PREVENTING OBESITY IN EARLY LEARNING AND
CARE SETTINGS:
Useful Resources
COMMUNITY-LEVEL INITIATIVES
We Thrive! is an initiative of Hamilton County, Ohio to increase access to healthy
eating and physical activity while decreasing tobacco use. They work with
community partners, schools, businesses, churches, elected officials and residents
to address obesity and chronic disease through specific strategies. The Child Care
Initiative provides resources and model policies and enrolls centers that commit to
taking various actions. www.watchusthrive.org
Smart Start is a three year initiative to address obesity in child care settings
throughout the state of North Carolina. The project brings together policy,
practice, and environmental change to improve the health of children in child care,
their families and their communities. http://www.smartstart.org/
PRACTICAL TOOLS
Let’s Move Childcare: Effort started by First Lady Michelle Obama.
Contains resources for child care center staff and offers certification for
those who sign up, learn, and develop an action plan. Centers can earn
national recognition by addressing goals related to physical activity,
screen time, food, beverages and infant feeding. Online library has
resources in English and Spanish. http://www.healthykidshealthyfuture.org/
Growing Healthy Children: A Nutrition Education Curriculum for New York City Child
Care Centers. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene 2011.
This nutrition education curriculum was developed for providers of children ages
three to four in group child care settings. Each lesson is approximately 30 minutes
long and contains nine modules: Food Mood, Vary Your Veggies, Flavorful Fruit,
Dairylicious, Smart Snacking, Growing Goodness, Choose your Fun, Fitness is Fun and
Cooking with Children.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/cdp/growing-healthy-children.pdf
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NAP SACC is a set of tools to help child care centers improve nutrition, the physical
activity environment, policies and practices. The program includes a self-assessment,
action planning, and workshops for staff. NAP SACC consultants are available to
provide technical assistance and help evaluating the impact of program changes.
http://www.napsacc.org Online NAPSACC training: Training and Research Translation
Center: http://centertrt.org/?p=training_webtrainings.
The evidence for NAP SACC guidelines, and a readable summary of them was
published in: Best Practice Guidelines for Physical Activity at Childcare. Pediatrics
2009;124:1650 – 1659.
The South Euclid-Lyndhurst Farm to School Project, Cuyahoga County Board of
Health, November 2012
The South Euclid Lyndhurst School District implemented the first Farm to School
program in Cuyahoga County in September 2010 by integrating produce from a local
grower into their foodservice. With the support of the Cuyahoga County Board of
Healthy (CCBH) and Red Basket Farm (RBH), the program increased the amount of
fresh, nutritious food served, developed smarter food decision-making among
students, and fostered community connections. http://www.ccbh.net/storage/farmto-school/SEL%20Project%202011-2012%20report%20FINAL.pdf
Healthy Habits For Life Child Care Resource Kit Sesame Street Workshop 2007
Developed by Sesame Workshop in partnership with KidsHealth and Nemours Health
and Prevention Services, this guide helps child care providers use healthy physical
activity and nutrition habits in every day routines in a fun and interactive way. The
guide includes three sections: Get Moving!, Food & Drink to Grow On, and Every Day
is a Healthy Day; each section contains group poems, songs, posters, activities and
family newsletters. Available in Spanish and English.
http://kidshealth.org/classroom/cc/GetMoving.pdf
Taking Steps to Healthy Success: Early Care and Education Learning Collaborative,
Nemours National Office of Policy and Prevention.
This newly funded initiative will help early care and education providers adopt
nutrition, breastfeeding support, physical activity and screen time policies and
practices. The program will support Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and
New Jersey, but resources will be made available to all states. Program website not
yet available. However, resource shown here presents experience from four child
care programs in making changes in environment.
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Child Care Provider’s Guide: Helping kids eat right and stay active in child care
settings Gavin, M. Dowshen S, Izenberg, N. The Nemours Foundation/KidsHealth
2011
This document is for child care providers and contains important information about
developing healthy habits. Each section is divided by age group and offers a number
of bullet points about children's nutrition and fitness. The guide also includes
practical suggestions in the form of "action points" and research findings and best
principles explained in “Did you know?” sections.
http://healthykidshealthyfuture.org/content/dam/hkhf/filebox/khchildcareguide.pdf
Nutrition & Wellness Tips for Young Children: Provider Handbook for the Child and
Adult Care Food Program
US Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, December, 2012
This set of tip sheets will help child care providers meet current wellness
recommendations for children ages 2-6. They can help incorporate key
recommendations and best practices into menus and schedules.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Resources/nutritionandwellness.html
POLICY TOOLS
Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies. Institute of Medicine Consensus
Report, 2011.
The IOM recommends actions that healthcare professions, caregivers and
policymakers can take to prevent obesity in children five and younger.
www.iom.edu/obesityyoungchildren
Nemours Child Care Wellness Policy Workbook Rogers, K., Werk, L Nemours Florida
Prevention Initiative, January 2012
This workbook is designed for child care providers to create their own policies and
practices that help children develop a wellness policy that integrates healthy habits
around eating and physical activity.
http://www.nemours.org/content/dam/nemours/wwwv2/filebox/service/healthyliving/growuphealthy/Child%20Care%20Wellness%20Policy%20Workbook.pdf
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Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs: Select
Standards from Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance
Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, 3rd Edition.
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Public Health Association
(APHA), National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early
Education (NRC), 2012
The standards describe evidence-based best practices in nutrition, physical
activity, and screen time for early care and education programs. The standards
help early care and education programs to develop and implement best practices,
procedures, and policies to instill healthy behavior and healthy lifestyle choices in
young children. http://nrckids.org/CFOC3/PDFVersion/preventing_obesity.pdf
Growing Healthy Children: A guide to enhance nutrition and physical activity in
New York City group child care centers. New York City Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene 2011
This guide is meant for child care facilities that want to develop a written nutrition
and physical activity policy to help create an environment to develop healthy
habits in young children. The guide is divided into three stages: confirm
compliance with state and federal regulations, create a written nutrition and
physical activity policy for the center and communicate the policy to staff center
and families. http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/cdp/growinghealthy-children-policy-guide.pdf
State Efforts To Address Obesity Prevention in Child Care Quality Rating and
Improvement Systems. Altarum Institute January 2012
QRISs are a voluntary, comprehensive approach to improving the quality of early
care and education programs and have recently become the focus of state early
childhood obesity prevention efforts. This report shows how states are using their
QRISs to promote obesity prevention standards and support providers in
implementing these standards.
http://www.altarum.org/files/imce/QRIS_Report_Jan_2012%20.pdf
Policy Recommendations for Obesity Prevention and Health Promotion in Child
Care Settings American Heart Association
The American Heart Association advocates for ten policies to reduce and prevent
childhood obesity in child care settings. This document describes these
recommendations along with providing existing federal resources and a brief
background about the epidemic.
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Amy Sheon, Executive Director
Zoe Gordon, Graduate Assistant
Urban Health Initiative
January, 2013
Urbanhealth.case.edu