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 2012The 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/farm-to-school/SEL%20Project%202011-2012%20report%20FINAL.pdf

Healthy Habits For Life Child Care Resource Kit Sesame Street Workshop 2007Developed 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

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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.

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 2011This 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 ProgramUS 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

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Nemours Child Care Wellness Policy Workbook Rogers, K., Werk, L Nemours Florida Prevention Initiative, January 2012This 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/healthy-living/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), 2012The 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 2011This 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/growing-healthy-children-policy-guide.pdf

State Efforts To Address Obesity Prevention in Child Care Quality Rating and Improvement Systems. Altarum Institute January 2012QRISs 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 AssociationThe 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.

5Amy Sheon, Executive DirectorZoe Gordon, Graduate AssistantUrban Health InitiativeJanuary, 2013Urbanhealth.case.edu