Good nutrition contributes to improved academic achievement and student health. Your program can contribute to improving your students’ nutrition in a variety of ways, including healthy snacks, nutrition education, cooking classes, gardens and modeling healthy eating.
The first step to improving nutrition in your afterschool program is getting federal funding for your snacks. The California Department of Education has a useful chart that will help you. Federally Reimbursable Snack Programs highlights key components of four federally reimbursable snack programs to help afterschool programs choose the best program.
The Food Research and Action Center's (FRAC) California-specific guide (Making the Most of Child Nutrition Funding: A Guide for After School Education and Safety Grantees) can help grantees understand the basics of child nutrition programs. It provides tips on how to operate a nutrition program successfully.
The California After School Resource Center’s e-manual is a comprehensive resource on healthy snacks.
The Summer Meal Program Coalition has developed great new resources (case studies and tool boxes) to help programs use the summer meal program and increase the numbers of children and youth served.
Nutrition Education curricula and resources are highlighted by grade level in materials developed by the CA Department of Public Health’s Network for a Healthy California and the CA Healthy Kids Resource Center.
- Supplemental List of Instructional Materials for Nutrition and Physical Activity: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve
- Recommended Curricula for Nutrition and Physical Activity Instruction: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve
Healthy recipes can be found at the Network for a Healthy California’s web site.
CDE has a new activity guide that links academic content standards to the real world through gardens, cooking, recycling and the environment, Kids Cook Farm Fresh Food
New from National Heart Lung and Blood Institute–The We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition)® Program is offering a new widget with drop-down menus identifying the healthiest foods from each food group. We Can!® Go, Slow, Whoa Widget
The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is offering new educational material to help people make healthier eating choices regarding heart healthy options, portion control, and choosing foods with fewer fat and calories, when eating out. Featured Matierals
The Food and Research Action Center (FRAC) has released a report on the relationship between student academic achievement and school breakfast. Read More
The California Healthy Kids Resource Center (CHKRC) maintains a comprehensive collection of reviewed health education materials. Here are some resources they offer on food handling/safety:
- ServSafe - Steps to Food Safety
- Don't Give Kids A Tummyache!
- Handwashing for Life - The Why, The When, The How
- Kitchen and Food Safety
- Serving It Safe: A Manager's Tool Kit
The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) brings together four of the nation’s leading research funders – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – to address the problem of childhood obesity in America. To learn more about NCCOR projects, resources, news and events, click here.
The Network for a Healthy CA’s Nutrition Glossary is a tool that all Learning Centers should use—it provides helpful nutrient information and is written in a very easy-to-read style. Read More.
Summer Meals
- Two HBI Learning Center programs, YMCA of Silicon Valley and Mt. Diablo CARES, provides healthy meals to low-income children and families during summer. Read More.
- New Summer Meal Case Studies and Tool Boxes are available that feature the YMCA of Silicon Valley (HBI Learning Center Program). Read More.
