moving. Free play, like running, jumping and climbing on playground equipment is just as important as organized sports like soccer or softball. Children can also be active in their chores at home. They may walk a dog or help sweep floors. Finally, children and families should be encouraged to find active forms of transportation like walking to school or riding bikes to the park or store. It is important to keep in mind that people hold different values and understanding about exercise, so talking about all these different ways to be physically active is important.

Don't forget proper hydration! Offer water before, during, and after all physical activity.

• Refer to the Moderate Physical Activity PDF Tip Sheets for ideas on how to engage staff and children in physical activity at your afterschool program every day.
• The browser version of this tip sheet is located here
• The fast map for this unit is available here
• The browser version of this fast map is available here

Unit 3 Information for Leaders

To view the individual activities for this unit, click on them in the highlighted orange box to the left

Behavior Goal

Children will drink fewer sweetened beverages and eat fewer sweets

Key Messages for Kids

• Sweetened drinks like soda, fruit drinks, and sports drinks are loaded with sugar.
• Eating and drinking too much sugar is not healthy for your body and it can cause cavities.
• Water and low fat milk are the best drinks to have at snacks and meals.
• Juice is not as healthy as it seems. It can have as much sugar as soda.

Key Information for Program Staff

Children often replace healthy drinks like milk or water with sugary drinks like punch, soda, and fruit drinks. Drinking too many sugar-sweetened drinks, as well as eating sugary foods like candy and cookies, can lead to dental cavities and may increase the risk for overweight, diabetes and heart disease. In fact, some children are developing type 2 diabetes because of poor diets and overweight.

In this unit, children will learn how to read the sugar content in different drinks and identify drinks with lots of sugar. You can help children (especially older ones) investigate other drinks, snacks and treats by looking at the amount of sugar listed on the food label, then converting that number into teaspoons. To calculate grams of sugar to teaspoons, divide the grams of sugar by 4 (there is 1 teaspoon of sugar for every 4 grams of sugar listed).

Teach children and their parents the many different forms sugar can take. High fructose corn syrup, dextrose, sucrose, honey, cane juice, molasses, and malt syrup all mean one thing: SUGAR! Help children develop healthy habits by serving water instead of sugary drinks at every snack. Drinks with artificial sweeteners are not a healthy alternative, because the long term safety of artificial sweeteners is unknown.

Provide naturally sweet or low-sugar snack foods like dried fruit, yogurt and fruit (try plain or vanilla yogurt mixed with fruit), granola, or low to moderate sugar cereals (under 10 grams of sugar per serving). Also, snacks do not need to be sweet! Try serving savory snacks like popcorn, trail mix or whole grain crackers with no trans fat in them.

• Refer to the Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tip Sheet PDF for ideas on how to eliminate sugar-sweetened drinks at your afterschool program.
• The browser version of this tip sheet is located here
• The fast map for this unit is available here
• The browser version of this quick guide is available here

Unit 4 Information for Leaders

To view the individual activities for this unit, click on them in the highlighted orange box to the left

Behavior Goal

Children will choose foods with healthy fats when possible.

Key Messages for Kids

• You need to eat fat to keep your body healthy, but not all fats are the same. Try to choose fats that are good for your body.
• Fats from fish, nuts, and seeds are healthy for your body.
• Limit fats from animal sources, like butter, whole milk, and red meat.
• Do not eat trans fats found in fast food like French fries and baked goods like cookies.

Key Information for Program Staff

Fat is a tricky subject for children (and adults!) to think about. Children, especially older ones, often associate "fat" with body image, and they do not think about it in a good way. When you introduce this unit, inform the group that fat is just one of three energy sources that we get from food (carbohydrates, protein, and fat all give us energy for the body to work). We need to eat fat for energy, to help us feel full, and because it provides nutrients like vitamin E. Our bodies need fat for nerve function, healthy skin and to protect our organs (fat acts like a cushion!). Some body fat is normal and healthy! However, we need to be careful about the type of fat we consume.

Before participating in the activities in this unit, children should have some understanding of the difference between "Go" foods with healthy fat and "Slow" foods with unhealthy fats. Explain that healthy fats are plant fats (like nuts or olive oil) and fish oils, or have lower saturated fat (like low-fat milk). Fats that are not healthy are saturated, like fat from animals (butter, red meat, and whole milk), and trans fat (found in processed snack foods, margarine, and many fried fast foods like French fries). See the box below for more information on the different types of fats!

When discussing food fats with children, keep in mind that younger children in particular will have difficulty understanding the difference between healthy and unhealthy fats. Try partnering older children with younger children so they can help with these concepts. You can also discuss food choices with children and encourage them to find healthier options at lunch or when they are eating out. As you explore the different types of healthy fats, try to incorporate foods that are relevant to the lives of the children you serve. Take time to talk to kids about how the food they eat at home is prepared and help them identify when they are eating healthy vs. unhealthy fats. Don't forget, the best way to influence healthy habits among children is for you to be a positive role model by offering healthy snack options (and eating them too!).

It is important to avoid suggestions of "dieting" to children at this age! You may need to remind children that you are discussing food fat as it relates to healthy eating, and not as it relates to body fatness. We do not want children to interpret this topic as suggesting that they are "fat" or need to lose weight. Though some children may be overweight, neither this unit nor the Food & Fun curriculum are designed for weight loss. Also avoid the suggestion that low-fat diets will help children stay slim or lose weight. Food fats are not turned directly into body fat; they have functions in the body as noted above. When people gain too much weight, it is because they eat more calories from any type of food (calories comes from carbohydrates, protein and fat) than they use for exercise and basic body functions (including growth and development).

Children should be encouraged to be active for the fun of it and to choose foods that taste good and keep their bodies healthy. If weight is a real concern, it is up to the parents to work with the child's doctor and a dietitian on a healthy plan.

• Refer to the "Say No to Trans Fat!" Tip Sheet for ideas on how to get trans fats out of the snacks served at your afterschool program.
• The browser version of this tip sheet is located here
• The fast map for this unit is available here
• The browser version of this fast map is available here

Keeping Track of Fats!

Unsaturated fats are healthy fats. These fats are found in plant oils (like olive oil and vegetable oil), nuts, and fish. Unsaturated fats help lower the "bad" (LDL) cholesterol in the blood.

Saturated fats come from animal sources like dairy products (for example whole milk and butter) and red meat. Coconut and palm oils are also saturated fats. Saturated fats raise LDL cholesterol and can lead to heart disease and diabetes. Since whole milk is a major source of saturated fat in children's diets, one easy way to lower their intake of unhealthy saturated fat is to offer skim or 1% milk.

Trans fats are created from plant oils through a chemical process called partial hydrogenation which makes them solid at room temperature. Trans fats are commonly found in stick margarine, processed baked goods like cookies, crackers, and other snack products, and fast foods. Trans fats are bad for your health and should be avoided! Buy snacks for your program that have 0 grams of trans fat on the nutrition label. But, also check the ingredient list! By law, products labeled as "0 grams trans fat," are still allowed to contain up to 0.49 grams of trans fat per serving. Look for the words "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" in the ingredient list; this means the food has trans fat.

Unit 5 Information for Leaders

To view the individual activities for this unit, click on them in the highlighted orange box to the left

Behavior Goal

Children will eat more whole grain foods.

Key Messages for Kids

• Whole grains are important because they help you feel full longer and make your body healthy.
• Eat whole grains (like whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat crackers and brown rice) instead of refined grains (like white bread, muffins, pasta, and white rice) whenever possible.
• Breakfast is a great time to try whole grains. Try whole grain cereals, waffles, bread, or bagels.

Key Information for Program Staff

Many children do not eat enough whole grains. Whole grains contain fiber, vitamin E, and healthy fats. Whole grains help keep your blood sugar under control, arteries clear, and they also make you feel full longer. Refined "white" flour and sugar do not have the nutrients or health benefits of whole grains. When serving grains for snack (like bread, crackers, and cereal), serve whole grains! Read nutrition labels and choose 100% whole grain breads and cereals that have at least 3 grams of fiber per serving. Choose breads and cereals that list a whole grain first, like whole wheat, barley, oats or rye. As you explore all the different types of whole grains, try to incorporate foods that are relevant to the lives of the children you serve. Take time to talk to kids about the grains they eat at home, identify which of these grains are whole grains, and make sure to incorporate them into your snacks and activities in this unit.

Children have several opportunities during the day to consume whole grains. The two easiest meals to do so are breakfast and lunch since there are many cereals and breads made with whole grains. Out-of-school programs can help introduce such whole grain foods like whole wheat crackers (with no trans fats), breakfast cereals (with less than 5g of sugar per servings), mini whole-wheat bagels, and whole wheat pita bread. There are many whole grains options available for the same price as refined options.

• Look for products with at least 3 grams of fiber and no more than 5 grams of sugar per serving.

• Refer to the "Whole Grains" Tip Sheet PDF for ideas on how to serve whole grains in your afterschool program.
• The browser version of this tip sheet is located here
• The fast map for this unit is available here
• The browser version of this fast map is available here

Unit 6 Information for Leaders

To view the individual activities for this unit, click on them in the highlighted orange box to the left

Behavior Goal

Children will choose healthy snack foods

Key Messages for Kids

• Our bodies need healthy snacks to stay energized between meals.
• Choose healthy snack foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy foods, and lean meats or proteins.
• Snacks that have a lot of sugar, unhealthy fat, and salt like candy, cookies, and chips are "slow" snacks.

Key Information for Program Staff

Many children enjoy treats at snack time, but they need the nutrition and energy that comes from a healthy snack. Snacks often provide children with up to 25% of their daily calorie needs, so serving healthy and tasty foods and drinks are important! Help children understand that snacks create a bridge between meals - it gives them the energy they need to concentrate on schoolwork and to play.

Snacks should be made from the foods children would enjoy at a meal, and snacks should not always be seen as a treat. Avoid serving snacks that are high in sugar or contain trans fat. When children eat sugary snacks, they may get short term relief from hunger and a quick energy boost, but those good feelings don't last. Similarly, it is unhealthy to choose foods like cookies or brownies because these often contain harmful trans fats. Trans fats are oils that have been chemically treated to make them harder, and more shelf stable so they last longer. Trans fats are harmful to health, so it's important to read food labels to choose products that list 0 grams trans fat, and do not list "partially hydrogenated oil" in the ingredients. Also, look at the nutrition label on canned, boxed, and frozen foods to ensure that sodium (salt) levels are low. Try to serve items with less than 300 mg/serving. Look for hidden salt in prepared snacks such as macaroni and cheese, chili, soup or canned pasta like SpaghettiOs®, and compare different brands and types of bread and deli meat.

Since children often have little control over the types of foods served to them, it is important to praise children when they do make healthy choices. The best way to influence children is to provide them with healthy, tasty snack choices. Show them that eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods at snack time is fun by getting creative with recipes and enlisting kids to help with selecting and preparing snacks! Serve a variety of healthy snacks from different food groups during program time. Striving for variety also means you should also try to incorporate foods that are relevant to the lives of the children you serve. Take time to talk to kids about the healthy foods they eat at home and make sure to incorporate them into your snacks and activities in this unit. Involve children in preparing and serving snacks. As always, help children see how tasty and fun healthy snacks are by eating healthy snacks yourself!

You all will benefit!

To do the activities in this unit, it is important that children understand the difference between GO foods and SLOW foods. Explain to children at the beginning of this unit and at the start of each activity that GO foods are whole grains, fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk or dairy foods, lean meats, and nuts or seeds. SLOW foods contain few vitamins, minerals and fiber but do contain a lot of sugar, salt and/or unhealthy saturated or trans fats.

Unit 7 Information for Leaders

To view the individual activities for this unit, click on them in the highlighted orange box to the left

Behavior Goal

Children will eat a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Key Messages for Kids

• Go for five or more! 5 servings of fruits and vegetables (combined) each day.
• Try to eat a fruit or vegetable at every meal and snack.
• Fruits and vegetables come in lots of colors. Try to eat as many different colors as you can.

Key Information for Program Staff

Fruits and vegetables are important foods to include in a healthy diet, but many children (and adults!) eat much less than the recommended 5 or more servings each day. Fruits and vegetables are packed with lots of vitamins and nutrients, including vitamins A, B (folate) and C, and minerals such as potassium and even calcium. Fruits and vegetables are also a great source of fiber, which helps you feel full.

Fruits and vegetables come in many different colors, and each color brings with it nutrients that other colors may not offer. For instance, deep orange and yellow produce such as cantaloupe, carrots, and sweet potatoes are packed with vitamin A, while citrus fruits like oranges and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli contain vitamin C. Broccoli and dark leafy greens like kale provide calcium. Bananas are great sources of potassium.

Encourage children to eat a variety of different fruits and vegetables so they get all the vitamins and nutrients they need to be healthy. Tell children it is fun to try new fruits and vegetables, and they taste great! Striving for variety also means you should also try to incorporate fruits and vegetables that are relevant to the lives of the children you serve. Take time to talk to kids about the kinds of fruits and vegetables they eat at home and make sure to incorporate them into your snacks and activities in this unit.

Refer to the "Fruits & Veggies!" Tip Sheet for ideas on how to serve fruits and vegetables for snack at your afterschool program.

• Refer to the Fruits and Veggies Tip Sheet PDF for ideas on how to serve fruits and vegetables for snack at your afterschool program.
• The browser version of this tip sheet is located here
• The fast map for this unit is available here
• The browser version of this fast map is available here

Unit 8 Information for Leaders

Behavior Goal

Children will watch less TV.

Key Messages for Kids

• Moving your body keeps you fit!
• Do something active instead of watching TV playing videogames, or spending time on the computer.

Key Information for Program Staff

Television viewing is the most common sedentary activity of children in the United States. Every day 8- to 18-year-olds spend about 4 hours watching TV and DVDs, over an hour on the computer and almost an hour playing video games! Excess TV viewing can lead to less physical activity, overeating, and a higher risk for becoming overweight. This is because children are not active when they watch TV, they tend to snack more, and they see lots of advertising for high calorie, high sugar foods like candy, soda, and fast foods.

The activities in this unit help children recognize how much TV they watch, and more importantly, help you encourage children to replace TV and other screen time (like video games and computers) with other activities that they like. Take the time to brainstorm with the kids in your program to identify a wide variety of screen-free activities they enjoy. It is important to share the key messages and tips for families so parents and guardians can limit TV time at home (see the Parent Communications and Parent Handouts section in the Food & Fun curriculum). Support these messages in your afterschool program by eliminating broadcast and cable TV or movies, and limiting computer time to less than 1 hour each day. If you do show TV in your afterschool program, replace this with physically active games or other non-screentime activities like board games, cards, or arts and crafts. The key to successfully reducing TV and other screen time is to replace that time with activities that children like!

Tip: While physical activity is a great way to spend non-TV time, reducing screen time also provides a wonderful opportunity to promote literacy through reading, crossword puzzles, and other word games. Consider making a connection with your local library to support literacy efforts. Also try participating in a TV Turn-Off week, a national event that takes place each April (see http://www.tvturnoff.org/).

• Refer to the "Turn Off That Screen!" Tip Sheet PDF for ideas on how to eliminate TV and suggestions for non-screentime activities at your afterschool program.
• The browser version of this tip sheet is located here
• The fast map for this unit is available here
• The browser version of this fast map is available here

Unit 9 Information for Leaders

To view the individual activities for this unit, click on them in the highlighted orange box to the left

Behavior Goal

Children will "play hard" at least 3 times each week at afterschool.

Key Messages for Kids

• Doing activities that make you sweat or breathe hard will make you strong and keep your bones and heart healthy.
• Playing hard is fun when it's something you like to do.
• Do an activity that makes you sweat or breathe hard at least 3 times per week.

Key Information for Program Staff

It is important to create an afterschool environment where children are able to participate in physical activity every day. When regular activity is not part of a healthy lifestyle, children are more likely to develop chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis when they grow up. Physical activity tends to decline as children enter the adolescent years, and inactive children and teens are more likely to grow into sedentary adults.

The goal is to engage all children in regular physical activity, regardless of physical or mental abilities, and for them to have fun while being active. Many schools have reduced physical education and recess times, so children come to afterschool programs ready to move! Children ages 6-17 need at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. They should participate in vigorous activity on at least 3 days per week. To help children meet this goal, provide all children with at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day. Offer at least 20 minutes of vigorous physical activity on 3 or more days per week. Don't forget proper hydration! Offer water before, during, and after all physical activity.

In this unit, children will learn what it means to "play hard". Vigorous activities are games and sports that are more intense than fast walking. They make you sweat and your heart beat faster. This unit also encourages children to identify vigorous physical activities that are fun for them. Take time to learn about students' cultures to be sure you offer meaningful and interesting activities for all the kids in your program. Kids will be more likely to take part!

• Refer to the Physical Activity PDF Tip Sheets for ideas on how to engage staff and children in physical activity at your afterschool program every day.
• The browser version of this tip sheet is located here
• The fast map for this unit is available here
• The browser version of this fast map is available here

Unit 10 Information for Leaders

To view the individual activities for this unit, click on them in the highlighted orange box to the left

Behavior Goal

Children will drink water at every snack and when they are thirsty.

Key Messages for Kids

• Water is the best thirst quencher.
• Drink water when you are thirsty.
• Drink water instead of juice or soda at every snack and meal.

Key Information for Program Staff

Water is the best drink for children in afterschool programs. It is calorie free, hydrates children, and is low-cost from your nearest tap! Serve water at every snack, and make sure it is available throughout the afterschool period. Encourage children to drink water whenever they are thirsty.

Do not serve sugar-sweetened beverages (like soda, fruit drinks, sports drinks, and fruit-ades) during afterschool; these drinks provide a lot of sugar and calories that children's bodies don't need. Children do not need sport and energy drinks because most sports drinks are designed for endurance athletes who exercise for hours at high intensity. They contain lots of sugar and calories.

It is important to communicate about the importance of drinking water instead of sugary drinks to parents because kids are most likely to drink soda and juice drinks at home. Many parents don't realize the large amount of sugar their children get from drinks. Most tap water in the United States is safe to drink, but if you or the parents from your program are concerned about the safety of your local water supply check out The Environmental Protection Agency's annual water quality reports: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ccr/whereyoulive.html.

• Refer to the "Water, Water Everywhere!" Tip Sheet PDF for ideas on how to serve water at your afterschool program!
• The browser version of this tip sheet is located here
• The fast map for this unit is available here
• The browser version of this fast map is available here

Unit 11 Information for Leaders

To view the individual activities for this unit, click on them in the highlighted orange box to the left

Behavior Goal

Children will review health messages from the Food & Fun lessons that have been taught at afterschool

Key Messages for Kids

• Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains taste great and are good for you.
• Being active is fun and good for your body!
• Water is the best drink when you are thirsty.
• Do something active instead of watching TV.
• Fats from fish, nuts, and seeds are healthy for your body.

Key Information for Program Staff

This unit, "Food & Fun Finale!" is an opportunity for you 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 this out half way through Food & Fun, or when you have finished all of the units.

