AFTER-SCHOOL FOOD AND ACTIVITY ENVIRONMENT
ENACT STRATEGY: Nutrition Education
Use snack/mealtimes to introduce a variety of different healthy food options
After-school programs offer an excellent opportunity to introduce children to a variety of healthy foods, especially ones that they may not be exposed to at home or in school. Taste-testing healthy foods and engaging children and youth in the selection of healthy snacks are two ways to make eating healthy both fun and educational. Lastly, after-school programs should not only strive to offer healthy foods, but also model the eating of these foods by staff.
Oakland Butterfly and Urban Gardens (OBUGS) After-school Program
Students from kindergarten to 5th grade plant and maintain gardens using sustainable organic practices during the after-school program. On cooking days students harvest vegetables and use them to prepare healthful snacks and meals. The program also incorporates nutrition and ecology-based art projects and games.
CANFIT Healthy Snack Guide for Your After School Program
This guide lists healthy snacks that are easy to find in many stores and fall within the federal reimbursement rate. Also included are 2-week sample menus, best practice guidelines, and healthy recipes.
Promoting Healthy Activities Together (P.H.A.T.) Multi Media Kit
Designed by the California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness Program (CANFit), this kit provides information and resources to improve the nutrition and physical activity knowledge, attitudes,
skills and behaviors of African-American 10-14 year olds participating in after school programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Using a community-based approach, the P.H.A.T. campaign embraced music, dance, emceeing, and other elements of hip-hop culture (in community centers, schools, after school programs and other
organized settings) to deliver important messages about healthy eating and physical activity.
Thrifty Tips for Healthy Helpings
Child care professionals and busy parents share a common challenge. How can we feed children nutritiously, in a timely, stress-free manner and without breaking the bank? Developed by the Contra Costa Child Care Council.
BYA is a community based organization with a mission to provide a secure and nurturing environment for all the children, youth, and families of the surrounding community. Visit the website to learn more about the many ways Berkeley Youth Alternatives has incoporated physical activity and nutrtion into all of its programming, ranging from their state of the art commercial kitchen that will be used for a culinary arts program and to make healthy snacks for the after school program to the sports and fitness academy and Team Nutrition Program.
The California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness (CANFit) Program
CANFit is a statewide, non-profit organization whose mission is to engage communities and build their capacity to improve the nutrition and physical activity status of California's low-income African American, American Indian, Latino, and Asian/ Pacific Islander youth 10-14 years old.