Family Nutrition Education

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Nutrition education is an important way to encourage healthy eating, build good lifelong habits, and combat our State, and our country’s, childhood obesity epidemic.  Ideally, Nutrition Education should link what children are eating at school and in out-of-school time programming, with what they are learning about in the classroom.

Best practice Nutrition Education links research, theory and practice; and focuses on behavior change.  Below is a list of high quality nutrition education resources that have been reviewed and recommended by a State team of experts. This is not an all-inclusive list, but includes many of the best free and low-cost Nutrition Education resources offered in Michigan and nationally.   Use these resources to provide and improve Nutrition Education and to create an implementation plan for the Nutrition Education portion of your local Wellness Policy.

  • Game On!

    Format: Webpage

    Audience: K-12 School Health/Wellness Teams- Students, Teachers, Parents, Administrators, Foodservice Workers, Community Members, Coaches

    Cost: Free

    Picture of the Action for Healthy Kids Game On WebpageGame On challenges America’s schools, staff, students, and the families they serve to get healthy, inside and out. Game On provides all the information and resources you need to host a successful school wellness program in your school, including an interactive school blueprint that allows you to search for fun Eat Better and Move More Challenges for every aspect of your school building. 

    Explore the Game On website and the 6 steps they offer to help you improve student health, while reaching your schools needs. Don't forget to check out step 4: Find Activities to engage everyone on the team, including students!

    Available at: http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/tools-for-schools/game-on

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  • Healthy Food Ideas: School Snacks, Celebrations, and Family Events

    Format: PDF

    Audience: Parents, Teachers, Foodservice Workers, Coaches

    Cost: Free

    APicture of Health Food Ideas PDF from Action for Healthy Kids 2-page PDF that includes ideas for healthy foods and games for classroom parties or school celebrations. It also includes ideas for snacks kids can make and how to make edible art!

     

    Available at: http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/storage/documents/parent-toolkit/foodideasf3a.pdf

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  • Healthy Fundraisers

    Format: PDF

    Audience: Parents, Teachers, Foodservice Workers, Coaches, Club Leaders

    Cost: Free

    Picture of Healthy Fundraisers PDF from Action for Healthy KidsAction for Healthy Kids offers 2 PDFs that include ideas for non-food, healthy food, and physical activity-promoting school, club, or team fundraisers.

    Available at: http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/storage/documents/parent-toolkit/fundraisers-food-sales-f1.pdf

    and

    http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/storage/documents/parent-toolkit/fundraisers-family-health-f1.pdf

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  • Healthier Middle Schools Everyone Can Help

    Format: PDF and/or hard copy

    Audience: Principals, Parents, Teachers, Foodservice Workers, Students

    Cost: Free

    Picture of the Introductory Letter from Team Nutrition about the Healthier Middle School InitiativeSeries of communication tools (PDFs and videos) for teachers, principals, parents, food service managers and students, with videos and handouts for each audience.

    Available at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/healthier-middle-schools-everyone-can-help

    Or upon request from Team Nutrition - Team Nutrition offers materials for free to schools and child care centers that participate in Federal Child Nutrition Programs.

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  • Healthy Non-Food Rewards

    Format: PDF

    Audience: Parents, Teachers, Foodservice Workers, Coaches, Club Leaders

    Cost: Free

    Picture of the PDF Healthy Non-Food Rewards from Action for Healthy KidsA 2-page PDF that includes creative, free and low-cost ideas for health-promoting non-food rewards. It offers specific ideas by grade level- elementary school, middle school, and high school and also offers ideas for Parent/Teacher Organizations (PTOs).

    Available at: http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/storage/documents/parent-toolkit/rewardsf3a.pdf

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  • Let's Party- School Party Ideas

    Format: PDF

    Audience: Teachers, Parents, Coaches, Club Leaders

    Cost: Free

    Picture of the Let's Party PDF from the Office of Child NutritionThis PDF give you ideas for creating a healthy party at school. It provides ideas to make your party healthy, safe, fun, and simple! This document includes student friendly recipes and also recipes for the cafeteria that are in the USDA Recipes for Schools with numerical code. There are also 10 party theme ideas available for you to try for your next school party!

    Available athttp://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/hsmrs/WestVirginia/LetsParty.pdf

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  • Michigan Harvest of the Month

    Audience: Teachers, Coaches, Club Leaders

    Cost: $$- For pricing and ordering contact resources@michiganfitness.org

    Picture of a Harvest of the Month Newsletter from the Michigan Nutrition NetworkMichigan Harvest of the MonthTM materials are hands-on to allow for exploration, tasting, and learning regarding the importance of eating fruits and vegetables and being physically active every day. Michigan Harvest of the MonthTM features ready-to-go nutrition education materials that can be used in diverse applications within the community and school environment. The materials can easily be integrated into the core curriculum and are based on the most current Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Materials for families are available in English, Spanish, and Arabic.

    Available at: http://www.michiganfitness.org/harvest-month - Download a copy to review or order at resources@michiganfitness.org

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  • MyPlate Materials (family focused)

    Format: Multiple formats

    Audience: Students, Parents

    Cost: Free

    Picture of the USDA's MyPlate- a plate divided into 4 sections (fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein) with a piece for dairy as well.MyPlate offers many resources for free- handouts, fact sheets, activity sheets, games, songs, online guidance and more! Once you follow the link below, look across the top and select audience. This will allow you to choose the section most relevent to you. The sections by audience are Children (Preschoolers, Kids), Students (Teens, College), Adults (Men & Women, Moms/Moms to be, Older Adults). Many of their materials are offered in multiple languages.

    Available at: www.choosemyplate.gov

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  • My Way to Wellness Online Nutrition Education for Adults

    Format: Online

    Audience: Adults- ages 18-65

    Cost: $10 or free to SNAP eligible audiences

    Screenshot of My Way to Wellness online nutrition class offerred by Michigan State University ExtensionThrough the self-paced online course, participants will work towards setting goals as a key component to achieve where they want to be with health. Along with personal goal setting, other topic areas include nutritional needs and physical activity, building a healthy MyPlate, energy – a balancing act, picking the best portions, healthy habits for a healthy life and others. The course is comprised of eleven self-paced modules that include physical activity and food safety demonstration videos.

    Available at: Go to https://events.anr.msu.edu/event.cfm?eventID=69BEE709E1E5ACA4 to register. Once registered, your program information will be emailed to you.

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