If you need a refresher of the key messages, re-read the "Key Information for Program Staff" in each unit. If you notice that there are some key messages in this Unit that you have not yet covered, consider teaching these units next. It is important for kids to understand all parts of a healthy lifestyle-staying physically active, eating healthy foods, drinking healthy beverages, and limiting time in front of the TV and computer. Don't forget to check out some of the suggested references in each of the units if you want to delve deeper in to a unit that kids really love!

It is important to communicate about the importance of drinking water instead of sugary drinks to parents because kids are most likely to drink soda and juice drinks at home. Many parents don't realize the large amount of sugar their children get from drinks. Most tap water in the United States is safe to drink, but if you or the parents from your program are concerned about the safety of your local water supply check out The Environmental Protection Agency's annual water quality reports: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ccr/whereyoulive.html.

Refer to the "Water, Water Everywhere!" Tip Sheet for ideas on how to serve water at your afterschool program!

Recipe Packet

You can download the complete Recipe Packet here .

The Recipe Packet will provide you with tips on preparing food with children, and fun, healthy, inexpensive recipes, as well as guidelines for including taste tests as part of your snack program.

Each recipe is classified into levels of kitchen equipment requirements so you can easily determine if you have the resources to make the snack at your afterschool program. The price per serving and preparation time is included for each recipe as well. Have fun... and dig in!

Complete Food&Fun Afterschool Curriculum

You can download the entire curriculum here.

How to Navigate Each Unit

Links to each of the units and their respective activities can be found to the left. Each of the 11 units is set up the same way and everything you need to conduct an activity (instructions, worksheets, recipes, etc.) is found within the unit. Most activities require common after school materials, such as construction paper, crayons or other craft items, and physical education equipment such as balls. Still, you may need to gather some material from outside sources, such as old magazines or empty water bottles. You may need to purchase special ingredients for the recipes.

Here's what you will find in each unit

Behavior Goal

Each unit lists a simple goal for children to achieve through the unit's activities.

Key Messages

These are the sound bites for the unit theme. A great way to inform children of the new theme is to copy the key messages onto colorful paper for display in your program - post on a bulletin board, on the walls, or at your check-out area. Visual displays not only help the children identify with the new theme, but it reminds parents of your healthy program goals! Program staff should review the key messages and use them when they present the various activities. For instance, when serving snack the leader may remind children that "Fruits and vegetables make great snacks that are healthy for your body!" (a key message from Unit 1). There are many opportunities to infuse these key concepts throughout a program day or week. All staff should be familiar with them, even if they are not in charge of leading the Food & Fun activities.

Key Information for Program Staff

This important background information provides staff leaders with the "why" behind each unit. It also offers tips for presenting the activities, or things to keep in mind when discussing nutrition or physical activity concepts with children.

Activity Options for Children

1. Arts and Crafts involve coloring, cutting and pasting, or other creative projects. These activities allow leaders to introduce children to the various food or fitness concepts in a fun way.
2. Active Games get children running and moving while learning about the key messages of the unit. Relay-type races with modifications are one common way to integrate learning with movement. These activities are designed to involve all children in a way that eliminates individual competition. Modifications are provided for most games.
3. Other Group Games or Activities can be used in circle time or small groups to reinforce the learning concepts of the unit. Some of these activities are geared towards older children (upper elementary, 3rd - 5th grade) who have writing skills and/or the ability to understand more complex information.
4. Suggested Books can be used to complement the unit activities. You may make books available in a reading center, or read to the group during circle time. Instead of purchasing books, borrow them from your local library for free!
5. Snack Time is a great time to introduce new foods to children! Recipes are provided as the best hands-on way to involve children in snack preparation. Most recipes include commonly found ingredients and simple preparation methods, though some do involve cooking or advance preparation by adults (such as chopping vegetables). Programs can introduce families to healthy foods by preparing extras to serve during pick up, and by distributing the recipes.

Connect with Parents

It is crucial to involve and inform families about the steps that your program is making to positively influence the health of their children. To help you reach out to parents and other caregivers, each unit lists key messages for parents which support the unit objectives. Like the key messages for children, these may be printed onto colorful paper to display at the check-out area or on a parent board. They are also included in the Parent Communication newsletters and email messages section. Food & Fun 2nd Edition suggests ways to connect with parents, and provides materials for communicating with parents that are available in English and Spanish:

1. Parent Engagement Activities- Suggestions for how to engage parents in the messages being taught in each unit. Experiment and be creative; come up with your own ideas or modify the suggested activities for each unit!
2. Newsletter articles- Available to cut and paste into your current program newsletter or as a stand-alone 1 page bulletin. These articles are available so you can send information about healthy eating or physical activity home each month. Available in English and Spanish.
3. Email messages- Get around the challenge of notices left in children's backpacks by sending parents a simple message via email. These messages specifically address the unit key messages and activities while offering simple tips to involve families in the promotion of healthy foods and fitness behaviors. Available in English and Spanish.
4. Parent handouts- Provided for each unit topic of Food & Fun. These colorful sheets are another easy way to get health messages home to families. Available in English and Spanish.
5. Parent handbook- The handbook Food, Fun & Family provides information for parents about how to help develop healthy eating, physical activity, and television habits at home. It also includes additional resources like information sheets and recipes. Available in English and Spanish.

There is also a section of the site completely dedicated to the parents. Have them check it out!

Resources

For more information about the topic of the month, visit the Outside Resources Page where each unit lists a number of relavent websites. Some units also include sources for materials that compliment the activities. You may also reinforce unit lessons by using the curriculum's tip sheets.

Activity Instructions

Instructions are provided for each activity or game and include information on the materials and advance preparation required, objectives of the game (if applicable), and instructions on how to conduct the activity or play the game. There are also lesson extensions to adapt the game for different age groups or space limitations.

Recipes and Taste Tests

Preparing and trying new foods with children is a great way to get them excited and interested in healthy foods. Children who help with meal or snack preparation are more likely to try their own creations! Use the Food & Fun 2nd Edition Recipe and Taste Test Packet to find recipes to try in the program and share with families. Recipes are designed to complement the unit themes. The recipes are classified by level of kitchen equipment requirements so you can easily determine if you have the resources to make the snack at your after school program. For example, for Level 1 there is no cooking required, Level 2 is basic equipment (i.e. sink, fridge, microwave, blender, and/or toaster); and Level 3 requires a full kitchen (i.e., basic equipment plus stove). Each recipe lists the supplies needed along with the ingredients and instructions. Taste tests provide another fun and simple way of introducing children to new foods. Select foods that are easy to prepare and keep in mind that children can taste one new food or recipe, or compare similar foods (like "green vegetables" or "whole grain breads"). A taste test rating sheet, along with simple guidelines and ideas, are provided in each nutrition unit.

Remember to keep safety and sanitation in mind by washing hands and cleaning surfaces before handling food. Always keep sharp tools out of the hands of children.

Worksheets

Worksheets used in the learning activities are found at the end of the unit, along with any other supportive printouts that may be needed for a game or activity.

Tips for Food & Fun Success

Here are some tips for success as you begin to work with the materials and make changes in program practices:

• Power up your snack offerings - Introduce healthier choices while removing unhealthy options from the menu. Check out Snack Sense for ideas on how to incorporate the Environmental Standards for Healthy Eating into your regular snack time routine at a low price. The Tip Sheets are another great resource for ideas on how to provide healthy snacks in afterschool time.
• Get children involved - Ask children to help prepare for snack time and help at clean-up. For example, children can put snacks and pitchers of water with cups on the snack tables. You can also involve children through cooking special snacks and taste-testing. For a list of snack recipes and taste test ideas, check out the Food and Fun 2nd Edition Recipe and Taste Test Packet. Check with your program's regulations first to be sure that no restrictions apply.
• Get children moving - Schedule, schedule, schedule! Make physical activity a priority by scheduling at least 30 minutes at the same time every day. Plan activities that keep kids moving! The Tip Sheets "Everyone Participates!" and "Physical Activity!" is a great resource for ideas on how to engage all staff and children in physical activity and how to offer physical activity every day.
• Connect with schools - Let your school or other local schools know how you incorporate Food & Fun into your after school programs. Tell teachers how the activities support the Common Core State Standards and share the alignment guide.
• Offer a variety of choices - Whether it's an active game or new snack, children like to have some control over what they do. Involve children in selecting games, snacks, or learning activities. After presenting something new, ask them to vote on whether or not they liked it enough to do again, or if they have other ideas on how to play the game.
• Designate a space for food and fitness information - Any corner can work! Display key messages from the unit along with art work created by the children. You can add books that have nutrition or activity themes in the food and fitness area. Most units suggest books which complement the theme.
• Ban the junk - Keep soda or unhealthy snack machines off limits to children during program time, and discourage staff from using them also.
• Water! - Serve water as the primary beverage every day. Serve tap water in pitchers on the snack table with cups. Jazz up the water with slices of fruit!
• Engage staff as role models - We all know that children model what they see. It's extremely important that staff participate in healthy snack time and physical activity games during afterschool program hours. Staff should not bring soda, fast food, or other unhealthy snacks into the program even for personal use. Staff will project a positive attitude about eating well and being active when they participate in snack and active time with children. For more tips on staff participation, see the Tip Sheet "Everyone Participates!".
• Keep parents informed - As you use the Food & Fun After School materials, let parents know what's happening. When parents pick up their child, talk to them about the activities their child participated in and the key health lessons they learned from the unit. Use the tools provided in the Parent Materials section to reinforce the lessons learned at after school, and to provide tips for healthy habits at home.

Tips for Talking to Kids about Nutrition and Physical Activity

As the adult in charge, what you say, and the language that you use, is very important for communicating positive messages about healthy eating and physical activity to children.

• Focus on the importance of nutrition and physical activity for feeling good and staying healthy. Avoid connecting eating well and staying active to losing weight or being slim. For example, do not use statements like, "drinking water will keep you from becoming overweight." Water is good for everyone, not just those who want to lose weight.
• Talk about how eating well and being physically active is fun, makes you feel good, and give you energy! Share stories about eating healthy and being active. Avoid discussions that focus on losing weight.
• Do not talk about dieting - for yourself or for children. If parents bring up a concern about a child's weight, advise them to speak with their pediatrician.
• If a child asks you a question about nutrition that you do not know the answer to, avoid answering with your best guess. Simply say that you don't know, and that you will help to find the answer. Follow through by referring to the web resources in Food & Fun that are separated by topic area. If the child is old enough to use the internet, you can recommend one of these websites so that he or she can look for the answer.
• This curriculum is focused on positive healthy messages about nutrition and physical activity, but it is always possible that discrimination issue may arise. For more information on how to address check out the weight bias resources from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. They have tools designed especially for kids, parents, and educators. (link)

A Basic Guide to Taste Tests

Key Information for Program Staff

Taste tests encourage children to try new healthy foods in a non-threatening manner. You can test just one item or recipe at a time, or compare new and familiar foods. Don't be afraid to reintroduce foods as children's taste and acceptance of new foods often change! Finally, when selecting foods, consider any food allergies that may be present.

Instructions and Things to Keep in Mind:

1. Determine how many children will taste the food and purchase the appropriate amount of food to be tasted.
2. Prepare food samples in advance, if possible, and have all materials (plates, small cups, napkins, etc.) readily available, along with clean-up items such as paper towels, wet wipes and trash bins.
3. Maintain proper sanitation procedures: clean work and surface areas, wash and dry all produce, and wash all hands.
4. Copy the taste test rating sheet (one per child), and consider writing in the foods to be tasted before copying the sheet. Each page has space to try two food items, so copy additional pages if you are trying more foods.
   • If you do not have access to a copier, try a creative rating method, such as placing popsicle sticks into coffee cans or other containers labeled with the rating options. (Like A Lot! Like Somewhat. Do Not Like Very Much.)
5. Ask children to wait until everyone has received his or her samples before eating, then have the children try the food and praise them for doing so.
6. Do not force a child to try a food; however, explain to the children that although they may not think they are going to like the new food, that tasting is a good way to find out. Praise children for trying something new!
7. Instruct children to express their opinions on their rating sheets without verbalizing how they feel about the new food. Summarize the group's evaluation (Did they like the food a lot? Somewhat? Or Not very much?) and decide whether or not they would eat/drink/make that food/beverage/recipe again. Provide opportunities for the children to offer feedback and comments on the taste, texture and smell of the food.
   • Be creative! Try blindfolded taste tests or incorporate taste tests into a team or group activity!
   • Be sure to serve those items that they like again!

Getting Started

While all staff should be expected to have a common understanding of the healthy objectives of the curriculum, it is important to work with the staff who deliver the curriculum to develop more in depth skills and knowledge. Note that there are discussion questions included in each of the sections below which can be used during trainings, meetings or one-on-one discussions with your staff. These discussion questions are designed as a jumping off point for conversations with the staff at your program.

Sometimes the hardest part of taking up a new program or curriculum is just getting started! Food & Fun Afterschool 2nd edition has 11 units, each with lots of fun activities to try out. Although you can follow the month-by-month schedule on page 3 of the About Guide, you might want to start with units that seem most exciting to your staff. Getting started with topics that interest staff will likely lead to more use in the future! Once you or your staff choose a unit, makes sure to review the key information for program staff and instructions for the activities you will be using so staff feel comfortable with the content they will be delivering

Discussion Questions

• What unit from the Food & Fun curriculum is most exciting to you?
• What needs to be done to best prepare for success of this unit?

Kids Look up to Afterschool Staff

It is important that staff role model the healthy behaviors they are teaching in Food & Fun. This means participating in physical activity along with kids as well as eating and drinking healthy during the program time. It's likely that the kids won't take the curriculum messages seriously if they see staff sitting down during physical activity time, drinking soda during the program, or regularly talking about their love of French fries and sweets.

Discussion Questions

• What are some of the healthy decisions you have made recently?
• How might you want to change your current behavior to be healthier?

Considering the Diversity of the Children and Families You Serve

This is key to making Food & Fun Afterschool relevant and useful. When you think about diversity this can mean the race, ethnicity, family income, disability status, age, and gender of the kids in your program. You might also think about the influences of urban or rural settings as well as neighborhoods. You can make sure to incorporate all kids' experiences by having conversations about the types of foods and drink they have at home as well as the ways they get physical activity. Many of the lessons have prompts for these kinds of conversations, but they are a great way to start off any unit!

Discussion Question

• How can you create a safe environment that is conducive to healthy conversations about the nutrition and physical activity choices of the kids and families in your program?

Talking About Nutrition and Physical Activity

Encourage staff to start each unit by teaching the key messages for kids. They should always try to focus on the positives of feeling great and being healthy over talk of losing weight. Try teaching staff to use kids' questions as "teachable moments"-if they don't know the answers they can always look them up with the resources in each unit. Check out these questions for ideas to start dialog with kids, and encourage staff to role play with one another for practice.

Check out these tips for talking to kids about nutrition and physical activity!

Food & Fun Question for Kids

• What types of foods do you eat with your family?
• What is your favorite way to get physically activity?
• Why is it important to eat whole grains/be active etc?
• How can you try to eat more fruits/drink more water etc.?

Connect With Parents!

Key Messages for Parents

• Go for Five! Eat 5 or more fruits and vegetables (combined) each day.
• Serve a fruit or vegetable with every meal and snack, even if your child doesn't always eat them.
• Involve your child in healthy eating. Ask your child to help choose which fruits and vegetables you buy for the family and pick which you serve with meals.
• Encourage your child to at least "take a bite" of every fruit and vegetable you serve.

Parent Engagement Options

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Plan a potluck! Invite parents to participate in a fruit and veggie potluck. Ask parents to bring their favorite fruit or veggie dish to share with other parents and children. Ask them to bring copies of the recipe for other parents so they can make the dish at home.
• Offer fruits and veggies at pick-up. Put a bowl of fruits or veggies by the sign-out book for parents to grab when they pick up their kids from afterschool.

Refer to the Parent Communications document, Newsletter Article, and Parent Handout to reinforce the messages in this unit of Food & Fun. All three are available in Spanish and English, and the Handout is available in Chinese.

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Fruits and Vegetables for Better Health" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Get your 5 servings of fruits and Veggies" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Fruits and vegetables: Eat 5 or more servings for your health". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Fruit & Vegetable Placemat

Objective:

Children make a colorful placemat to remind them of fruits and vegetables they like, and to discuss the fun of trying new fruits and vegetables.

Preparation and Materials:

• Construction paper
• Magazines (food or home type) or local grocery circulars
• Scissors
• Glue or glue stick
• Lamination materials, clear contact paper, or packing tape (recommended)
• Dry-erase markers for tracking activity (optional)

Instructions:

1. Distribute 1 sheet of colorful construction paper to each child and have magazines and/or grocery circulars available to share. Get a variety of circulars from different stores in your area to ensure a wide choice of fruits and vegetables children might eat at home.
2. Tell children that they will make a placemat for their snacks or to take home.
3. Instruct children to search for pictures of fruits and vegetables to cut out and paste on their paper. Have them select fruits and veggies they like as well as fruits and veggies they are willing to try.
4. When the decorating is complete, laminate the page or use clear contact paper or packing tape to seal page.

Extension Activities:

• Using dry-erase markers, have children check off the fruits and vegetables that they have eaten that day.
• Discussion: Have kids sit in a circle and share their placemats.
  • How many fruits and vegetables did they eat today? Were there other things that they did eat, but do not have a picture of?
  • How did they select the items for their placemat? How and when do they usually eat fruits and vegetables? What new fruits or vegetables would they like to try?
  • Remind kids to that they should try to have 5 fruits or vegetables every day-a least 1 with every meal and snack!
• Encourage kids to try something different this week! As the group to select a fruit or vegetable that they would like to try and serve it for snack!
• Instead of making individual placemats, make one large mural using a roll of butcher paper. As a group children can identify the fruits or vegetables that they consumed that day by placing check marks or small post-it notes next to the foods they had to eat.
• Have children create placemats with 4 sections (one for each season) and draw or paste fruits and vegetables that grow in each season. Then serve snacks that use seasonal fruits and veggies! See examples below.

Fruit and Vegetable Seasonality

Summer-apricots, avocados, blueberries, watermelon, green beans, and corn

Fall-apples, cranberries, grapes, lettuce, sweet potatoes and pumpkins

Winter-broccoli, clementines, oranges, kiwi, cauliflower, celery, and cabbage

Spring-cherries, carrots, asparagus, grapefruit and beets

NOTE: Tell kids that while it may be winter here, it's summer in other parts of the world (which is why oranges, for example, are a "winter" fruit!)

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

Fruit and Vegetable Relay Games

Objective

Teams collect and sort as many fruit and vegetable containers as possible.

