California 4-H Healthy Living Toolkit

The California 4-H Healthy Living program wants youth to reach their fullest potential. The Life Skills for Better Living Toolkit is a place to find activities and resources, research, and policies and guidelines, surrounding today's most-pressing healthy living topics. Use this toolkit to support the health of young people in your club, project, after school program, camp program, or any other venue! These materials were originally developed for use the in the University of California 4-H Youth Development program. However, they are suitable for any organization working to improve the lives of children and teens. We have organized materials and resources into six key priority areas:

Integrated Healthy Living Resources

While most materials fell into one of the six priority areas, a few cover all of the Healthy Living domains and would be suitable for use and evaluation of your program in totality: 

4-H Healthy Living Officer's Training - California has added a club level youth leadership position, called a Healthy Living Officer. This position works to ensure the club is as healthy as possible. The purpose of this course is to train these youth members on some of the essential activities of a 4-H Healthy Living Officer. This course is approximately 18 minutes long. Also available on eXtension.

4-H Healthy Camp Checklist - Health is an essential element into all 4-H programming and should be considered with everything that is done. This document will provide you with a quick and easy checklist to evaluate your residential camp program for factors related to healthy living.

Healthy Living Club/Event Checklist - In order to maximize the impact of your club meetings or events, use this checklist to evaluate your program for essential healthy living elements. Then select an area to focus on for improvement. 

Wellness Challenge - This was developed in order to motivate 4-H event participants to choose healthful behaviors. Use the Healthy Living Wellness Challenge as a way to encourage healthy activities at your next 4-H event. Be sure to create the environment where these activities are possible. 

More Ways To Add Healthy Living To Your Cooperative Extension Programs

• Create a statewide 4-H Healthy Living Team with staff, academics, volunteers, and youth. 
• Conduct a needs assessment with your members and volunteers to identify priority areas. 
• Purchase and provide healthy living curriculum in your local resource library for project leaders. 
• Train staff and volunteers on health promotion policies.
• Highlight and promote existing healthy living activities, such as Youth Mental Health First Aid and the National Healthy Living Summit.
• Create a "4th H for Health Challenge" at state events (such as special recognition for a presentation or photograph on a health topic).
• Promote/provide CPR and First Aid training for volunteers. 
• Create a list of recommended project meeting guides. 
• Fund local healthy living service learning projects. 
• Connect and coordinate with other state-wide programs, such as joint horticulture efforts with Master Gardeners or shared cooking classes with SNAP-Ed.
• Promote adequate sleep, healthy food and beverages, reuseable water bottles, time for physical activity, and free social time at overnight events. 
• Highlight and promote resources at staff trainings. 
• Introduce and provide resources to Community Club Leaders at trainings. 
• Provide on-line food safety trainings to volunteers. 
• Develop webinars on healthy living projects. 
• Be sure to target the individual, family, school and community with efforts for maximum impact. 
• Join local health coalitions to emphasize and guide efforts for the health of youth in your community. 
• Present sessions at conferences on the importance of health. 
• Organize healthy living retreats and events. 
• Partner with other staff to incorporate health into group efforts, such as adding stress-management to leadership trainings.