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Design and implementation of a nutrition and physical activity curriculum for child care settings
Carolyn Dunn1, Cathy Thomas, Dianne Ward
1North Carolina State University, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Box 7605, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. Carolyn_Dunn@ncsu.edu
Insights
Child care providers can effectively teach healthy habits to young children using the Color Me Healthy program. This evidence-based curriculum significantly boosts children's physical activity and nutrition knowledge.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Childhood Obesity Prevention
Background:
- Childhood overweight is a growing concern in the U.S., necessitating early establishment of healthy behaviors.
- Child care settings offer a crucial opportunity to instill lifelong healthy eating and physical activity habits in young children.
- Child care providers require specialized training and educational resources to effectively promote nutrition and physical activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of the "Color Me Healthy" educational program in improving healthy eating and physical activity among preschool-aged children.
- To assess the utility of the "Train the Trainer" model for disseminating the "Color Me Healthy" curriculum to child care providers.
Main Methods:
- The "Color Me Healthy" program was implemented across 47 North Carolina counties and the Cherokee reservation in 2001-2002.
- A "Train the Trainer" model was employed to equip local public health professionals and cooperative extension employees to train child care providers.
- Child care providers received training, and their outcomes were evaluated using follow-up forms 8 weeks post-training.
Main Results:
- 92.0% of providers reported increased physical activity among students using the curriculum.
- 91.8% of providers noted an increase in children's knowledge about movement.
- 93.0% of providers indicated enhanced children's knowledge regarding healthy eating.
Conclusions:
- Child care providers are receptive to and benefit from targeted educational materials on healthy eating and physical activity.
- The "Train the Trainer" approach is an effective strategy for disseminating health promotion curricula to child care providers.
- The "Color Me Healthy" program demonstrates significant positive impacts on children's nutrition and physical activity knowledge and behaviors.
Background:
Childhood overweight continues to increase in the United States. Children should begin establishing healthy eating and physical activity behaviors at a young age.
Context:
Many children spend a large part of their day in child care settings, whether in preschools or home day care settings. Child care providers in these settings have an opportunity to establish and reinforce habits that promote good health. However, the providers need training and creative educational materials to teach children about healthy eating and physical activity. Color Me Healthy is an educational program focusing on nutrition and physical activity that was developed for children aged 4 and 5 years by three of the authors (C.D., C.T., and L.P.).
Methods:
In 2001 and 2002, the program was implemented in 47 North Carolina counties and the North Carolina Cherokee reservation. In December 2001, we used an information-dissemination model called Train the Trainer during a session to teach county teams comprising local public health professionals and cooperative extension employees how to teach child care providers in their communities to use the curriculum. The child care providers were then trained between March and August 2002. Follow-up evaluation forms were given to trained child care providers 8 weeks after the training.
Consequences:
Of the providers who completed the evaluations (n = 486), 92.0% indicated that using the Color Me Healthy curriculum increased the physical activity of their students, and 91.8% indicated that it increased the children's knowledge about movement. In addition, 93.0% of providers also indicated that using Color Me Healthy had increased the children's knowledge about healthy eating.
Interpretation:
Child care providers need educational materials on healthy eating and physical activity and should be trained to use them. The Train the Trainer model is an effective way to teach public health professionals to train child care providers on the Color Me Healthy curriculum materials about healthy eating and physical activity.
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