Preparation and Materials:

• Collect, empty, and clean a variety boxes or cans of fruit/vegetables or juice. You could also use pictures/write names of fruits and vegetables to paste on small boxes (like empty milk cartons)
• 2 large containers (milk crates or paper grocery bags work well) for each team; label one box "fruit" and one box "vegetable"

Instructions

1. Arrange group in 2 or more teams and have each team line up on opposite sides of a gym/field/large open space.
2. Place fruit/vegetable containers in the middle of the space, between the teams.
3. On "Go!" each team member takes turns running to grab a fruit/vegetable container and returning to their team to sort the items. All team members should run in place, stretch, or do jumping jacks when waiting for their turn.
4. The team with the most items, correctly sorted, wins.

Extension Activities

• Search for an item that meets the description called out by the leader. For instance, the leader calls out "orange fruit" and the team members in line run out and find an orange fruit to return to their teams. The next person in line searches for a different item, such as "green vegetable". Other options include: part of plant, how the food is typically served (lunch bag fruit, dried fruit snack, mashed vegetable, etc). For older students who have been introduced to key nutrients, categories may include options like "lots of vitamin C" or "little vitamin C"
• As a class, make labels for a few of the fruits and vegetable that are translated into the different languages spoken by the group (Spanish, French, etc). Have children assist with translations. Review the names as a class and then play the game again.
• To add variety to the game and encourage family involvement, have children bring in boxes and cans from home.

I'm Going on a Picnic

Objective

Children take turns naming fruits and vegetables to follow the alphabet.

Suggested Book

Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert

Instructions

1. Children sit in a circle and the leader explains that the group is going on a picnic and needs to pack a fruit or vegetable that begins with each letter in the alphabet.
2. Begin by saying "I'm going on a picnic and I'm going to bring an (apple, avocado, apricot, etc)"
3. The next person repeats the line as well as the foods already listed (see modification for young children) and adds a food from the next letter in the alphabet.
4. The goal is for all children to pack some fruit or vegetable for the picnic. When a child can't remember something, the game ends and it's time to start packing again!

Extension Activities

• Younger children may simply name a food for each letter in the alphabet, while older children can be challenged to remember and repeat each food listed.
• Smaller programs may play this game with all ages together.
• This game can be expanded to include health snacks and drinks; for instance, arts on a log or fruit-flavored water.

Find the Favorite

Objective

Children learn what fruits and vegetables are enjoyed by their friends and family members, and are encouraged to try new ones themselves.

Preparation and Materials:

• Print and copy "Find the Favorite" worksheet
• Pens or pencils for children who can write, crayons or colored pencils/markers for children who prefer to draw pictures

Instructions

1. Distribute interview sheets and pens/pencils to each child.
2. Instruct the children to ask 3-5 friends the following questions:
   • What is your favorite fruit? How do you like to eat it?
   • What is your favorite vegetable? How do you like to eat it?
   • Is there a fruit or vegetable that you do not like? What is it?
3. Tally the results and make plans to serve the favorites.
4. Discuss why children do not like a particular fruit or vegetable- is there a way that they might like it better? Come up with creative serving options (example: eat with a fun dip, try it with a sauce, or add a new spice). Remind children that most vegetables taste different when prepared differently. Conduct a taste test to compare some raw versus cooked foods, such as carrot sticks and cooked carrots or apples and applesauce.

Extension Activities

• Conduct activity at pick-up time or give children the interview sheets to take home; have children interview their parents or caregivers and report on the results the next day.
• Have children bring in their favorite fruit or vegetable "recipes" from home and share with the group. Select some for snack. Compile into a fruit and veggie recipe book that students can decorate as part of a quiet activity and then take home.
• For older groups: create ads (on poster board) to represent the favorite fruits and vegetables of the group, with benefits, nutritional information, etc. Include the message that kids and adults should eat 5 a day.

Bingo

Preparation and Materials

• Print and copy the BINGO board worksheet. Give each child a blank BINGO board to decorate with pictures of fruits and vegetables (they may draw or cut pictures from magazines or grocery circulars). Photocopy these cards and cut out the pictures to use as call cards (or create a list).
• Coins or markers

Instructions

1. Play BINGO according to the usual directions:
   • Draw the cards one by one and call out the fruit or vegetable to the group.
   • Have each child search their board for the item called out and place a marker over the fruit or vegetable if it appears on their card.
   • The first person to get 5 in a straight line (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) yells out "BINGO!" to win.
   • Play with creative rules for winning:
2. Play with creative rules for winning:
   • First to get any 5 on board
   • First to cover entire board
   • First to get cover all green or red fruits and vegetables

Extension Activities:

• Play with creative ways of calling out cards (Note: several fruits or vegetables may fit the description):
  • Describe color ("I'm a deep green vegetable")
  • Describe common way to consume the food ("People drink my juice")
  • Describe region where fruit/vegetable is from or which season it grows in (for example "fall"=pumpkins, apples, etc).
  • Learn names of fruits and veggies in different languages spoken by the group and call out by these different languages

Recipe - Bugs on a Log

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 2 logs
Servings per recipe: about 24
Price per serving: 33¢
Preparation time: 10 minutes

Supplies

• Plastic knives for spreading
• Sharp knife for cutting vegetables

Ingredients

• 1 16oz package of celery hearts, each stalk cut in half
• 2 12oz tubs of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup raisins

Adult Preparation

Wash and cut celery stalks in halves.

Directions

1. Spread about 2 Tbsp of cream cheese on each piece of celery.
2. Top with a row of raisins.

Modifications

Experiment and be creative with different types of "bugs", "logs", and spreads! Try craisins or golden raisins as "bugs", carrot or jicima sticks as "logs", and peanut butter or hummus as spreads- mix and match!

Recipe - Fruit Kebobs

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 1 kabob
Servings per recipe: 24 kabobs
Price per serving: 45¢
Preparation time: 10 minutes

Supplies

• Bamboo skewers
• Melon baller or Knife

Ingredients

Just about any fruit can work for this recipe, so try fruit that is fresh and in season. Here are a few ideas for fruits that are easy for children to skewer.

• 2 pints fresh strawberries
• 2 bunches seedless grapes
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 cantaloupe
• 24 6-inch bamboo skewers

Adult Preparation

Cut cantaloupe in half and scoop out seeds. Cut cantaloupe into squares or scoop into melon balls.

Directions

1. Alternating the fruits, thread them onto bamboo skewers. Place about 5 pieces of fruit per kebob.
2. Children should select their fruit. Encourage them to try at least 2 different types!
3. Optional: Serve the fruit kabobs with Spiced Yogurt Topping (see page 20 for recipe).

Modifications

Experiment and be creative with different types of "bugs", "logs", and spreads! Try craisins or golden raisins as "bugs", carrot or jicima sticks as "logs", and peanut butter or hummus as spreads- mix and match!

Recipe - Spiced Yogurt Topping

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 2 Tbsp
Servings per recipe: 24
Price per serving: 17¢
Preparation time: 5 minutes

Supplies

• Bowl
• Mixing and measuring spoons

Ingredients

• 3 cups vanilla, or banilla (banana-vanilla) yogurt
• 3/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• Salt to taste (optional)

Directions

1. Put yogurt and honey in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
2. Mix in spices and salt and serve with fruit salad or fruit kebobs (see page 19 for recipe).

Modification

Try it warmed up! Microwave the yogurt topping on medium low (50%) power for 1 minute. Stir and check temperature of yogurt. Microwave in 10-second intervals until mixture is warm, but not boiling hot.

Recipe - Oven Baked Carrot Strips

Adapted from: That's My Home: Cooking with Children www.thatsmyhome.com/recipes-for-kids

Level 3: Full Kitchen
Serving size: About 10 carrot strips
Servings per recipe: 20 servings
Price per serving: 40¢
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Supplies

• Shallow pan or baking sheet
• Tin foil
• Sharp knife

Ingredients

• 4 lbs. carrots
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 5 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary
• Black pepper to taste

Adult Preparation

Using a sharp knife, slice off the tip and end of each carrot. Peel each carrot completely. Cut carrots in half cross-wise, then cut length-wise, then cut length-wise again.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425° F.
2. Line a shallow pan with foil.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine the carrot sticks, oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Stir until carrots are evenly coated.
4. Place carrot sticks in pan, spreading them out as much as possible so they are a single layer. You may need to make 2 batches if the pan isn't big enough to arrange carrots in a single layer.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until carrots are tender. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Taste Test - Take a Bite!

Taste Test Ideas for Fruits and Vegetables

• Go Seasonal - serve fruits and veggies that are "in season and available locally."
• Be Adventurous - try fruits like kiwi, pomegranates or star fruit. Have children from different cultural backgrounds suggest fruits that they commonly eat at home (platanos, guava, etc.)
• Taste by Color - try different green vegetables (broccoli, green beans, kale) or orange fruit (peaches, nectarines) or a fruit and vegetable of the same color (red pepper and red cherry)
• Eat the Alphabet - try fruits and vegetables of the same letter (refer to the book Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert for an alphabet of ideas). Examples may include: apricots and apples, or melons and mangos.
• Taste by Part of the Plant - use the "What Part of the Plant are You Eating?" worksheet for a guided testing plan and/or use the examples below:
  • Root: carrot, onion, potato, turnip, yam, beets
  • Stem: asparagus, rhubarb, celery, fennel
  • Leaf: spinach, chard, cabbage, lettuce, collards
  • Flower: broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke
  • Fruit (of the vegetable plant): squash, tomato, cucumber
  • Seed: beans, corn, peas, soy beans
• Taste by Variety - compare different apples, pears, peppers, berries, etc., or compare the same food prepared different ways (for instance, raw apples versus applesauce, which is cooked; or raw versus steamed broccoli). Have kids bring in vegetable recipes that are part of their (or their parent's) culture.

Download the PDF for Taste Test Rating Sheet here

Worksheets

Here you will find the worksheets for the following activities:

1. Find the Favorite
Blank worksheet

2. Bingo
Blank Bingo board

To view all worksheets for this unit, click here

Connect With Parents!

Key Messaged For Parents

• Kids should get 1 hour or more of physical activity every day, all at once or spread out in 10-15 minute periods.
• Active families have fun and feel more energetic.
• Being physically active helps your body be healthy and strong.
• Be a good role model by getting regular physical activity yourself and planning active time as a family. Kids with active families are more likely to stay active as adults.

Parent Engagement Options:

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Start a walking club for families to participate in weekly.
• Dance! Offer a dance class for families. Zumba is one popular dance class that parents and kids can enjoy together.
• Suggest family fitness! Make a list of family fitness classes that local YMCAs are offering. Distribute the list to parents and encourage them to attend!

Refer to the Parent Communications document, Newsletter Article, and Parent Handout to reinforce the messages in this unit of Food & Fun. All three are available in Spanish and English, and the Handout is available in Chinese.

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Get Moving! Feel Great!" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Get Moving!" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Activate your Family!". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick-up at your program's sign-out area.

Active Day Cartoons

Objective:

Children draw cartoons to show how they are active at throughout the day.

Preparation and Materials:

• Print the Active Day worksheets
• Select the "Active Day" worksheet that is most appropriate for the age of the children (4 options available for younger and older children) and copy one for each child
• Crayons, markers and pencils
• Optional: have a sample cartoon available for children to look at

Instructions:

1. Ask children to name some active things they have done today.
   • Explain to children that "active things" move the body and include walking, climbing stairs, dancing, playing games at recess, etc.
   • Examples of things that are not active are reading, drawing, or watching TV.
2. Explain that they will be creating a picture story of their day. Show them the cartoon example and point out that this little story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
3. Instruct them to draw a picture of an "active" day. Display the cartoons on the wall!
   • Younger children may use the cartoon page that allows space for just one picture, or 3 parts of their day. Help them to think of the active things they do in the morning, during school (including at recess or in physical education class), and after school.
   • Older children may create stories using either the 3 or 6-panel cartoon pages. They too should be reminded to fill their morning, school day and afternoon with active things. Older children can write about their stories in the space below the picture (3-panel option) or within the story (6-panel option).

Extension Activities:

• Create one unified book or mural that tells the story of the whole class. Have kids tell the group about their activities to see how their days are similar or different.
• Pair up younger/older children to work together. Older children can write and younger children can illustrate
• Turn each story into a flip book! Try out the link: http://www.kidzworld.com/article/6979-make-your-own-flipbook
• Instead of making individual placemats, make one large mural using a roll of butcher paper. As a group children can identify the fruits or vegetables that they consumed that day by placing check marks or small post-it notes next to the foods they had to eat.
• Have children create placemats with 4 sections (one for each season) and draw or paste fruits and vegetables that grow in each season. Then serve snacks that use seasonal fruits and veggies! See examples below.

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

We Belong to Many Groups

Adapted from A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute

Objective:

Kids will identify groups to which they belong in an active sharing game.

Preparation and Materials:

• Open play space
• List of groups generated by staff or kids
• Crayons, colored pencils, markers (optional

Instructions:

1. Before the afterschool period begins, generate a list of groups to which the children in your program belong. Use the box above as a starting point and make sure not to choose groups that single any individual kids out.
2. Have students stand in a large circle in an open area. The game will start with all kids walking around the circle.
3. Tell the kids that you are going to say the names of several groups. If kids see themselves as part of the group named, they should run to the center of the circle and run back to their place; if they don't see themselves as part of the group, they should continue walking around the circle.
4. Call several groups one by one. Some of the groups should include all the kids (e.g. people who attend afterschool) and some groups should be ones that involve fewer students. Again, try not to choose a group that will single out individual kids. Make sure to incorporate physical activity related groups! Examples might be kids who walk to school, play a team sport, like to dance etc.
5. Finish by asking students what they observed (i.e., sometimes everyone belonged to a group; sometimes only some people did). The objective of this game should be for kids to share parts of their identity and see how they are similar and different from one another.

Ideas for Groups

• Family (e.g. brother, daughter, cousin, oldest child)
• School groups (e.g. band member, first grader)
• Personal identity groups (e.g. gender, race, religion, ethnicity)
• Community groups (e.g. Girl Scouts, youth groups)

Extension Activities

• After you've played the game a few times, have kids make the list of groups before the game begins. Start brainstorming with ideas for groups listed above.
• Try the game with other movements. Have kids hop to the center and back or skip to the center and crab walk back.
• Have kids create a drawing showing the groups they belong to after the game.

Get Moving Relay

Objective:

In relay fashion, teams race to collect and correctly sort activity cards.

Preparation and Materials:

• Print the Get Moving Relay worksheets
• Copy the Activity Cards worksheets onto cardstock and cut out (encourage kids to create cards for any "missing" activities to make sure everyone's active day activities are represented)
• Make category signs ("Get Moving" and "Stay Still")
• 2 containers (paper bags or boxes) for each team
• Place 1 set of activity cards per team on one side of the room (place on a chair, table or in a small box)
• Tape the category signs to each set of containers and place the sets of containers on the opposite side of the room (one set per team)

Instructions:

1. Arrange teams of children near the containers to start.
2. Explain that children will take turns speed walking across the room to collect an activity card and return it to their team where they will place it in the container that best describes the activity. Point out that activities either get their bodies moving or keep their bodies still.
3. Review the activity cards with kids to see if any of activities they do throughout the day are missing. Have them create new cards to add to to the mix.
4. Players will take turns collecting the activity cards until all cards have been sorted. All team members should run in place, stretch, or do jumping jacks when waiting for their turn.
5. For variety, alter the movement across the room: jog, skip, hop, take giant steps.
6. Review the answers with the group - were any placed incorrectly? Ask why the team thought the activity belonged where it was placed.

Extension Activities

• Post the "Get Moving" and "Stay Still" signs (plus have containers available) on opposite walls of a gym or large open space. Have the children stand, scattered in the middle of the room. Throw the activity cards (use multiple sets so that there is at least 1 card per player) in the air so that all children may race to pick up a card and run to place it on the correct side.
• Have children make their own "Get Moving" and "Stay Still" signs to use in this activity.
• For upper elementary children: Add the categories: "Very Active Moves" and "Moderate Moves" to help older children recognize that any way they move feels good, but some things are more active than others. Inform these children that highly active things do more to build fitness.
• Play a game of charades in which each child selects a card from the pile and acts out the activity for others to guess. The children who are guessing also have to call out if the activity gets them moving or not.
• Relay games can be used to reinforce other healthy messages in a way that gets children moving. Here are some ideas:
  • Race to collect fruits or vegetables by color.
  • Race to collect or sort cards that list various foods by the food group: grain, fruit, vegetable, dairy, protein (meat/poultry/fish/eggs/nuts/ seeds/beans), or sugar/fat
  • Race to sort foods cards by meal (e.g.: breakfast foods, snack foods).
  • Race to sort activity cards by level of activity (sedentary, moderate or high intensity) or type of activity (team sport, playground game, chores).

Worksheets

Here you will find the worksheets for the following activities:

1. Active Day Cartoon Options
1 panel to draw picture
3 panels to draw morning, in-school, and after school activities
3 panels with space below to write story (can offer multiple pages for longer stories)
6 panels for older children to create longer stories

2. Get Moving Relay
Get Moving and Stay Still activity list for leaders
Get Moving and Stay Still cards
Very Active and Moderate Moves list for leaders
Very Active and Moderate Moves cards

To view all worksheets for this unit, click here

Connect with Parents!

Key Messages for Parents

• Sugar-sweetened drinks like soda, juice drinks, and sports drinks are the top source of added sugar in kid's diets.
• Drinking sugar-sweetened drinks can cause cavities and increase the risk for overweight in kids and adults.
• Water and low fat milk are the best beverages to offer during snack and meal times.
• Juice can have just as much sugar as soda. Do not serve juice drinks and limit 100% juice to 4 oz. per day (juice box size).

Parent Engagement Options

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Display "Pour It Out". Do the activity "Pour It Out" from the Food & Fun 2nd edition curriculum. Display the cups of children's usual intake of juice and the standard 6 ounce serving by the sign-out book. Talk to parents about the activity you did with the children and what the visuals mean.
• Do a flavored water taste test. Offer parents water infused with cucumber, oranges, lemons or mint. Suggest trying it at home and experiment with other fruits and flavors!

Refer to the Parent Communications document, Newsletter Article, and Parent Handout to reinforce the messages in this unit of Food & Fun. All three are available in Spanish and English, and the Handout is available in Chinese.

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Sugar is Sweet. And Drinks are too?" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Be Sugar Smart" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "More whole grains, less added sugar for good health". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

Bowling for Sugar Smarts

Objective:

Unlike traditional bowling, children try to knock down pins with healthy "sugar smart" drinks to get points; the first team to collect 50 points wins.

Materials and Preparation:

• Print the Bowling for Sugar Smarts worksheets.
• Collect and clean 10 plastic bottles per team (12-16 ounce size water bottles work well; do not use large square-bottom bottles). Remove label from bottles and replace with the beverage/points label
• Print out label page with beverage names and points - copy 1 set per team
• Cut each label and tape at least 5 healthy options to each team's set of bottles
  • Healthy beverage options: water, low-fat milk, 100% fruit or vegetable juice
  • Sweet beverage options: fruit punch, Kool-Aid, lemonade, soda, sports drinks
• Small balls (such as spongy soft balls or tennis balls) - 2 per team
• Set up bottles as you would set up bowling pins on one side of a large room or corridor
• Use masking tape to define the bowling line

How To Play:

1. Small teams will work together to knock down the pins, and collect points based on the beverage bottle that was tipped over.
2. Each player will bowl 2 balls and add up the points based on the following system:
   • Water = 3 points
   • Low fat milk = 2 points
   • 100% juice = 1 point
   • Flavored milk = 1 point
   • All other beverages = no points
3. The first team to collect 50 points wins.
4. Remind the players that milk and water are smart drink choices. Explain that 100% fruit juice has a lot of nutrients but it does contain natural sugars so it should still be consumed in small amounts. Flavored milk contains the healthy nutrients (like calcium) that regular milk has, but it also contains added sugar.

