Curricula

Afterschool and summer programs can provide a perfect setting to promote healthy living. Healthalicious Cooking is a six-week nutrition and physical activity curriculum, that was designed for and tested among kids ages 9- to 12-years in afterschool or summer program settings. The overall goal of this hands-on program is to have fun while preparing and eating healthy meals, learning about nutrition, and being physically active.

By participating in Healthalicious Cooking, kids can:

Learn important life skills that will help them to make healthy food choices
Develop food preparation, recipe reading, menu planning and clean- up skills
Develop self-confidence in preparing food and meals
Try new foods among friends and family
Enjoy playing simple, physically active games

Healthalicious Cooking is now available for download at the UC ANR Publications website: http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/Search/healthalicious.aspx

Parent nutrition education is a key part of community programs to prevent childhood obesity. The Niños Sanos Familia Sana (Healthy Children, Healthy Family) Family Nutrition is a culturally-adapted childhood obesity prevention curriculum for Mexican-heritage families with children 3-8 years of age.

Photo credits: UC ANR repository (Martin)

Key messages of this 20 lesson curriculum include:

Enjoy family meals
Offer more vegetables and fruits
Serve child-sized portions of food
Play together outdoors
Spend less time watching TV and playing video/computer games
Drink sugary beverages less often
Set a healthy routine to get enough sleep
Make time for a healthy breakfast
Make healthy choices when eating out