Early Childhood - Nutrition & Fitness

EatPlayGrow  | Available on site
EatPlayGrow™ is a new early childhood health curriculum developed in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) adapted the We Can!® obesity prevention program (originally for ages 8-13) creating EatPlayGrow™ to teach children ages 6 and younger and their adult caregivers how to make healthy nutrition and physical activity choices. This curriculum combines the latest science and research from the NIH with CMOM’s holistic arts and literacy-based pedagogy to engage families and adults who work with young children with creative programs and consistent health messages in informal and formal learning environments.

CATCH Early Childhood (CEC)  |  Purchase on site
It’s Fun to Be Healthy Binder and Activity Box. CEC is designed to nurture a love of healthy eating habits and exercise in children ages three to five years. CEC helps provide an environment where physical activity, health education, and proper nutrition are valued and encouraged. There are nine classroom lessons to encourage healthy eating and activity plus Parent Tip Sheets with coloring activities, recipe ideas, and additional information.

5210 Let’s Go  |  Most available on site, formal package for purchase on site as well
Let’s Go!’s 5-2-1-0 Goes to Child Care program provides participating sites with a toolkit, online resources, and technical assistance to help guide them in successfully supporting increased physical activity and healthy eating for children and youth. 5-2-1-0 Goes to Child Care’s 6-step process was adapted from Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC) and uses a modified version of the Let’s Move! Child Care Checklist to help child care providers assess their current practices. Participating programs are provided with a comprehensive toolkit, access to online resources, free educational workshops for staff, Maine state licensing contact hours for completing certain program steps, and personalized guidance and assistance to support the child care programs in the adoption of the 10 strategies and 5-2-1-0 message.

Healthy Start   | Purchase on website
This is a 12-unit curriculum centered on the child, environment, and family. Healthy Start helps to ensure that the roots of a healthy lifestyle are planted firmly when it matters most: early childhood. Children discover concepts and practice behaviors through stories, songs, rhymes, art projects, and activities. Topics include eating for health, enjoying active play every day, getting along with others, feeling good about “me,” safety and care of the body, saying no to drugs and smoking, taking care of the environment, and staying safe in the sun.

Color Me Healthy | Purchase on website
Color Me Healthy is a nutrition and physical activity program for preschoolers ages four and five. It uses color, music, and exploration of the senses to help children learn that healthy eating and physical activity are fun. It includes lesson plans, a music CD, and parent newsletters. Materials can be downloaded from the website.

LANA – Learning About Nutrition Through Activities  |  Available on website
The LANA Preschool Program includes six week-long theme units offered once each month in place of your regular weekly curriculum. These theme units provide a special focus on fruits and vegetables by including related stories and classroom activities in addition to the weekly cooking and tasting activities. The theme units also provide family resources to help connect families with program messages. Free training materials are available on the website.

Grow it, Try It, Like It  | Available on website
This is a garden-themed nutrition education kit for child care center staff that introduces children to three fruits (peaches, strawberries, and cantaloupe) and three vegetables (spinach, sweet potatoes, and squash). Each set of lessons contain: hands-on planting and nutrition education activities. There are fun parent/child activities and family-sized recipes that give tips for cooking with children at home. Materials can be downloaded from the website

NEAT Solutions for Healthy Children | Purchase anchor text on website
Early Sprouts, Cultivating Healthy Food Choices in Young Children – This is a 24-week curriculum that goes beyond teaching preschoolers about nutrition. The goal is to increase children’s taste preferences for vegetables. The “seed-to-table” approach combines gardening, sensory explorations, recipes, and family involvement to promote healthy eating during the early years when children’s food choices are being established. 

More Than Mud Pies | Purchase anchor text on website
Institute of Child Nutrition. These 54 lessons built around the seasons of the year each include activities to learn about growth, nutrition, and preparation of foods.

CARE Connection: Nutrition Education in Child Care   |  Available on website
Institute of Child Nutrition. Grab and Go Lessons that child care providers can do with children to help them learn about the good things food does for our bodies. Through these activities children can learn to make healthful food choices and develop positive eating habits that will last a lifetime.

Harvest of the Month | Available on website
Features ready-to-go tools and resources that can be used in diverse applications to support healthy eating and daily physical activity. These tools and resources can be used in a variety of settings. They provide materials for students, families, and the community to engage in hands-on opportunities to explore, taste, and learn about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables and being active every day. Resources provide the opportunity for collaboration among many partners and stakeholders, including educators, school nutrition staff, school administrators, students, parents, farmers, retail outlets, worksites, SNAP offices, after-school programs, and more—all of whom are striving toward the goal of increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables and increasing physical activity among low-income Californians.

Farm to PreSchool    |  Available on website
A natural expansion of the national farm to school model and encompasses a wide range of programs and activities.Its goals are multi-level and include:  influencing the eating habits of young children while their preferences are forming; creating healthy lifestyles through good nutrition and experiential opportunities such as gardening; improving healthy food access at home and within the community; and ultimately influencing policies to address the childhood obesity epidemic through a local food lens.

Food for Thought - Nutrition Across the Curriculum  | Available on website
The curriculum is structured around five units, namely, Fall Fruits and Vegetables, Winter Fruits and Vegetables, Go-Grains, Power up with Proteins, and Spring Snacking. There are 32 lessons in the curriculum and each lesson features a nutrition activity and integrates educational domains such as language arts, mathematics and science concepts.

K-8 Variety Health Topics

Advocates for Youth  | Available on site
Rights, Respect, Responsibility: A K-12 Sexuality Education Curriculum. Advocates for Youth partners with youth leaders, adult allies, and youth-serving organizations to advocate for policies and champion programs that recognize young people’s rights to honest sexual health information; accessible, confidential, and affordable sexual health services; and the resources and opportunities necessary to create sexual health equity for all youth.

The Great Body Shop |  Purchase on site
Research-based, comprehensive Health Education curriculum for students in grades, Pre-K-8. Their mission is to equip children and their families with the knowledge and skills needed to make healthy choices throughout their lives. They began The Children’s Health Market in 1987 in response to urgent needs expressed by school districts to help them establish curricula in their school districts that would teach children and their families how to become more responsible and knowledgeable with regard to their personal, family and community health.

Five for Life  | Purchase on site
K-12 The FIVE FOR LIFE PROGRAM® is a research-based, K-12 fitness and health curriculum aligned with Physical Education Standards.  Using age-appropriate academic instructional units in an activity-based setting, the FIVE FOR LIFE PROGRAM® moves students through a continuum of learning without compromising activity time.

High Five  |  Purchase on site
HIGH FIVE® is Canada's quality standard for children's recreation and sport. Before HIGH FIVE, no standard existed and there was a clear need for an innovative approach to help organizations enhance program quality and provide positive experiences for children, which would remain with them for a lifetime.

Adam Education  | Purchase on site
A.D.A.M. Education is the leader in innovative content and curriculum resources for teaching and learning about the human body and improving health literacy. A.D.A.M. Education resources bring anatomy to life by providing a unique interactive learning experience that helps stimulate conceptual understanding and increase retention of difficult subject matter. Discover why our curriculum solutions are being used by instructors and students in classrooms in 99 countries.

Speak Up Be Safe | Preventing Child Abuse, Neglect, Social Risks, Gr.1-6
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Too Good Programs | Drugs, Violence, Healthy Choices, K-12
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Project Alert |  Drug Prevention, Gr. 7-8
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