Extension Activities

• Collect actual bottles of healthy and sweetened drinks and post the point system on the wall.
• Try to have a range of beverages that are culturally relevant. For example, if you have a large Hispanic/Latino population, include things like tamarind juice, aguas frescas, horchata, etc. Engage children in coming up with specific types of beverages to include.
• Infuse moderate physical activity into the game by instructing the teams to do jumping jacks for the number of points gathered after each turn, or by jogging/hopping/skipping back and forth to collect the balls and re-set the pins.

Sugar Suprises

Objective:

Teams relay race to collect the "sugar surprise" food cards and arrange them correctly from low to high sugar content.

Materials and Preparation:

• Print the Sugar Surprises worksheets
• Copy and cut out one set of the Sugar Surprises food cards per team of 8

How To Play:

1. Arrange food cards on the floor or table on one side of the room or gym and have 1 set available for each team of 8 children
2. Instruct the teams to line up on the opposite side of the room.
3. Each player will take turns running to pick up a food card and return it to the team. As the food cards are returned, the players will arrange themselves from "low-sugar" to "high sugar". (Note: if there are not enough children for teams of 8, have smaller teams arrange the foods in line on the floor and allow some children to go twice to collect a card.)
4. When a team is done, check their order. If it is correct, they win. If it is not correct, return all cards back to the starting point and have the team repeat play until they can organize the foods correctly.
5. When all teams have correctly organized the foods (allow winning teams to give hints to other teams), review the answers and ask if there were any surprises in the order.
6. Show them the answer cards that include the amount of sugar listed. Any more surprises?
7. Note: while younger ones may not fully understand what the sugar number means, they can see the difference between the various foods and beverages; older children can be told that the number represents teaspoons of sugar in the drinks. Food labels list grams of sugar; older children will convert grams to teaspoons in the "Count It Up" activity.

Extension Activities

• For older children: Have children collect spoons to represent the teaspoons of sugar in the various beverages. Remind them that for every 4 grams of sugar listed on the nutrition facts label there is one teaspoon of sugar.
• Make up other food or drink cards based on snacks served in the afterschool program or by asking children to list their favorite snacks and drinks.

Poar It Out

Objective:

Children compare their usual intake of juice (as poured into a typical cup and measured) to a standard 4 ounce serving. (Note: this activity works best with a small group so that the children can receive individual attention from the leader.)

Materials and Preparation:

• Cups or glasses of different sizes and shapes
• 2 Measuring cups with ounce markings
• Juice, water

Intructions:

1. Depending upon the size of your group, arrange the materials on a table in the front, or if staff allows, have duplicate materials set around the room for smaller groups to work together.
2. Invite two to four students to select a cup and pour the amount of juice that he/she would usually drink at home into the cup.
3. Inform the group that they are going to analyze their drinks to see if they are drinking more or less than they need.
4. Instruct the child to pour the juice into the measuring cup to see how much juice he/she usually drinks.
5. In the other measuring cup, pour out 4 ounces (1/2 cup) and tell the children that this is one serving of juice. How does this compare to the child's drink? Pour the standard amount into the selected cup to visual the difference.
6. Invite other children in pairs or small groups to experiment with the juice. What type or size of cup holds 4 ounces well? How does this amount look when poured into different cups/containers?
7. Explain that while 100% fruit juice gives us vitamins and natural sugar, we need to limit the amount we drink.
8. Tell children that water is the best choice to quench thirst, and that low-fat milk is a super drink for strong bones and teeth.

Extension Activities

• Taste water flavored with fruit slices such as lemon, lime, cucumbers, melons, or berries. Have the kids blindfold each other and see if they can correctly identify what flavor the water is! Or, freeze juice as ice cubes for a flavorful addition to water.

Count It Up

Objective:

Children (individually or in pairs or small groups) will learn that there are different amounts of sugar in different products.

Materials and Preparation:

• Print the Count It Up worksheets
• Copy one Calculation worksheet for each child
  • Note: There are 4 page options that compare different beverages and foods
  • Tip: Give one page to each child, pair or small group to calculate and pour out teaspoons of sugar and allow time to look at the results of the others
  • Write the name of each food to be counted and place this next to the plates for measuring sugar
• Sugar packets or cubes (1 packet or 1 cube = 1 teaspoon), or bowl of sugar and teaspoons
• 8 small paper plates (one for each food/beverage counted)
• Optional: Set an empty food container out in place of the food/drink name tag for a more complete visual and informative nutrition facts label.

Intructions:

1. Distribute "Count It Up" worksheets to the children.
2. Review the instructions for calculating teaspoons of sugar from grams (4 grams = 1 teaspoon). To do this, they will color in one section of the pie for each gram, so that there will be one circle (or teaspoon) colored for every 4 grams of sugar.
3. Children may work in pairs to complete the worksheet by coloring in circles to determine teaspoons of sugar in various foods.
4. Once they have calculated the teaspoons of sugar, they will use the worksheet to measure out the actual teaspoons for each food item (children will either pour out 1 packet of sugar per teaspoon, stack 1 sugar cube per teaspoon, or measure teaspoons directly from a bowl of sugar onto the plate). Note: using a bowl of sugar allows children to measure half teaspoons.
5. Look at the piles of sugar on the different plates. Ask: What do you think about all of the sugar in the different foods? Does anything surprise you?

Extension Activities

• If you have a younger group you may want to skip the worksheet calculation and instead distribute the answer sheet which shows the colored-in circles and amount of teaspoons of sugar in the various foods/beverages. Assign one food or beverage to each pair or small group and have the children measure out the correct amount of sugar for their item. As in the above instructions, allow children the opportunity to look at the sugar in all of the food/beverage items and talk about anything that may have surprised them.
• Ask kids to list some of their favorite drinks and snacks. Encourage them to include more multi-cultural foods like arroz con leche or licuados. Invite children to bring in empty containers of their favorite snacks, treats, cereals, or drinks. Have children measure the teaspoons of sugar from the grams of sugar listed on the food labels (including several of the "healthy snack" options) and pour the sugar into small plastic bags. Attach the plastic bags to a large piece of poster board and label the snack or drink above the bag. This can serve as a reminder as well as a tool powerful visual tool for interacting with parents.
• Collect and/or have children bring in the labels from some of their favorite drinks and snacks. Show children how they can use food labels to identify foods that are high in sugar:
  • Foods with sugar in the top 3 ingredients are likely to be high in sugar.
  • Foods may list other forms of sugar in the ingredients: high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, sucrose, honey, and molasses.
• Then have children see if they can "find the sugar" in their labels. Have them sort the labels into groups with "High Sugar" and "Low Sugar" snacks.
• Connect to the whole grain unit (Unit 5) by reviewing cereal labels. Identify low-sugar (5 grams or less for sugar), moderate sugar (6-10 grams of sugar), or high sugar (10 grams or more of sugar) cereals. Children who are used to eating sugary cereals can try mixing cereals together as they begin to cut back on the high sugar cereals and get used to breakfast with less sugar.

Trail Mix

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 1/2 cup
Servings per recipe: 24
Price per serving: 33¢
Preparation time: 7 minutes

Supplies

• Large bowl and mixing spoons
• Scoop or spoons for serving
• Small serving bowls, cups or plastic snack bags

Ingredients

• 4 cups whole wheat mini pretzels, air popped popcorn or trans-fat free microwave popcorn
• 4 cups whole grain cereal like Cheerios® or Mighty Bites®
• 2 cups dried fruit like apricots, pineapple, or apples (look for brands with NO added sugar).
• 1 cup of raisins or dried cranberries
• 1 cup of granola
• Optional- 1 cup of nuts like almonds, walnuts or soy nuts, or unsalted roasted shelled sunflower seeds (Beware of nut allergies! If present, do not include.)
• Note: Many different ingredients may be added, as long as there is a good mix of whole grains, dried fruit, and nuts if no allergies are present.

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Scoop about 1/2 cup into small bowls, cups, or plastic snack bags and serve.

Modification

• Set out the ingredients in individual bowls with spoons/scoops (small paper cups work well) and allow children to mix their own. Encourage children to try at least one or two of the dried fruit options.

Summer Breeze Smoothies

Level 1: Basic
Serving size: 1/2 cup
Servings per recipe: 18
Price per serving: 51¢
Preparation time: 15 minutes

Supplies

• Blender
• Measuring spoons
• Cups

Ingredients

• 2 32oz containers plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 16oz bag frozen strawberries (unsweetened)
• 1 20oz can of crushed pineapple, canned in juice
• 3 medium bananas
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 12 ice cubes

Directions

1. Make 1 batch of smoothies by placing 1 cup yogurt, 1 cup strawberries, 3/4 cups crushed pineapple, 1 banana, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and 4 ice cubes in the blender and puree until smooth.
2. 2. Serve and enjoy!
3. Repeat steps above until all ingredients are used (about 3 batches).
4. Optional: serve in frosted glasses with straws.

Cinnamon Toast

Level 1: Basic
Serving size:1 slice of toast
Servings per recipe:About 16 (or number of slices of bread in loaf)
Price per serving: 11¢
Preparation time: 16 minutes
Cooking Time: 16 minutes

Supplies

• Toaster or conventional oven
• Butter knife

Ingredients

• 1 loaf of whole wheat bread (approx 16 slices per loaf)
• 11/2 Tbsp butter
• Cinnamon to taste (try other spices like nutmeg, clove or ginger!)

Directions

1. Toast bread two slices at a time (or more if you have a larger toaster or oven)
2. Spread 1/4 tsp of butter onto each slice of toasted bread so that it melts quickly
3. Sprinkle on cinnamon and other spices
4. Cut into triangles and serve!

Taste Test - Be Sugar Smart!

Taste Test Ideas Being Sugar Smart

• Sugar Smart Drinks - make, taste, and rate "silly waters" options using plain iced water with fruit flavorings (add berries, orange slices, mint leaves or even cucumbers for a cool treat!) You can also make "licuados" by blending water or milk and fruit (without the added sugar!)
• Nature's Candy - introduce various dried fruits from the common raisin or apricot to pineapple or mango

Download the PDF for the Taste Test Rating Sheet here

Worksheets

Here you will find the worksheets for the following activities:

1. Bowling for Sugar Smarts
Bottle labels

2. Sugar Surprises
Answer list for leaders
Basic cards
Answer cards for optional modification

3. Count it Up
Calculation Worksheets
Answer Sheets

To view all worksheets for this unit, click here

Connect With Parents!

Key Messages for Parents

• The type of fats in the foods you eat is more important than the total amount.
• Include "good for you" fats found in fish and plant sources like vegetable oils (such as olive and canola), nuts, and seeds.
• Limit saturated fats found in butter, whole milk, and red meat.
• Avoid trans fats found in fast food, packaged baked goods like cookies and muffins, stick margarine, and any food with "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" or "shortening" in the ingredients list.

Parent Communication Options

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Hand-out the "Choosing Healthy Fats" section on page 7 of Food, Fun & Family to share with parents how to read a label to look for trans fats!
• Offer healthy trans fat free snacks at pick-up! Serve trans fat free whole grain crackers or popcorn at pick-up time for parents to try out with their kids. Display a box of crackers or popcorn with trans fat and show parents how to find trans fat on the nutrition label.

Refer to the Parent Communications document, Newsletter Article, and Parent Handout to reinforce the messages in this unit of Food & Fun. All three are available in Spanish and English, and the Handout is available in Chinese.

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Go For Healthy Fats!" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Fats in foods" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Dietary Fats: The good, the bad, and the ugly". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Snatch the Healthy Fat

Objective:

Race to "snatch" as many "slow" or "go" foods as possible and place them in the correct category bag.

Materials and Preparation:

• Print the Snatch the Healthy Fat worksheets
• "Healthy" and "Unhealthy" fat cards- copy and cut out 2 sets (preferably onto card stock).
• Note: Children should have some understanding of the difference between "Go" foods with healthy fat and "Slow" foods with unhealthy fats. Explain that healthy fats contain plant fats (like nuts or olive oil) and fish oils, or have lower saturated fat (like low-fat milk). Fats that are not healthy are saturated, like fat from animals (like butter, red meat, or whole milk), and trans fat (found in processed snacks, margarine, and many fried fast foods like French fries).
• Paper bags or signs that read "Go", "Slow", and "Oops" (2 sets)
• Whistle (optional)
• Optional: Gather empty food containers representing each of the foods listed on the go/slow cards, or tape the food cards to small containers such as milk cartons, to make it easier for children to collect the foods
• Note: A gym or open space is needed

How to Play:

1. Divide the group into 2 teams and have each team line up on opposite sides of a gym or field.
2. Have the players on each team count off 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc. Players need to remember their numbers!
3. Place the fat cards (or containers) in the center of the room. Show the group a few examples and explain that foods with unhealthy fat are foods that we should eat only sometimes (called "slow" foods), but the "go" foods are foods with healthy fat and should be eaten to stay healthy.
   • If playing with younger students, you may need to review all of the foods prior to playing so that they will understand how to sort them.
4. Explain that the teams will race to collect "slow" (unhealthy fats) and "go" (healthy fats) foods, depending on what you call out. The object of the game is to make it back to the team with as many foods as possible.
5. Start by calling out a number (1-5) and "SLOW!" or "GO!" All of the players with that number will run to the center and find a food that meets your command. Each player will pick up one food, race back to the team and place it in the appropriate bag. If a player snatched the wrong type of food, they must drop it in the "Oops" bag.
6. Play until all foods have been snatched, then review the bags to see if all foods have been placed correctly. The team with the least mistakes or foods in the "oops" bag wins.

Optional Set-Up

• Line up all of the children on one side of the gym and have the entire group work together to sort the cards (use multiple sets of cards so that all children can pick up a card; it's best if they have the chance to race back for more cards). Select 2 or 3 children to stand in the middle of the gym and throw the cards into the air, scattering them around the floor. Players then race to pick up a card and sort it into the containers (large paper bags, boxes or piles) on the opposite side of the gym.

Extension Activities:

• Using snatch the fat cards, play a version of Red Light, Green Light where the leader calls out names of "Go" foods (green light) and "Slow" food (red light)*. For example, the leader may call out "olive oil!" and the children move forward, or "whole milk!" and the children have to stop. Children that move when a slow snack is called are out. The first child to tag the leader becomes the new game leader. (© Epstein LH, Squires S. Stoplight Diet for Children: An Eight-Week Program for Parents and Children. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1998).
• After completing Snatch the Healthy Fat, talk to kids about their favorite snacks. Which "slow" snacks would they be willing to give up? Which "go" snacks would they like to try instead?

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

Track the Trans Fat

Objective:

Children will use food labels to compare foods and make healthy choices based on the trans fat content of those foods

Materials:

• Print the Track the Trans Fat worksheets
• Print and arrange the Which Would You Choose nutrition label worksheets on tables in pairs around the room
• Optional: Collect empty containers for the foods and beverages listed so that children can read food labels from the containers (Note: due to brand differences, the trans fat content of some foods may be different from those used on the worksheets)

Instructions:

1. Divide the group into 8 small groups and explain that they will be looking at different foods to determine the healthiest choice based on whether the food has trans fat or not. Instruct children to look for the grams of trans fat on the nutrition label, but ALSO look at the ingredient list! If they see the words "partially hydrogenated", the food has trans fats EVEN IF the nutrition label says 0g! This is because by law, foods labeled as "0 grams trans fat," are still allowed to contain up to 0.49 grams of trans fat per serving.
2. Explain that trans fats are made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils - a process that makes liquid oil solid. Trans fats may be found in processed foods such as baked goods (like brownies or cookies), and fried food at many fast food restaurants.
3. Once all of the groups have made their selections, invite them to report their selections and review the answers. Ask if they were they surprised to find trans fat in any of the foods.
4. Encourage the children to evaluate their own food choices by reading nutrition and ingredient labels and to select foods that do not have any trans fats!

Extension Activities:

• Copy the "Which Would You Choose" worksheet and cut out each food label. Place all labels in a hat/box/pile and invite 2 children to draw from the pile. The children will then review the 2 random food selections, discuss their options, and determine whether or not one food is a better choice, or if neither is acceptable!
  • Note: In some cases, both foods selected will contain trans fat making neither choice a good one!
  • In other cases, the selections may not have trans fat, but are high saturated fat or sugar which means that children should proceed with caution.
    • To determine if a food is high in saturated fat or sugar, look at the % Daily Value on the Nutrition Facts label. If the % Daily Value for saturated fat or sugar is 20% or more, then it is high.
    • For more information on how to read a Nutrition Facts label, check out this link.

Food Label Collage

Objective:

Children will learn to identify and discover several "healthy fat" snacks they enjoy

Materials:

• Several copies of food labels containing "healthy" and "unhealthy" fats. You can use the sample food labels from this unit, but feel free to add more and have children bring in their own labels from foods at home. Print and arrange on tables around the room
• Visit Nutrition Data or Pea Pod for more printable label images.
• 2 Large Poster Boards
• Grocery bulletins and food magazines. Use a range of food types and bulletins/magazines from different types of grocery stores (for example Latino or Asian markets).
• Scissors
• Glue
• Markers

Instructions:

1. Have the children cut out labels of foods and snacks they like or would like to try. Then have them identify and sort the labels into 2 piles: foods with "healthy fats" and foods with "unhealthy fats." Tell the children to look at the number of grams of trans fats as well as the ingredient list for partially hydrogenated oils.
2. Collect the labels into two separate containers. Divide the group into two teams and have one team work to create a "healthy fats" collage and the other an "unhealthy fats" collage by gluing the labels on the poster board and using markers and grocery bulletins to depict the various foods.

Extension Activities:

• Couple this activity with a taste test of healthy fat snacks (see the recipes in this unit for ideas!). Doing this during pick up is also a great way to engage parents.
• Post the collages in the school cafeteria or another public place to share.

Recipe - Salsa Fresca (Fresh Salsa)

Adapted from: USDA SNAP-Ed Recipes

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 1/2 cup
Servings per recipe: 24
Price per serving: 73¢
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Supplies:

• Sharp knife
• Spoon
• Large Bowl

Ingredients:

• 12 chopped tomatoes
• 1.5 finely chopped onions
• 11/2 cups chopped cilantro
• 3 Tbsp lime juice
• Salt to taste
• 1 14oz tub of guacamole
• 2 10oz bags of corn tortilla chips or 2 12oz packages of whole wheat pita bread for dipping

Adult Preparation

Chop the tomato, onion, and cilantro.

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt.
2. Serve 1/2 cup Salsa Fresca with 1 Tbsp of guacamole and handful of corn tortilla chips or whole wheat pita bread.

Recipe - Awesome Granola

Adapted from: USDA SNAP-Ed Recipes

Level 2: Basic
Serving size: 1/2 cup
Servings per recipe: 20
Price per serving: 72¢
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes in oven; 8 minutes in microwave

Supplies:

• Glass Baking Dish
• Large bowl
• Oven or Microwave
• Cookie sheet or aluminum foil

Ingredients:

• 6 cups oatmeal, uncooked
• 1 cup shredded or flaked coconut
• 2 cups chopped pecans, walnuts or peanuts (Beware of any nut allergies!)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup cup canola oil
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 1/3 cups raisins
• 2 32oz tubs plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt

Directions

For Conventional Oven:

1. Heat oven to 350° F. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, except raisins, mix well.
2. Bake in baking dish for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Stir every 5 minutes.
3. Stir in raisins. Cool thoroughly.

For Microwave:

1. Combine all ingredients, except raisins, in a large bowl; mix well.
2. Place in glass baking dish. Cook at HIGH about 8 minutes or until golden brown, stirring after every 2 minutes of cooking; stir in raisins.
3. Place onto un-greased cookie sheet or aluminum foil to cool. Cool thoroughly.

To Serve: Top 1/4 cup of yogurt with Awesome Granola! Store extra granola in a tightly covered container.

Recipe - Migas "Crumbs"

Adapted from: USDA SNAP-Ed Recipes

Level 3: Full Kitchen
Serving size: 1 cup
Servings per recipe: 10
Price per serving: 32¢
Preparation time and cook time: >45 minutes; best for smaller programs or cooking classes

Supplies:

• Stove top
• Pan
• Spatula
• Sharp knife
• Whisk or fork
• Bowl

Ingredients:

• 10 large corn tortillas
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 medium bell pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 10 eggs
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Adult Preparation

Use sharp knife to chop pepper and onions

Directions

1. Tear tortillas into small pieces.
2. Lightly beat 10 eggs in bowl with whisk or fork .
3. Heat oil in pan.
4. Add tortillas and stir until pieces begin to brown.
5. Add chopped peppers and onion to the pan; saute until soft.
6. Add eggs; stir until the eggs are cooked.
7. Remove from heat and sprinkle on the grated cheese.
8. Cover the pan and let cheese melt.
9. Serve immediately.

To Serve: Top 1/4 cup of yogurt with Awesome Granola! Store extra granola in a tightly covered container.

Taste Test - Go for Good Fat

Taste Test Ideas for Healthy Fats

• Healthy Fat - dip whole wheat bread into olive oil. Try adding your choice of flavors with garlic, salt, rosemary, basil, or red pepper flakes.
• Compare fat in foods or drinks - 2% versus skim milk or regular versus low-fat cheese. Ask children to notice how the food feels, along with its taste.
• Go Nuts! If nut allergies are not a concern, nibble on some healthy nuts like almonds, walnuts, peanuts, or soy nuts.

Download the PDF for the Taste Test Rating Sheet here

Worksheets

Here you will find the worksheets for the following activities:

1. Snatch the Healthy Fat
Leader list for Healthy/Unhealthy fat cards
Healthy/Unhealthy fat cards

2. Track the Trans Fat
Comparison list
Which Would You Choose food label worksheets

To view all worksheets for this unit, click here

Connect With Parents!

Key Messages for Parents

• Whole grain breads and cereals help you feel full longer, and are packed with fiber and other nutrients.
• Refined grains (white bread, muffins, pasta, and white rice) aren't as nutritious as whole grains (whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, and brown rice).
• Serve whole grain breads and cereals that have at least 3 grams of fiber per serving and no more than 5 grams of sugar per serving whenever possible.

Parent Communication Options

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Healthy cereal taste test. Invite parents to participate in a healthy cereal taste test. Look for whole grain cereals with 5 grams or less of sugar and more than 3 grams of fiber. A few examples are Kix®, Cheerios®, Kashi Heart to Heart®, and Wheaties®. Show parents and kids that cereals can be healthy AND taste good!
• Hold a whole wheat pancake breakfast! If you serve kids before school, invite parents to a whole wheat banana pancake breakfast. Alternatively, have an upside down day with breakfast for dinner! Try out the recipe in the Food & Fun Recipe Packet. Make extra copies of the recipes to give out to parents so they can make them at home!
• Whole grain options are available for the same price as refined grains! Display a few examples of whole grains foods that can be purchased for the same price as refined grain options. Include the price tag in the display! For example, whole wheat crackers like Triscuits®, whole wheat bread or pita, and/or whole wheat tortillas. Shop around and see what other whole grain options you can find at a low price!

Refer to the Parent Communications document, Newsletter Article, and Parent Handout to reinforce the messages in this unit of Food & Fun. All three are available in Spanish and English, and the Handout is available in Chinese.

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Get the Whole Story on Whole Grains" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Go for Whole Grains" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "More whole grains, less added sugar for good health". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Mosaic Creations

Objective:

Children will become familiar with different types of whole grains by handling them in an arts and crafts project.

Materials:

• Various grains (oats, brown rice, popcorn kernels, whole wheat pasta, couscous, quinoa, amaranth, flaxseed, barley, wheat berries,)
• Various dried beans (black eyed peas, soy beans, chick peas, kidney beans, black bean, pinto, lentils - packaged dry bean soup mix works well)
• Sunflower seeds
• Glue
• Paper plates
• Small bowls or cups
• Optional: photo of each child

Instructions:

• Distribute paper plates and have grains, beans and seeds available in bowls for children to share, or in individual cups. If desired, you can ask children to bring in grains from home, after discussing grains with them in your program. Tip: Discuss with children how beans are not considered part of the grain group, even though they are grown from plants and are high in fiber. Beans are part of the meats and beans food group, because they are high in protein.
• If using photos, have each child paste his or her picture in the center of the plate.
• Instruct the children to make a creation by gluing the various items to the plate.
• While they handle the grains and other items, ask if anyone can identify the different grains, beans, and seeds.
• Explain that whole grains have lots of flavor, fiber and nutrients; we should go for whole grains everyday!

Extenstion Activities

• Hang completed projects on the wall and have a "gallery walk" where children view other projects.

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

Red Hen Relay

adapted from NeatSolutions.com

Objective:

To be the first team to have all players carry the whole wheat flour back and forth from the mill to "home", ending with the flour at "home".

• Note: may need to use a mini-bag of flour for younger children.

Materials:

• 5 pound bags of whole wheat flour - one for each team, and each team must have an odd number of players

Preparation:

• Read The Little Red Hen prior to playing the game so that players connect the concept of the red hen with the relay

How To Play:

1. Each team of "red hens" lines up on one side of the room, with the bags of flour on the opposite side of the room.
2. The first players ("hens") to go must run across the room and pick up the bag of flour at the "mill" and carry it back "home".
3. The hens carry the flour back and forth so that the second "hen" runs to the mill with the flour while the third hen must go and collect the flour again.
4. The last player to go should return the flour to home, and the team that does this first, wins.

Extenstion Activities

• If you have more space, instead of conducting a relay back and forth across a room, teams may run a traditional relay race around a track or field, passing the bag of flour as they go (and trying not to drop it during the hand-off!).
• For outdoor spaces with sand, team members race to a sandy area, fill a cup with sand, and race back to fill a bucket. The first team to fill their bucket wins.

La Milpa, Learn to Make Corn Tortillas!

Serving size: 1 tortilla

Servings per recipe: 12

Note: If you do not have access to a griddle or stove, try the activity Make Flour instead of making corn tortillas!

Objective:

Children will learn to make corn tortillas from scratch, and to understand the difference between corn and flour tortillas.

Supplies:

• Stove or hot plate
• Large Bowl
• Measuring cups
• Spoons
• Measuring cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups instant "masa harina" (ask your local grocery store for help if you have trouble finding it)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbs unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• (Note: the dough can be prepared earlier and refrigerated)

Instructions:

1. Mix the masa harina and salt into a large bowl.
2. Cut the butter into tablespoon-sized pieces and work it into the dry ingredients using the back of a wooden spoon.
3. Add the water and mix with your (clean!) hands until a soft dough forms. Cover the dough with a clean cloth and let rest for 5 minutes. The dough can also be refrigerated and used the next day.
4. Divide the dough into 24 pieces (1 piece per child).
5. Have children roll their dough into a ball with their hands then slowly begin to flatten the dough by clapping it together in their hands. This action is called "palmear." Make sure the tortillas are round and flat, like a pancake, but not too thin.
6. Place the tortilla onto a hot griddle. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the bottom of the tortilla becomes golden. Flip the tortilla and press lightly with a spatula, which will make the tortilla puff slightly. Cook for one to two minutes more, until the tortilla appears to be done.
7. Serve with black beans and salsa for a delicious, healthy snack!

Make Flour

Objective:

Children will "mill" wheat berries into flour, and understand the difference between whole grain and refined flour.

Materials:

• Wheat berries
• Small food processor or coffee grinder
• White flour

Instructions:

1. Allow the children to touch the wheat berries (pass small amounts around the room) prior to putting in the grinder.
2. Grind some of the wheat berries into a fine flour. What does it feel like now?
3. Compare the fresh ground wheat flour to white flour. Do they notice the difference in color? Explain that whole wheat flour, like they just made, contains all of the grain, nutrients, and fiber, making it a healthier choice than white flour (which is used to make white bread and in many baked goods and processed snacks like crackers)

Trail Mix

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 1/2 cup
Servings per recipe: 24
Price per serving: 33¢
Preparation time: 7 minutes

Supplies

• Large bowl and mixing spoons
• Scoop or spoons for serving
• Small serving bowls, cups or plastic snack bags

Ingredients

• 4 cups whole wheat mini pretzels, air popped popcorn or trans-fat free microwave popcorn
• 4 cups whole grain cereal like Cheerios® or Mighty Bites®
• 2 cups dried fruit like apricots, pineapple, or apples (look for brands with NO added sugar).
• 1 cup of raisins or dried cranberries
• 1 cup of granola
• Optional- 1 cup of nuts like almonds, walnuts or soy nuts, or unsalted roasted shelled sunflower seeds (Beware of nut allergies! If present, do not include.)
• Note: Many different ingredients may be added, as long as there is a good mix of whole grains, dried fruit, and nuts if no allergies are present.

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Scoop about 1/2 cup into small bowls, cups, or plastic snack bags and serve.

Modification

• Set out the ingredients in individual bowls with spoons/scoops (small paper cups work well) and allow children to mix their own. Encourage children to try at least one or two of the dried fruit options.

Whole Wheat Mini-Pizzas

Level 2: Basic
Serving size: 1 mini pizza (1/2 of an English muffin)
Servings per recipe: 24
Price per serving: 49¢
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes per batch

Supplies

• Toaster oven or stove
• Aluminum foil
• Nonstick cooking spray
• Tablespoons and forks or knives (to split muffins)
• Small bowls
• Sharp knife

Ingredients

• 12 100% whole-wheat English muffins, split and toasted
• 2 cups chunky vegetable tomato sauce or plain pizza sauce
• 2 8oz packages of shredded mozzarella cheese
• Assorted vegetables like shredded carrots, sliced mushrooms, peppers, onions, etc. (place in small bowls)

Adult Preparation

Slice vegetables and arrange into bowls.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F
2. Line baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray
3. Place toasted English muffins on baking sheet.
4. Spread each muffin with about 2 Tbsp of tomato sauce.
5. Let the kids add some of their favorite sliced vegetables – encourage children to try at least one topping.
6. Top with some shredded cheese.
7. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Awesome Granola

Level 2: Basic
Serving size: 1/2 cup
Servings per recipe: 20
Price per serving: 72¢
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes in oven; 8 minutes in microwave

Supplies

• Glass Baking Dish
• Large bowl
• Oven or Microwave
• Cookie sheet or aluminum foil

Ingredients

• 6 cups oatmeal, uncooked
• 1 cup shredded or flaked coconut
• 2 cups chopped pecans, walnuts or peanuts (Beware of any nut allergies!)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of melted butter
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 1/3 cups raisins
• 2 32oz tubs plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350° F. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, except raisins, mix well.
2. Bake in baking dish for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Stir every 5 minutes.
3. Stir in raisins. Cool thoroughly.

1. Combine all ingredients, except raisins, in a large bowl; mix well.
2. Place in glass baking dish. Cook at HIGH about 8 minutes or until golden brown, stirring after every 2 minutes of cooking; stir in raisins.
3. Place onto un-greased cookie sheet or aluminum foil to cool. Cool thoroughly.

Silly Popcorn

Level 2: Basic
Serving size: 1 cup
Servings per recipe: 20
Price per serving: 7¢
Preparation time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes for microwave popcorn, 7 minutes for stovetop popcorn

Supplies

• Microwave or stovetop for popping corn
• Large microwave-save bowl
• Large, deep pot with lid for stovetop (should fit at least 20 cups)
• Small bowls or cups for toppings

Ingredients

• 5 bags of microwave popcorn (trans fats/partially hydrogenated oil free) OR
• 1 cup of popcorn kernels
• Vegetable oil
• Variety of toppings/flavors to choose from: parmesan cheese, chili powder, cinnamon, taco seasoning

Directions

1. Cover bottom of large part with 2 Tbsp oil
2. Put stove on medium. Test the oil heat by throwing a kernel in the pot and covering with the lid. (If oil smokes, the heat is too high.)
3. Add the rest of the popcorn and shake to coat with oil. Cover pot loosely with room for steam to escape.
4. Shake the pot frequently to prevent burning.
5. When popping is 3-5 seconds between pop, remove from heat.
6. Let stand until popping stops.
7. Mix popcorn (about 20 cups when popped) and 3 Tbsp oil (optional) in a bowl.
8. Choose seasonings and sprinkle over popcorn. Mix well.
9. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Corn on the Cob

Level 2: Basic
Serving size: 1/2 ear of corn
Servings per recipe: 20
Price per serving: 53¢
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: See "Cooking Timetable", plus 5 minutes cooling time per batch

Cooking Timetable:

• 1 ear - 1 1/2 minutes
• 2 ears - 3 to 4 minutes
• 3 ears - 5 to 6 minutes
• 4 ears - 7 to 8 minutes
• 5 ears - 8 to 9 minutes

Supplies:

• Microwave
• Sharp knife
• Paper towel
• Foil
• Paper bowls or cups for spices

Ingredients:

• 10 ears of corn on the cob
• Spices: pepper, lemon pepper, chili powder, taco seasoning

Adult Preparation:

• Chop corn ears into halves after cooking

Directions

1. Place corn on a paper towel and cook in microwavewith husks and silk intact. They will cook in their own natural moisture.
2. Turn ears over and rearrange after 1/2 cooking time.
3. When ears are hot to the touch, remove and wrap in foil.
4. Let stand at least 5 minutes to cool off. Remove husks and silk (which is easier than when cold)
5. Have children top with spices to taste.

Corn on the Cob

Level 2: Basic
Serving size: 1 pancake (4in in diameter)
Servings per recipe: 12
Price per serving: 10¢
Preparation and cook time: >45 minutes; best for smaller programs and cooking classes

Supplies:

• Electric griddle or frying pan and stove
• Large and medium sized bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Mixing spoon and spatula
• Dinner plate or platter

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup low fat milk
• 2 medium, very ripe bananas
• Cooking spray or butter to coat the griddle or pan
• Optional: Fresh or frozen fruit like berries or melon to serve with pancakes

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and cinnamon.
2. In another bowl, mash bananas. Mix in the milk and beaten eggs.
3. Pour banana milk mixture into the flour mixture and mix well.
4. If mixture appears too runny, add a little more flour; if too thick, add a little milk.
5. Coat a large, non-stick frying pan or griddle with non-stick spray or butter. Heat pan over medium heat for 2 minutes.
6. Spoon 1/4 cup of batter onto the heated pan or griddle for each pancake.
7. Cook until the tops are bubbly and the pancakes are dry around the edges. Flip and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until golden on both sides. Place cooked pancakes on a plate and repeat steps 6 & 7 until all of the batter has been used, using more nonstick spray as needed.
8. Optional: Top with fresh or defrosted frozen fruit.

Taste Test - Go for Whole Grains!

Taste Test Ideas for Whole Grains

• SMorning Munchers - taste different whole grain cereals (i.e.: oats, rice, wheat, corn). Make sure they are low (under 5g) in sugar!
• Lots of Loaves - compare different whole grain breads, or try pieces of various breads, like whole wheat, rye, multigrain, oat, etc.
• Cracker Comparison - try different types of whole grain crackers
• Tortillas- try different types of tortillas, like whole grain versus corn
• Silly popcorn - add toppings such as parmesan cheese, olive oil, garlic salt or cinnamon and sugar to fresh popped popcorn (if using microwave popcorn, check label for trans-fat free)
• Oatmeal - January is National Oatmeal Month so try different flavors of oatmeal, or with different toppings (milk, cinnamon, raisins or craisins, shredded coconut, nuts, etc)

Download the PDF for the Taste Test Rating Sheet here

Connect With Parents!

Key Messages for Parents

• Children need healthy snacks between meals to give them energy and nutrients.
• A healthy snack includes healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk/dairy, and protein (eggs, lean meats, nuts, beans).
• Limit snacks that have trans fats, a lot of sugar, and salt like soda, candy, cookies, and chips.
• Be a healthy role model for your child by eating healthy snacks.

Parent Communication Options

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Make a recipe book for snacks. Ask kids to bring in a healthy super snack recipe. Encourage them to ask their parents for ideas of healthy snacks they ate when growing up. Put all of the snack recipes into a book for families. You can even make some of the recipes for an after school snack at your program!
• Make extra snacks for parents. Make extra snacks for parents to try when they pick up their child at after school.

Refer to the Parent Communications document, Newsletter Article, and Parent Handout to reinforce the messages in this unit of Food & Fun. All three are available in Spanish and English, and the Handout is available in Chinese.

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Snacking the Healthy Way!" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Super Snacks" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Snacks: A Bridge Between Meals". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Super Snack Book

Objective:

Children will create a "recipe booklet" of super snacks to bring home

Materials:

• Large construction paper
• Markers, crayons
• Recipes for children - print the recipes from the Food & Fun After School 2nd Edition Recipe and Taste Test Packet and copy to make books
• Blank paper
• Stapler

Instructions:

1. Explain to children that super snacks are made from "GO foods" like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk or dairy foods, lean meats, and nuts or seeds, while SLOW snacks contain few vitamins, minerals and fiber but do contain a lot of sugar and/or unhealthy saturated or trans fats.
2. Ask children to name some of their favorite snacks - are they "super" snacks or "slow" snacks?
3. Remind children that we want to choose super snacks because they give us energy and nutrients to play, learn, and grow.
4. Tell the group that they will be making a book of super snacks to bring home.
5. Instruct them to select a color, fold the construction paper in half and decorate the front cover.
6. As time allows, invite children to decorate the recipe pages (younger children may need help reading the food lists; give them simple instructions such as "draw your favorite fruit here".)
7. Have children write their own list of favorite super snacks on a blank page, or create a class list and copy to put in the book.
8. Send the recipe books home to give parents ideas of snacks to serve at home.

Extension Activities:

• Hold a recipe exchange! Ask parents for ideas or have children switch snack books each night to collect recipes from different families. Encourage families to share recipes from their cultural/ethnic heritage!
• To get a sense of how much impact this activity is having, the day after creating the snack books, have children who completed the books choose the snacks for the week. Record the snack choices and compare to previous days. Is there a difference?

Silly Snacks

Objective:

Children will draw silly snack ideas which can later be created (at the leader's discretion)

Materials:

• Print the Silly Snack worksheets
• Make one copy for each child
• Crayons, markers, colored pencils
• Optional: provide snack foods so that children can make and taste their creations

Instructions:

1. Distribute the Silly Snack worksheet and explain that they are to create the silliest super snack around! Tell kids that a super snack makes a bridge between two meals, so it should have a fruit and/or vegetable AND at least 1 other food from another healthy food group, (grains, low-fat milk or dairy foods, or protein foods like nuts, seeds, lean meat, eggs or legumes).
2. Children should identify the foods in their snacks, draw a picture of how it is made, and name the snack.
3. Offer some silly ideas for their snacks (or have small groups work together to create a snack for each category). Examples:
   • Out-in-space snack
   • Midnight snack
   • Volcano snack
   • Ocean snack
4. Gather in a circle so that each child can tell the others about his/her silly snack.
5. Optional: vote for the silliest; most likely to eat; or least likely to eat snacks.

Extension Activities:

• Compile all the individual pages and create a Silly Snack Recipe Book!
• Make it and taste it! As a group select a few silly snacks to try then gather the ingredients so that children may make them and taste them the following day.

Note: You may want to select the snacks with common or user-friendly ingredients!

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

Healthy House

Objective:

To toss all of the "unhealthy foods" (balls) into the other team's "house" while keeping the "healthy foods".

Materials:

• Soft balls, small bean bags, or balloons of different colors
  • Choose the item or items that are readily available in your program
  • Since the balls/bags/balloons will be tossed about, it is fun to mix them up since they will all move differently!
• Masking tape or cones to set middle line
• • This game requires large space, such as a gym, cafeteria or field

How to Play

1. Divide the group into two teams and arrange the teams on opposite sides of the gym or field. Create a middle line with the masking tape or by placing cones along a middle line.
2. Scatter the balls, bean bags, and balloons in front of the teams.
3. On "Go!" the players will rush to toss their balls, bags, and balloons into the other team's playing area ("house"). On "Stop!" the players will see which team has the fewest bags or balls.
4. Continue play, but introduce strategy by announcing that a certain color represents a "slow" food - the teams must try to get rid of those "foods" by tossing them away.
5. Introduce a second level of strategy by announcing that one color is a "slow" food and a different color is a "super" food. Now teams must try to collect as many "go" foods while getting rid of the "slow" foods!

Extension Activities:

• Introduce a third level of strategy by having children call out the name of the "slow" snack before they can get rid of it and the "super" snack before they can keep it. The snack must meet the criteria or else the player may not get rid of or keep the ball.

Too Much "Slow" Food Tag

Objective:

To freeze players by tagging them with "slow" foods while other players try to unfreeze them with "go" foods.

Materials:

• 4-6 sacks: paper grocery bags or small mesh or cloth duffle bags
• Playground balls
• Balloons

Set-Up

• Fill 2 or 3 sacks with playground balls
• Fill 2 or 3 sacks with blown-up balloons (could substitute light, Nerf™ balls)
• If needed, use cones to define boundaries of play

How to Play:

1. This game is played in a scatter formation like freeze-tag.
2. Select two-three players to be "SLOW" snack foods. Give each of them a sack of playground balls. Tell them the balls represent "slow" or "no" foods like sweets, soda, fruit punch, potato chips, fried food, etc.
3. Select two-three more players to be GO snack foods. Give each of these players a sack of balloons. Tell them the balloons represent super snacks like low-fat milk, apples, peanut butter, whole-wheat crackers, reduced-fat cheese, carrots and other healthy food group foods.
4. The SLOW snacks must carry their sacks (without dropping any balls) and try to tag the other players, who may run in any direction within the given boundaries. Anyone they tag is frozen because he/she is full of SLOW foods.
5. The GO snacks must carry their sack of balloons and unfreeze anyone who is stuck from "eating" the slow foods. By tagging a frozen player and filling them with GO snacks, they allow that player to run again.
6. The GO snacks must carry their sack of balloons and unfreeze anyone who is stuck from "eating" the slow foods. By tagging a frozen player and filling them with GO snacks, they allow that player to run again.

Commercial Mania

For Upper Elementary Children

Objective:

Children will think about the commercials they see on TV, then categorize them and identify what they see the most.

Materials and Preparation:

• Pieces of paper cut in half
• Pencils or markers
• Tape
• Colorful paper with the following words written on individual pages: Healthy Drinks, Sugary Drinks, GO foods, SLOW foods, Fast Food or Pizza Restaurants, Toys or Video Games, and Sports Equipment

Instructions:

1. Give each child 2-3 small pieces of paper. Instruct the children to list 1-3 of their favorite TV commercials, writing down one commercial per page.
2. While they are writing, tape the commercial categories on the board or wall. Show the children the categories and see if they can name at least one product advertised in each category.
3. Tell children that GO foods are whole grains, fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk or dairy foods, lean meats, and nuts or seeds (contain healthy fats). SLOW foods contain few vitamins, minerals and fiber but do contain a lot of sugar and/or unhealthy saturated or trans fats.
4. Invite the children to tape their favorite ads under the appropriate category.
   • How many ads for snack foods, sugary beverages, fast food restaurants, or toys or video games did they list?
   • Did anyone name a healthy food or drink?
   • Can anyone recall seeing advertisements for healthy drinks such as milk, water, or 100% fruit juice?
   • Can anyone recall seeing advertisements for healthy foods such as fruit or whole grain cereal?
   • How many children listed toys or video games?
   • How many children listed ads for sporting equipment?
   • Were there other products that do not fall under the listed categories? Would the children describe these other products as things that are healthy for their bodies or not?
5. Ask, "What do you think about these results?" Explain that SLOW food commercials want you to buy their products by showing images of happy, active kids, but if you really ate all of the foods and sugar drinks that are advertised then you would not be very healthy and it would become hard to get moving.
6. Remind the group that it's best to fuel up with "super snacks".

Extension Activity:

Have children work individually or in teams to create "ads" for a super snack. Encourage teams to be creative and use ingredients they may have never tried before or from different cultures. Another option is to assign each group to a type of food: latin food, asian food, etc. The ad can be 'acted' out or in poster form.

Optional Home Extension Activity

Materials:

• Print the Commercial Mania worksheets
• Make a copy for each child

Instructions

1. After doing the regular activity with the upper elementary group, distribute the Commercial Mania worksheet and parent letter and tell the class that they are going to assess the ads they see during a 30-minute television show.
   • Suggest that they do this over a weekend - do not encourage children to watch TV for the sake of this activity!
2. The following week, review the results:
   • Add up the number of commercials circled (those for healthy drinks, go foods and sports equipment)
   • Add up the number of commercials not circled (those for sweet drinks, slow foods, fast food restaurants, and toys or videos)
3. Discuss the results. Ask what the children think about the ads they saw.
4. Optional: Calculate the percentage of unhealthy to healthy products viewed (divide the number of circled ads by the total number of ads to get the "healthy" product total, and divide the number of ads not circled by the total number of ads to get the "unhealthy" product total).
5. Again, remind the children that most commercials advertise products that are not healthy for growing bodies. They show images of happy, active youth to entice you to buy their products, but the truth is that if you really eat all of the foods that are advertised and drink the sugary drinks then you would not be very healthy and it would become hard to get moving.

Recipe - Butterfly Bites

Adapted from: USDA SNAP-Ed Recipes

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 2 butterflies
Servings per recipe: approx 24
Price per serving: 35¢
Preparation time: 7 minutes

Supplies:

• Knives for cutting and spreading

Ingredients:

• 1 16oz package of celery hearts
• 1 10oz bag of large twist pretzels
• 1 16oz jar of creamy peanut butter (trans fat free!). Beware of any peanut allergies! You can use 2 12oz tubs of cream cheese as a substitute.
• 11/2 cups of raisins

Adult preparation:

Cut celery in half cross wise.

Directions

1. Fill center of each celery stick with about 11/2 Tbsp of peanut butter (or cream cheese). This is the body of the butterfly.
2. Add two pretzels to form the butterfly's wings.
3. Use extra pretzel pieces for antenna and raisins for decoration.

Recipe - Fruity Peanut Butter Pitas

Adapted from: USDA SNAP-Ed Recipes

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 1/2 pita pocket
Servings per recipe: 20
Price per serving: 30¢
Preparation time: 10 minutes

Supplies:

• Sharp knife for cutting
• Butter knife for spreading
• Microwave (optional)

Ingredients:

• 10 medium, whole wheat pita pockets
• 1 1/4 cups chunky peanut butter (trans fat free!). Beware of any peanut allergies!
• You can use other nut butters (like almond, cashew or soy nut butter) or a little honey, as a substitute.
• 2 large apples cored and thinly sliced
• 3 bananas, thinly sliced
• 2 fresh peaches, thinly sliced (optional)

Adult preparation:

Slice fruit (peaches, apples and bananas).

Directions

1. Fill center of each celery stick with about 11/2 Tbsp of peanut butter (or cream cheese). This is the body of the butterfly.
2. Add two pretzels to form the butterfly's wings.
3. Use extra pretzel pieces for antenna and raisins for decoration.

Recipe - Burrito Bites

Adapted from: USDA SNAP-Ed Recipes

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 3 burrito bites
Servings per recipe: 20
Price per serving: 68¢
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Supplies:

• Plate
• Sharp knife
• Spoons for putting on toppings

Ingredients:

• 20 6-in corn tortillas
• 2 16oz cans of refried beans
• 1 large head of romaine lettuce
• 5 cups low fat shredded cheese
• 2 24oz bottles of salsa

Adult preparation:

Chop and shred lettuce. Slice burritos into three bite sized pieces before serving.

Directions

1. Carefully open each pocket and spread a thin layer of peanut butter on the inside walls.
2. Fill with a combination of apple, banana, and/or peach slices.
3. Serve at room temperature.

Modifications

• Break pitas in half again (so they are in quarters) so kids can try different fruity combinations!
• If peaches aren't in season or you can't find them at your grocery store, substitute with extra apples and bananas!
• Warm pitas in the microwave for about 10 seconds to make them more flexible.

Super Snacks

Taste Test Ideas for Super Snacks:

• Super Snacks - introduce healthy snacks by tasting whole grain crackers, and fruits and vegetables! Lay out different spreads, veggies, grains and toppings. Encourage kids to try out different super snack combinations and vote for their favorites. Serve the most popular super snacks to the group!

Download the PDF for the Taste Test Rating Sheet here

Worksheets

Here you will find the worksheets for the following activities:

1. Silly Snacks
Blank worksheet

2. Commercial Mania
Blank worksheet
Parent information sheet in English
Parent information sheet in Spanish

To view all worksheets for this unit, click here

Connect With Parents!

Key Messages for Parents

• Go for Five! Eat 5 or more fruits and vegetables (combined) each day.
• Serve a variety of fruits and vegetables in different colors.
• Be a healthy role model for your child by eating fruits and vegetables.

Parent Communication Options

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Plan a potluck! Invite parents to participate in a fruit and veggie potluck. Ask parents to bring their favorite fruit or veggie dish to share with other parents and children. Ask them to bring copies of the recipe for other parents so they can make the dish at home.
• Offer fruits and veggies at pick-up. Put a bowl of fruits or veggies by the sign-out book for parents to grab when they pick up their kids from afterschool.

Refer to the Parent Communications document, Newsletter Article, and Parent Handout to reinforce the messages in this unit of Food & Fun. All three are available in Spanish and English, and the Handout is available in Chinese.

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Fruits and Vegetables for Better Health" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Get your 5 servings of fruits and veggies!" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Fruits and vegetables: Eat 5 or more servings for health". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick-up at your program's sign-out area.

Build a Rainbow

Objective:

Children discover a "rainbow" of fruits and vegetables to eat.

Preparation and Materials:

• Construction paper (optional)
• Magazines and grocery circulars from a variety of types of stores
• Paint, crayons and/or markers
• Mural paper (butcher roll or poster board paper)
• Scissors and paste or glue sticks
  • Draw an outline of a rainbow on the mural paper (include red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
  • Note: This activity can be used with all ages, and children may work on the mural over several days

Instructions:

1. Tell the children that they will build a rainbow with fruits and vegetables.
2. Invite children to look through magazines and grocery circulars for pictures of fruits and vegetables - encourage them to look for foods of different colors.
3. Allow the children to color or paint the rainbow background before pasting or drawing pictures on the rainbow.
4. Options for adding fruit and vegetable colors: Children may use the cut-out pictures to paste on the rainbow, or they may use crayons or markers to draw the pictures. They may also trace/draw foods on the construction paper to cut out.

Extension Activities:

• Use the rainbow to start a discussion. Ask children if they had any fruit or vegetables today-what did they have? What colors did they eat? How can they add more color today?
• Make a "seasonal" mural by making a fruit/veggie rainbow with fruits/veggies that are available locally in winter, spring, summer and fall.
• Use the discussion as a "language lesson"-name pictures in languages the children in your program speak at home; discuss what foods the pictures are found in/contain; share stories/family traditions about foods.
• Create a rainbow to show the diversity of your program that includes pictures of different cultures and flags along with food.

Note: You may want to select the snacks with common or user-friendly ingredients!

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

Color Relay Games

Objective:

Teams race to collect fruit and vegetables and sort them by color

Preparation and Materials:

• Collect, empty, and clean a variety of boxes or cans of fruit/vegetables or juice. You could also use fruit and vegetable picture/word labels to paste on small boxes (like empty milk cartons). Alternatively, you may use flashcards of fruits and vegetables if you have them, or have kids make flashcards with common fruits/veggies they eat at home.
• Label 5 boxes or paper bags by color (yellow/orange, green, blue/purple, white, red) for the sorting categories, or make colorful labels using construction paper to place on the floor.

Instructions:

1. Arrange group in 2 or more teams, and have each team line up on opposite sides of a gym/field/large open space. Smaller teams of 4-6 are better for getting everyone's participation.
2. Place fruit/vegetable containers in the middle of the space between the teams.
3. On "Go!" each team member takes a turn running to grab a fruit/vegetable container and returning to their team to sort the items by color. All team members should run in place, stretch, or do jumping jacks when waiting for their turn.
4. The team with the most items, correctly sorted, wins. Note: this can be tricky because some foods have a skin that is different from the flesh. The color is based on the part we eat (so a banana looks yellow, but the flesh is white; or a kiwi looks brown, but it is green on the inside).

Extension Activities:

• Sort by part of the plant, or whether an item has "seeds" or "no seeds"
• Older students may be introduced to key nutrients and sort by "lots of vitamin C" or "little vitamin C"
• Search for an item that meets the description called out by the leader. For instance, the leader calls out "orange fruit," and the team members in line to go run out and find an orange fruit to return to their teams. The next person in line searches for a different item, such as "green vegetable".
  • Options include: part of plant, color, how the food is typically served (morning juice, lunch bag fruit, dried fruit snack, mashed vegetable, etc.)
  • Note: Several fruits or vegetables will meet the description, so be sure to have enough items for the children to collect.
  • This can also be played as a quiet brainstorming game; the small team or individual who lists the most items in each category wins (offer fruit stickers, or the opportunity to choose the fruit or vegetable for snack).
• Make flashcards with the translation of fruits and veggies into another language that the group learns together.

Note: You may want to select the snacks with common or user-friendly ingredients!

Fruity Freeze Tag

Objective:

One or two "its" try to freeze players by tagging them, while other players call out fruits and vegetables to unfreeze the player.

Preparation and Materials:

• None

Instructions:

1. Identify the boundaries in the gym or field and inform the players that they may run in any direction, but must stay within the boundaries.
2. Select 1 or 2 "its" (use random methods to select the "it", such as a birthday that month, or born on a certain number, or wearing a particular color).
3. On "Go" the "its" will chase the players and try to tag them (below the shoulders, avoid shoving). When a player is tagged, he/she stands frozen until he/she is rescued.
4. Options for rescue:
   • The leader calls out a color and the frozen player(s) must call out the name a fruit or vegetable to match the color. With this option, the leader may continue to call out colors and any tagged player can name a fruit or vegetable of that color until the leader calls out a new color.
   • Another player who serves as the "rescuer" calls out a color while crawling under the frozen player's legs; the frozen player must name a fruit or vegetable to match the color.

Extension Activities:

• Have the leader call out the names of fruit and veggie dishes from another country and children must name the region/culture. For example, "platanos" would be Latin America.

Parts of the Plant

Objective:

Children identify the plant parts for common fruits and vegetables.

Preparation and Materials:

• Print the Parts of a Plant worksheet
• A variety of vegetables for taste testing each part of the plant

Instructions:

1. Discover the Parts of a Plant
   • Explain that we eat different parts of the plant. For example,

   Root -> carrot, onion, potato, turnip, yam, beets
   Stem -> asparagus, rhubarb, celery, fennel
   Leaf -> spinach, chard, cabbage, lettuce, collards
   Flower -> broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke
   Fruit (of the vegetable plant) -> squash, tomato, cucumber
   

   • Ask the children to name some vegetables and identify the plant part.

2. Taste vegetables that represent each part of the plant

Extension Activities:

For older children:

• Write names of vegetables on small pieces of paper and tape a different one on the back or forehead of each child.
• Instruct children to ask "Yes - No" questions to help them guess what they are.
• Each child may only ask another child 1 identifying question (examples: "Am I a root?" "Am I brown?" "Do I need to be baked?")
• The first child to guess what vegetable he/she is, wins.

Bingo

Preparation and Materials

• Print the BINGO worksheet
• Give each child a blank BINGO board to decorate with pictures of fruits and vegetables (they may draw or cut pictures from magazines or grocery circulars). Photocopy these cards and cut out the pictures to use as call cards (or create a list).
• Coins or markers

Instructions

1. Play BINGO according to the usual directions:
   • Draw the cards one by one and call out the fruit or vegetable to the group.
   • Have each child search their board for the item called out and place a marker over the fruit or vegetable if it appears on their card.
   • The first person to get 5 in a straight line (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) yells out "BINGO!" to win.
   • Play with creative rules for winning:
2. Play with creative rules for winning:
   • First to get any 5 on board
   • First to cover entire board
   • First to get cover all green or red fruits and vegetables

Extension Activities:

• Play with creative ways of calling out cards (Note: several fruits or vegetables may fit the description):
  • Describe color ("I'm a deep green vegetable")
  • Describe common way to consume the food ("People drink my juice")
  • Describe region where fruit/vegetable is from or which season it grows in (for example "fall"=pumpkins, apples, etc).
  • Learn names of fruits and veggies in different languages spoken by the group and call out by these different languages

Recipe - Cucumber Yogurt Dip

Adapted from: USDA SNAP-Ed Recipes

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 1/2 cup dip
Servings per recipe: 24
Price per serving: 74¢
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Supplies:

• Sharp knife
• Grater
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Medium-sized bowl
• Refrigerator (optional)

Ingredients:

Dip:

• 2 32oz tubs of plain low-fat yogurt
• 4 large grated cucumbers
• 1 16oz tub of low-fat sour cream
• 4 Tbsp lemon juice

Dippers:

• 3 cups cherry tomatoes
• 3 cups broccoli florets
• 3 cups baby carrots

Adult preparation:

Grate cucumbers and cut broccoli into small bite-size pieces

Directions

1. Mix yogurt, grated cucumber, sour cream, and lemon juice, in a serving bowl. Optional: Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
2. Arrange tomatoes, broccoli, carrots and any other favorite vegetables on a colorful platter. Serve with cucumber dip.

Modification:

Try a variety of Dippers like celery, sliced peppers, or whole wheat pita wedges!

Recipe - Tasty Bug

Adapted from: USDA SNAP-Ed Recipes

Level 1: No cooking required
Serving size: 1 "bug"
Servings per recipe: 20
Price per serving: 50¢
Preparation time: 7 minutes

Supplies:

• Toothpicks
• Knife for cutting and spreading

Ingredients:

• 10 apples
• 1 large head of romaine lettuce
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup grapes
• 1 16oz jar of peanut butter (trans fat free!) Beware of any peanut allergies! You can use cream cheese as a substitute.

Adult preparation:

Core the apples and cut it in half.

Instructions

1. Put half of the apple on a piece of lettuce, skin side up -- that's the bug's body.
2. Using half a toothpick, have kids put a grape on one end and stick it in the front of the apple -- that's the bug's head.
3. Using 1 Tbsp peanut butter as "glue", stick on raisins for spots and eyes. Let kids have fun doing this any way they want!
4. Have kids break a toothpick in half for the antennae and stick them on either side of the head!

Recipe - Vegetable Quesadillas

Adapted from: USDA SNAP-Ed Recipes

Level 2: Basic Kitchen
Serving size: 1 quesadilla
Servings per recipe: 6
Price per serving: 74¢
Preparation and cook time: >45 minutes- best for smaller programs or cooking clubs

Supplies:

• Grater
• 2 large bowls for veggies
• Medium skillet and hot plate or stove
• Dinner plate
• Spatula

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 1 Tbsp olive oil for sauteing
• 12 whole-wheat 6" tortillas
• 3 cups shredded low fat cheese, like cheddar or monetary jack
• 1 zucchinis, grated
• 1 carrots, grated
• Salt & pepper to taste (optional)
• 1 12oz jar salsa
• Pinch of chili powder or dash of hot sauce (optional)

Adult preparation:

Chop off zucchini and carrot ends

Directions

1. Grate vegetables, place in bowls (Optional: Add seasonings: salt & pepper, chili powder or hot sauce). TIP: Placing vegetables in individual bowls will allow children to select which vegetables they add to their quesadillas.
2. Add about 1/2 Tbsp of oil to the skillet.
4. Saute carrots until soft, then transfer back to bowl. Set aside.
5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for zucchini
6. Wipe or rinse skillet and spray with cooking spray.
7. Place 1 tortilla in skillet.
8. On half of one tortilla place about 1/4 cup of cheese and 2-3 Tbsp of vegetables, sprinkle with a little more cheese.
9. Fold tortilla in half and press firmly with a spatula
10. Flip and cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes on each side until cheese is melted
11. Repeat spraying skillet each time with cooking spray and repeat with remaining tortillas.
12. Serve with tomato salsa (about 2 Tbsp per quesadilla).

Recipe - Berry Blast Fruit Shake

Adapted from: USDA SNAP-Ed Recipes

Level 2: Basic Kitchen
Serving size: 1/2 cup
Servings per recipe: 20
Price per serving: 45¢
20 minutes

Supplies:

• Blender
• Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

• 2 12oz packages of frozen berries (like strawberries, blueberries, and/or mixed berries)
• 2 12oz packages of other frozen mixed fruit (like cantaloupe, honeydew, grapes, peaches or bananas)
• 1/2 gallon of low-fat milk
• 4 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

1. In a blender, combine the 2 cups frozen berries, 1cup frozen mixed fruit, 11/2 cups low-fat milk, and 2 tsp vanilla extract.
2. Puree until thick and smooth. If the mixture is too thick, thin out with a more milk.
3. Pour into glasses and serve.
4. Repeat steps above until all ingredients are used (about 5 batches).

Taste Test - Mix It Up!

Taste Test Ideas for Fruits and Vegetables

• Be Adventurous - try fruits like kiwi, pomegranates, or star fruit. Have children from different cultural backgrounds suggest fruits that they commonly eat at home (platanos, guava, etc.)
• Taste by Color - try different green vegetables (broccoli, green beans, kale) or orange fruit (peaches, nectarines) or a fruit and vegetable of the same color (red pepper and red cherry)
• Eat the Alphabet - try fruits and vegetables of the same letter (refer to the book Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert for an alphabet of ideas). Examples may include: apricots and apples, or melons and mangos.
• Taste by Part of the Plant - use the "What Part of the Plant are You Eating?" worksheet for a guided testing plan and/or use the examples below:
  • Root: carrot, onion, potato, turnip, yam, beets
  • Stem: asparagus, rhubarb, celery, fennel
  • Leaf: spinach, chard, cabbage, lettuce, collards
  • Flower: broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke
  • Fruit (of the vegetable plant): squash, tomato, cucumber
  • Seed: beans, corn, peas, soy beans
• Taste by Variety - compare different apples, pears, peppers, berries, etc., or compare the same food prepared different ways (for instance, raw apples versus applesauce, which is cooked; or raw versus steamed broccoli). Have kids bring in vegetable recipes that are part of their (or their parent's) culture.

Worksheets

Here you will find the worksheets for the following activities:

1. Parts of a Plant
What Part of the Plant are you eating?
2. Bingo
Bingo worksheet

To view all worksheets for this unit, click here

Connect With Parents!

Key Messages for Parents

• Limit children's overall screen time (TV, videogames, internet surfing, etc.) to less than 2 hours per day.
• Do not allow television sets in children's bedrooms.
• Help children find other things to do besides watching TV, such as playing games, doing crafts or being active.
• Be a good role model and limit your own TV viewing and computer time at home.

Parent Communication Options

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Brainstorm TV-free activities. Put up a poster board or tack a large piece of paper onto the wall by the sign-out book. Ask parents and kids to write down their favorite TV-free activity on the board. Keep the poster up for a week and encourage families to write something down every day. At the end of the week record all of the favorite activities and distribute to parents.
• Encourage Commercial Mania. Encourage parents to do the Commercial Mania activity from Food & Fun at home with their kids. Print out copies of the instructions and hand out to parents at pick-up. Follow-up with families to see what they discovered, and ask how they liked the activity!

Refer to the Parent Communications document, Newsletter Article, and Parent Handout to reinforce the messages in this unit of Food & Fun. All three are available in Spanish and English, and the Handout is available in Chinese.

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Tune Out Your TV for Better Health" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Tune Out the TV" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Take Control of TV (and other screen time)". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

Power Up Your Body Poster

Objective:

Children will create posters that promote fun, non-screen activities

Materials:

• Children will create posters that promote fun, non-screen activities
• Markers, crayons, paint and other decorative craft material

Instructions:

• Take a brief survey of the television and/or video game use from the previous day. Ask:
  • Who watched TV yesterday, or played a video game? (raise hands)
  • Raise your hand if you watched 1 show or video.
  • Raise your hand if you watched 2 shows or videos.
  • Raise your hand if you watched 3 shows or videos.
  • Raise your hand if you watched 4 or more shows or videos.
• Ask the group to name some things that they like more than watching TV. What else do they like to do (or would they like to do) when they are not watching TV or playing video games?
• Explain that they will be learning about ways to turn off their TVs and power up their bodies. Invite them to create a poster that displays the ways that they can have fun without televisions, videos or computers. Tell the group that they should create visuals or messages that also help other children find things to do when they are not watching TV.
• Distribute poster board paper and art supplies.

Extenstion Activities

• Submit posters to the national TV Turn-Off organization which supports TV Turn-Off week. For information and organizing tips, go to www.tvturnoff.org
• To discover ways to have fun without TVs, video games or computers, encourage children to talk to adults or seniors (grandparents, older relatives, neighbors or teachers) about the things that they did for fun growing up without the video screens of today. When applicable, have children interview an adult in their life who did not grow up in the US. What activities did they do for fun? Have kids report back and share findings with the group.

Power Up Charades

Objective:

Children play a game of charades, acting out various activities that you can do instead of watching TV, playing video games, or using the computer. Others must guess the activity and state whether or not it gets the body moving ("power up!").

Note: This game works best for children in grades 2 and up, though younger children who cannot read the cards may try it by making up their own activities.

Materials and Preparations:

• Print the Power Up Charades worksheets
• Copy the Activity Cards on to cardstock and cut out
• You and the children can make your own cards, too! Have kids come up with different activities that they or their family like to do together, like salsa dancing or Zumba.

How To Play:

• Explain that each child will take a turn drawing a card from the pile. Without showing anyone his/her card, the child will act out the activity on the card. Children in the audience will call out their guesses, and the person who correctly identifies the activity goes next.
• For each activity, ask whether or not it "powers up" the body (gets the body moving).
• Remind the children that their bodies want to move so they should be careful not to sit in front of the TV for long periods of time. After each 30-minute show, they should turn off the TV and power up their bodies!

Extenstion Activities

• Combine music and activity! Play music from a variety of nationalities. Have children move around, dance, etc and then "freeze" when music stops.

Walk Around Town

Objective:

Children will take a guided walk - either outside or creatively around the halls or in a gym.

Materials:

• Optional: Paper and pencils

Imformation for Leaders:

In this activity, children will go on a supervised walk around the block or to a local park or other point of interest (distance will depend on the age of the group). If walking outside is not an option, be creative and design a "walk around town", as suggested in the "crazy walk" option for young children, below.

Engage children by creating a scavenger hunt or survey of the neighborhood or gym.

• You may want to create a check-sheet in advance for children to work on in pairs while they walk, or ask children to name things that they can look for. Ideas are listed below.
• Have FUN!

Instructions

1. Tell the class that they will be going on a walk in the neighborhood (or the halls of the school or gym) to see what they can find.
2. Instruct children to walk in pairs and work together to find various things on the walk. For safety reasons, the entire group must stay together and with the adults!
3. Options for lower elementary children:
   • Create a scavenger hunt and instruct the children to check each item on the list that they see. Look for: a mailbox, orange flowers, a pine tree, the name of a street or number on a house, a home with a swing set or pool, a store with red letters, a pizza parlor, etc. Customize the list to fit your neighborhood or school!
   • Create a "crazy walk" by calling out landmarks or types of roads as you walk around the block, or even around a field or gym! For instance, instruct the children to hop when you call out a "bumpy road", take baby steps past a "school", jog on a "highway", swing arms back and forth when it rains, etc. Call out different movements to make for an interesting walk, and don't forget to drink water when you are thirsty!
   • Tell the children to count things such as the number of white houses or stores or flags that they pass. If you are playing inside, count the number of posters in the hallways or the number of doors. How many pairs of children counted correctly?
4. Options for upper elementary children:
   • Create a scavenger hunt that includes specific things like a mailbox, maple tree, park bench, or brown house (record the number of each that they see) as well as open-ended things such as "something blue" or "a word written in red letters".
   • Play "I Spy" as you walk along. The leader calls out the first clue (e.g.: "I see something blue") and the first person to identify the blue item calls out a clue for a new item. Note: the leader may need to add another descriptive so it can be identified before the group walks by the selected item.
   • Challenge pairs or small groups of children to become silly scavengers - instruct the groups to look for out of the ordinary or difficult to see things and write clues for their friends to find on a subsequent walk.
   • Create a map of the neighborhood or school! Instruct children to notice the things they pass by on a walk, then draw a mural with pictures of the various places that they see.
5. Options for all ages:
   • Measure out a walking route to follow at least one day each week.
   • Add up the miles and determine where the group might travel to each month.
   • Play "beat the clock" and see if the group can walk the route in less time (this may work better for older children who are less likely to stop to look at things!)

Extenstion Activities

• This would make a great Family Fun Night activity! Provide a scavenger hunt list to each family and send them on a 30 minute walk (suggest creating teams of 2 or 3 families). Families or teams decide which way to go. Offer a small reward (perhaps a gift certificate to a local produce market) to the first few families or teams who complete the scavenger hunt. Share the results over a healthy snack or supper.

Tune Out Challenge

Objective:

Children will give up at least one favorite TV show and replace it with an activity that does not involve "screens" (such as video games or computers)

Materials and Preparation:

• Print the Tune Out Challenge worksheets
• Copy one worksheet for each upper elementary child
• Large paper or chalk board plus markers or chalk
• Optional: copy the Tune Out Challenge parent letter to send home
• Optional: post-it notes or small pieces of paper and pens (for part-two)

Imformation for Leaders:

This two-part activity may take place over 2 or more days, depending upon how much of a challenge you want to give the group. In the first part, children will name the shows that they regularly watch and identify the shows that they would be willing to give up. Challenge them to give up one show that day, if they were planning to watch TV (tell them that if they are not going to watch TV but plan on playing a video game, they can give that up too!). By doing so, they should identify other activities or forms of entertainment that can replace "screen" (TV, video games, movies or computer) time.

In the second part of the lesson, they will share what they learned by giving up one show or video game time. They will then create a menu of fun or educational activities that they can use to continue to reduce the amount of TV (or video games, internet surfing, etc.) that they watch.

• Modifications are listed below for different grade levels
• Upper elementary children will use a worksheet to personalize the challenge, while younger grades may work together to make the lists.

Instructions

Part One -

1. Ask the children to name their favorite TV shows. Record on the board or on flip chart paper, and save for Part Two.
   • Distribute Tune Out Challenge worksheet to upper elementary children and invite them to work in pairs to complete the worksheet table and questions on videos and computers. Alternatively, you can have a younger and older child work together on the Tune Out Challenge worksheet.
2. Ask the children to name the show (or shows) that they would be willing to skip tonight (or the next time they plan to watch TV). Circle those shows.
   • If children filled out the Tune Out Challenge worksheet, instruct them to circle the show to give up on their worksheets.
   • They may also circle one of their favorite video games or computer activity to remind them that other "screens" should not replace TV!
   • Have children complete the worksheet by writing down three things that they could do instead of watching TV or playing a video.
3. Challenge the children to give up one show tonight, or tomorrow morning before school. If they are not planning on watching any shows that night or the next morning, challenge them to go without other screen time, such as video games or movies.
   • Children may also be challenged to give up a show and video/computer time.

Part Two -

Instructions for lower elementary children:

1. Ask the children which shows they actually gave up last night. Place check marks next to those shows. Ask: Was it hard to turn off the TV?
2. Ask: What did you do instead? Record this list of non-TV activities.
3. Review the list of activities. How many children were physically active?
4. Brainstorm together to expand the list of things they like to do when they tune out the TV. Think about seasonal activities or indoor/outdoor fun, and encourage children to include things that get their bodies moving.

Instructions for upper elementary children:

1. Ask the children which shows or videos they actually gave up last night and instruct them to place check marks next to those shows on their worksheets. Ask: Was it hard to turn off the TV?
2. Distribute post-it notes or small pieces of paper (2-3 per child) and have the children write down at least one thing that they did last night to replace their TV shows or video time (only one activity per post-it).
3. List some categories of activities (see elementary instructions above) on the board or on large pieces of paper (one category per page). Invite the children to post their activities under the appropriate category (children may also come up with their own categories). For instance:
   • Educational activities: school work, reading, doing a project
   • Quiet time activities: playing cards, doing a puzzle, coloring or other artwork, listening to or playing music
   • Cooking or baking
   • Active things: doing chores or helping parents, going for a walk, playing a sport, dancing
4. Did many children choose active things in place of TV? Work together to brainstorm more ideas for being physically active, and think about categories of activities. For example, think about seasonal activities/sports or indoor/outdoor fun.

Over the next few days at pick-up time, chat with parents to see if there has been any change in kids' attitudes/behavior regarding TV versus other activities. Encourage parents to support their children in accomplishing this activity and coming up with ideas.

Extenstion Activities

• Extend the challenge for another day or the whole week (consider taking a "Turn-Off TV Week" challenge- go to www.TVTurnOff.org for ideas).
• At the end of the week, ask the children if it is getting easier to limit their TV viewing. Ask about challenges and have group give feedback. Remind them that when they watch TV or play video games, their bodies are not moving! It's a good idea to go slow with the TV and include some active time every day. Even if someone else is watching TV in the room they have the option not to watch!
• Create a large chart to keep track of how often children give up watching TV to do other activities. Encourage them to record their progress at home and report back!

Worksheets

Here you will find the worksheets for the following activities:

1. Power Up Charades
Activity Card List for Leaders
Get Moving versus Stay Still cards
Option 2 Activity Card List for Leaders
Very Active versus More Moderate Moves cards

2. Tune Out Challenge
Worksheet
Parent letter in English
Parent letter in Spanish

To view all worksheets for this unit, click here

Connect With Parents!

Key Messages for Parents

• Kids should get vigorous activity (that make them breathe hard or sweat) at least 3 times a week.
• Vigorous activities build strength and endurance and are good for the heart and bones.
• Be a good role model and make time for vigorous physical activity.

Parent Communication Options

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Train for a 5k run! Find a 5k fun-run in your area and start training! Schedule a weekly run with families, and encourage running on other days of the week as well. Make it an annual event for families to participate in!
• Family field trip. Take a field trip to your local YMCA to use the gym equipment, swim in the pool, or participate in a class the Y might be offering for families to do together!

Refer to the Parent Communications document, Newsletter Article, and Parent Handout to reinforce the messages in this unit of Food & Fun. All three are available in Spanish and English, and the Handout is available in Chinese.

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Get Moving! Feel Great!" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Get Moving!" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Activate your Family!". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick-up at your program's sign-out area.

Build an Activity Wheel

Objective:

Children will contribute ideas of what they like to do to play hard, and then program staff can use these child-approved activities to plan the program's active time.

Materials:

• Cardboard, cut into one large circle
• Paper fastener and large popsicle stick
• Poster-board or large pieces of construction paper cut into triangles
• Plain or colored paper
• Markers, crayons, or other art supplies of choice
• Scissors and tape or paste

Leader Preparation

Create a spinning wheel around which the children will paste their physical activity drawings or pictures cut from magazines. While small spinning wheels may be available at a craft or education supply store (or even from an old game!), you can make one by attaching a flat wood popsicle stick to a paper fastener and securing to cardboard.

Instructions:

• Tell the children that they will be creating an activity wheel that they can use to choose the games or activities they will do in the afterschool program.
• Children should think of physical activities that get them "playing hard". Explain:
  • When we "play hard", our heart beats faster, our breath may become heavy or faster, we feel warm or sweat, and it may be hard to chat with friends. Our bodies are "highly active" (you could use the term "vigorous" activity with upper elementary children) when we play team sports, run, ride bikes, dance, play kick ball, tag, or basketball. We should do these things most days of the week to build strong hearts and bones and to improve fitness (when we are fit, it becomes easier to play hard).
• Invite the children to draw pictures that represent their favorite ways to play hard and tape the pictures to the different triangles on the wheel (you may have children cut their pictures out so they fit).
  • Note: Some children may draw the same thing and that is ok - just put similar pictures on the same triangle.
• Spin the wheel to choose an activity to do today!
• Encourage children to move their bodies every day, and use the pictures or listed activities to guide the activity choices in your program.

Extenstion Activities

• Some children may list enjoyable activities that cannot be done during program time (like roller skating, swimming, etc.) or that they do as part of their daily routine (such as walking the dog). Create "personal" activity wheel for kids to use at home. This can include active as well as quiet time activities that they can do alone or with their family. Have children share their personal activity wheels with the group.
• Invite children to draw pictures to create a collage poster of every day things that they do to keep their bodies healthy. Ask the group to name some active things they do each day. Give examples, like walking to school, cleaning your room, helping around the house, or playing at recess.
  • Tell the group that it is good to move your body every day!
• It is important to balance strength and flexibility activities with playing hard, so children may enjoyballetdancing, martial arts, or yoga a few times each week. Create another collage poster with these pictures. Pictures of enjoyable activities that children may only do once in a while, like canoeing, miniature golf, or sledding, also can be pasted to this poster.
• Have students label the different pictures in both English and the languages they speak. See how many different words you can learn for the same activities!

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

Play Soft, Play Hard

Objective:

To circle the room until the music stops, at which point players go to the nearest activity card and act out that activity when the music plays again.This game demonstrates the difference between low to moderate intensity activities and vigorous activities.

Prepartion and Materials:

• Print the Play Hard Play Soft worksheets
• Copy the activity cards, cut out, and tape to the walls around the gym. If needed, make extra copies, or add other activities to the list
• CD player/iPod and peppy music
• Optional: try playing culturally diverse music like salsa, merengue, or hip hop

Instructions:

1. Arrange children in a circle around the room. Inform them that this game is played like musical chairs. They will walk around the room while the music plays, then stop at an activity card along the wall when the music stops.
   • In this game, there should be enough activity options or more for each child, and cards/children are not eliminated from play.
2. When the music stops and all players are at a different activity card, ask the children to raise their hands if the activity makes them "play hard". If it makes them "play soft" then those players will take two steps into the middle of the room. If it is not active at all then kneel down.
3. When the music starts again, children who are raising their hands should try to act out their activity as they move around the room (or simply jog). Children who stepped forward should go to the middle of the gym and walk around slowly. Children who are kneeling should go to an open space and remain kneeling out of action for the next set of music.
4. Play a few rounds and then stop to ask children if they have noticed the changes in their bodies as they go from being still or moving slowly to moving quickly or playing hard. Help them recognize changes: they feel warm, they breathe more quickly, their heart beats faster.
5. Remind children that their bodies like to play hard because an active body is a healthy body.

What happens when...?

Best for Upper Elementary Children

Objective:

Older children will perform different movements to understand how their bodies react to physical activity. Children will learn to take their pulse.

Prepartion and Materials:

• Clock or watch
• Teach yourself and your staff how to take a pulse before teaching kids

Instructions:

1. After children have been sitting doing homework or some other quiet activity, announce that they need a movement break.
2. Before getting up, lead the children through some simple chair stretches:
   • Reach up to the sky like a tall tree
   • Sway the outstretched arms slowly side to side as if swaying in the breeze.
   • Bring arms down, then circle arms around as if hugging a large beach ball.
   • Reach over to touch toes and hang like a rag doll.
3. Ask how their muscles felt after stretching. Teach kids how to find their pulse. Ask children to count the number of beats they feel as you time 10 seconds. Tell the kids to remember the number or have them write it down on a piece of paper.
4. Stand up and walk to an open area (large corridor or gym).
5. Instruct the children to take large, slow steps around the gym or down the hall.
6. Return to a circle and march in place. Do 10 jumping jacks. Now, how do they feel? Are they feeling warm? Can anyone feel their heart beating? Take another 10-second pulse. Is this number bigger than the first time?
7. Move into more vigorous activities. Jog around the room, play a game of tag or a relay race to get children moving quickly. Play hard for 10 minutes then take a break to check in with how they feel. Take another 10-second pulse - everyone's number should have increased at this point. If it did not, then that child was not being very active.
8. Continue to play (invite the group to choose their favorite games) for another 10-20 minutes.
9. Cool-down. Take a final 10-second pulse. This number should be like the second one they took. If it is still high then they need a few more minutes to cool down.
10. Explain that when they play hard on a regular basis, their bodies get used to moving and that makes it easier to play for longer periods of time (called endurance).

Worksheets

Here you will find the worksheets for the following activities:

1. Play Hard Play Soft
Activity Card List for Leaders
Activity List

To view all worksheets for this unit, click here

Connect With Parents!

Key Messages for Parents

• Water is the best drink to keep kids hydrated.
• Water is the best choice for kids when they are being active and playing sports.
• Serve water at every snack and meal. Make sure that water is available all day for your child.

Parent Communication Options

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Offer parents fun water! Put a pitcher of water and cups by the sign-out book. Add sliced oranges, cucumbers, lemons or a splash of 100% juice. Be creative! Try different "fun water" every day for a week. Ask parents and kids which ones they like best. Encourage parents to serve fun water at home, and to try new flavors!

Refer to the Parent Communications document, Newsletter Article, and Parent Handout to reinforce the messages in this unit of Food & Fun. All three are available in Spanish and English, and the Handout is available in Chinese.

1. Parent Communications: Ideas for parent engagement, as well as a newsletter, "Hydrated Kids are Healthy Kids" and email message, "Healthy Habits Power Tips: Stay Cool" to distribute to parents.
2. Newsletter Article: The formatted version of the parent Newsletter
3. Parent Handout: "Quenchers!". Send this handout home in a mailing, insert it into your next newsletter, or have copies available for pick up at your program's sign-out area.

Cup Coolers

Objective:

Children will personalize cup coolers and be reminded to drink water when they are thirsty.

Materials:

• Foam cup holders - one for each child
• Various craft supplies: craft foam shapes, beads, scrap material, markers, etc.
• Glue
• Small water bottles

Instructions:

1. Introduce the activity by telling children that they will be making their own cup coolers! Tell them that it is important to drink water when they get thirsty.
2. Distribute foam cup holders and have craft supplies available for children to share.
3. Write names on the bottom of the cup holders in permanent marker before you start. Children may also write their names in decorative fashion on the holders.
4. Encourage children to be creative and decorate the cup holders in a way that defines them.
5. Allow glue to fully dry before using. Give each child a water bottle or cup to place in the cup holder.
6. Tell children that it is important to drink water throughout the day, and especially when they play, to stay cool and hydrated.

Extenstion Activities

• Instead of cup holders, decorate styrofoam or plastic cups instead!
• Have children decorate their cup holders with beans, grains, dried fruits etc. and magazine cut outs of their favorite activities to help them remember to eat healthy and be active.

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

Everyone Moves Obstacle Course

Objective:

Instead of a traditional relay-race type obstacle course, set up this course in stations around the room, similarly to circuit training. Offer water at every station and encourage kids to drink if they are thirsty!

Preparation and Materials:

These are suggested equipment and set-up options - use what you have and be creative!

• CD player and peppy music, try playing fun music from different cultural groups of the children in your program!
• Jump ropes
• Cones and masking tape
  • Set cones as a slalom course to run through
  • Set pairs of cones side-by-side and use masking tape to create the line to jump over (have several in a line to create a set of low hurdles)
• Hula Hoops-do the hula or scatter hoops on the floor to jump in and out of
  • Do the hula or scatter hoops on the floor to jump in and out of
• Balls
  • Dribble and shoot baskets
  • Dribble and kick soccer ball
  • Play catch or juggle small balls
  • Play "Four-squares" (encourage children to call out favorite active games, or fruits and vegetables or other healthy snacks)
• Frisbee
• Free Space
  • Just dance!
  • Do gymnastic moves like cartwheels, somersaults, or hand stands
  • Do push-ups (modify for younger children), sit-ups or jumping jacks (try 10 each!)
  • Have a station where kids can teach other kids an activity they know how to do!

Instructions:

1. Divide the group by the number of stations and have each small group of children start at a different station (number the stations for clarity).
2. Instruct the children to do the activity at each station while the music is playing, and when the music stops they will move to the next station.
3. Make sure water is available throughout the activity and encourage kids to drink when they are thirsty!

Gulp!

Objective:

Children will track how much water they drink throughout the day.

Preparation and Materials:

• Small poster boards for each child (Optional: Large poster board for the entire group)
• Stickers (to represent cups of water)
• Variety of grocery bulletins, circulars, food magazines, nature magazines, etc
• Assorted colored markers

Instructions:

1. Have children draw a calendar of the week (squares for Monday through Friday) on their poster board and decorate it with images of water to remind them to drink water throughout the day.
2. Have children think about their school day. How many servings of water (demonstrate 8 ounces or one cup serving with water bottles) did they drink today? (Encourage kids to use the coolers or cups they decorated to refill on water throughout the school day!)
3. Have them record the number of water servings by posting 1 sticker per cup under today's date. Repeat this activity each day during the week.
4. Ask the children: When did you drink water? (At lunch? After gym class?) What did the water taste like? Where is your favorite place to drink water at school? At home?
5. At the end of one week calculate how much water the group drank.

Extension Activities

• Have a "Silly Water" party (see recipe below) during pick up and engage parents in taste testing.
• Make a list of different ways children drink water and have them rate their favorites (For example, school water fountain, Brita filter, with ice, with lemon, etc). Post the list for parents to see and discuss at pick up.

Recipe - Silly Water

Ingredients:

• Plain water
• Fruit and vegetables, for flavor: lemon, lime, cucumber, orange, melon slices, raspberries, etc. Have children suggest and try out different things!

Instructions:

1. Mix up your own silly water by adding the fruit or vegetable of choice to a pitcher of ice water. Let the fruit or vegetable sit for at least 10 minutes for the flavor to infuse the water before serving.
2. Serve and conduct a taste test. Do the children like the flavored water? Ask children which silly water would they drink again, or what other flavors they would like to try.

Extension Activities

• Instead of a regular taste test, conduct a "blind" taste test, where children have to identify the fruit or vegetable while blindfolded. Which flavor is easiest to guess? Which is hardest?
• Have children bring in a fruit or vegetable from home to put in a pitcher of water for snack!

Taste Test - Be Active, Stay Cool

Taste test ideas for Unit 10:

• Silly water. Serve water infused with fruits, vegetables, or herbs, like oranges, lemon, cucumber, or mint.
• Mint Ice Tea. Fill a pitcher with water, decaffeinated tea bags, and mint leaves. Let it sit in the sun for 30 minutes and serve over ice!

Download the PDF for the Taste Test Rating Sheet here

Connect With Parents!

Key Messages for Parents

• You are an important role model for your children so it is important for you to eat healthy and be physically active.
• Serve a fruit or vegetable with every meal and snack, even if your child doesn't always eat them.
• Whole grain breads and cereals help you feel full longer, and are packed with fiber and other nutrients.
• Water and low fat milk are the best beverages to offer during snack and meal times.
• Limit the amount of time your children watch TV and play on the computer, and be prepared to offer other fun activities.
• Include "good for you" fats found in fish and plant sources like vegetable oils (such as olive and canola), nuts, and seeds.

Parent Communication Options

It is important to engage parents on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Here are some ways that you can engage parents at afterschool:

• Have a conversation with parents at pick up
• Create a bulletin board with the key messages from each Food & Fun unit
• Involve parents in daily physical activities and snack time
• Hold regularly scheduled events each month
• Repeat or try out new parent engagement activities from Food & Fun! Talk to parents and kids about their favorite activity involving parents and do it again! Or, take this opportunity to review parent engagement activities from previous units and try one out that you didn't have a chance to do before.

Warm Up, Cool Down

Objective:

It is important for children (and adults!) to warm up their muscles and get the blood flowing before engaging in more vigorous/heart pumping activities. It is also important to allow the body to slow down instead of abruptly stopping an activity. Below are some ideas to help children ease into and out of the physical games.

Warm Ups:

• Walk around the gym or field, or up and down corridors if using modified space for activity. Begin at a slow pace, then increase the speed of each lap, but do not run.
• Play a short movement game such as "Red Light, Green Light" (children move across room when you say, "Green Light", and stop when you call out, "Red Light!" Alter movement instructions with each start, e.g.: tip toe, hop or gallop.)
• Play "Simon Says" and incorporate stretching moves (such as "reach to the sky" or "touch your toes") along with warming moves (such as "march in place" or "hop on one foot")
• Perform simple stretches sitting on the floor. Remind children not to bounce or pull. For younger children, offer visual cues like, "reach forward and hug the beach ball", or "paint a rainbow with your right hand...now paint one with your left".

Cool Downs:

• Race across the gym or field with progressively slower movements: run then gallop then skip then walk then tip toe, etc.
• Repeat simple stretching activities.
• Introduce deep breathing or simple yoga moves as a way to cool down and relax (remind children that these can be used any time!).
  • Slowly (to the count of five) breathe in while bringing your hands together and rising over the head. Then slowly breathe out with a loud "whoosh" while bringing your arms down to the side.
  • "Cat" pose: create a table, supporting the body with the hands and knees. Breathe in and arch back so that the belly moves to the floor and the shoulders move back to look up. Breathe out to reverse the curve of the back like a cat stretching its back.

Mix and Mash

An adaptation of Twister®

Objective:

Children will review different foods covered in Food & Fun

Materials and Preaparation:

• Make Twister® mats by cutting out paper circles and tapping them to the floor in four equal rows of six. Each row should be a different color, which correspond to different food groups: red (whole grains), yellow (healthy fat), blue (fruits), and green (vegetables).
• Use spinner from the Twister® game or make your own by attaching a spinner to a square board. The spinner is divided into four labeled sections: right foot, left foot, right hand, and left hand. Each of those four sections is then divided into the four food/activity colors (red, yellow, blue, and green).
• Note: If you are unfamiliar with the game of Twister® see: http://boardgames.about.com/od/gamehistories/p/twister.htm

How to Play

• Divide the group into teams of 5 players. You should have one "mat" per group.
• Each team member will take turns as the spinner. Depending on the color that is spun, the spinner must give an example of a food in that food group, and then call out the combination (for example: right hand, apples). The players must move their matching hand or foot to a dot of the correct color (for this example, blue).

Name Three!

Objective:

Children will review all of the things that they learned from Food & Fun activities

Materials and Preaparation:

• A round object such as an orange or tennis ball

How to Play

1. Players form a circle sitting on the floor or ground. Select one player to be "it".
2. The person who is "it" goes into the center and counts to 10 out loud while his/her eyes are closed. Meanwhile, the players pass the object around the circle.
3. On the count of 10, the players stop passing the object and the person in the middle calls out a "Name 3 Challenge" using healthy food and drink groups or physical activity categories. The player holding the object must quickly call out 3 things that fit in the category.
4. Options to call out (you may want to write things down for the center person to choose from):
   • 3 fruits (or red fruits, yellow fruits, etc.)
   • 3 vegetables (or green veggies, white veggies, etc.)
   • 3 grains
   • 3 whole grain cereals
   • 3 super snacks
   • 3 healthy drinks
   • 3 healthy foods that start with the letter "A" or "B", etc.
   • 3 active things to do
   • 3 things that get you "playing hard"
   • 3 things to do when you tune out the TV

Extension Activities

• Incorporate questions from extension activities, like naming a fruit or vegetable in a different language.

Healthy Steps!

Objective:

Children will set simple goals to make healthy changes in their lives

Materials:

• Poster board or Posters from Food & Fun 2nd Edition
• Markers or crayons
• Paper
• Stickers

Instructions

1. Review the Food & Fun key messages your program has learned so far this year. Write the messages on a poster board or use one of the posters of the Environmental Standards from Food & Fun 2nd Edition as a reminder.
2. Have each child write in words or draw a picture of one healthy goal related to the Food & Fun lessons you have taught so far. Give them examples of simple, concrete change ideas. These might include eating one more fruit every day, drinking water instead of soda at dinner, or watching an hour less of TV each week. Goals like "eating healthy" or "being active" will be harder to track.
3. Have kids pair up or form small group to share their healthy goals.
4. Now that they have each chosen a goal, tell the group that they will all try to take one small step to reaching that goal in the next week. Try to help kids break down bigger goals into smaller and more manageable tasks they will be able to accomplish each day.
5. Over the next week, designate at least 10 minutes each day (e.g. during snack time or at the beginning of the afterschool day) to check in on their progress. Ask kids to share any successes and struggles they are having.
6. Use stickers to track kids' progress. Have kids add a sticker to their poster if they think they took a "step" towards meeting their healthy goals.

Extension Activities

• This is a perfect activity to establish staff role modeling. Have staff set healthy goals and share their progress too.
• Extend the "healthy steps" activity to two weeks or even a month. Help kids think of different "steps" if they are having trouble reaching their goals during the first week or help them set new healthy goals if they reach their first one.
• Send the healthy goals home and encourage parents to make one of their own!

Act Up!

Objective:

Children will work together to create a Food & Fun skit

Materials:

• Various props to use in the skit
• Craft materials and poster board to create scenery and promotional posters
• Creativity and enthusiasm!

Instructions

1. Invite the children - as a whole group or in small groups (e.g. you can have different grades work together) to create a skit (or a number of small skits) that demonstrate the key messages that they learned from Food & Fun.
2. Be sure to help children find ways to get involved that do not necessarily involve acting. For instance, children can:
   • Be in charge of writing the script
   • Find or make props or other scenery
   • Help "backstage"
   • Create posters or signs to announce the show
   • Create a theme song or rap
3. Be sure to give the group(s) the opportunity to choose their favorite healthy focus for the skit and let them perform their skit for other program participants, staff and families!

Extension Activities

• The performance of the skit could be combined with a celebration during which families could try different recipes, see children's art projects, or participate in physical activities!
• You could also invite parent volunteers to assist in the production of the skit!

Taste Test - Food & Fun Finale

Taste Test Ideas for Food& Fun Finale

• Take a vote! Ask kids what their favorite taste test was and do it again! Maybe add in a few more options to mix it up a bit
• Involve parents in a favorite taste test among kids

Download the PDF for the Taste Test Rating Sheet here