According to the State of Childhood Obesity, during the pandemic, the national rate of obesity among kids ages 2 to 19 increased to 22.4% in 2020, up from 19.3% in 2019. Young children need help to develop lifelong healthy eating and physical activity habits. The USDA’s MyPlate curriculum shows what and how much children should eat to meet their physical activity needs. Children eat fewer fruits and vegetables than the daily recommended amounts. Poor nutrition and physical inactivity have been linked to obesity. The Jefferson County Nutrition Education Program (NEP) assistant partnered with Jefferson County Public School’s Coral Ridge Elementary for a weekly in person nutrition class using LEAP (Literacy, Eating, Activities, for Preschool/Primary).

LEAP aims to use storybooks, and activities to teach children about nutritious foods, healthy eating habits, handwashing, food safety, and being physically active. The NEP Assistant made these sessions as interactive as possible by engaging the preschoolers/primary children in story time. Each session, a book was read to the students. The book was called Dinosaur Diner.  Dinosaur Hector’s unbalanced diet and lack of exercise made him have an unhealthy lifestyle and left with no energy, but his Margo encourages him to change his ways with eating healthier snacks and exercising. The NEP Assistant made the preschoolers/primary students healthy, nutritious smoothies, and engaged the students in physical activity such as jumping jacks, squats, star jumps, etc.

At the conclusion of the nutrition education program, 170 preschoolers/primary students completed the class. The exit survey shows 65% of students are showing improvements in eating healthier snacks and 73% of students are showing improvements in more being active. One student shared with the NEP assistant that his family is now drinking smoothies for a bedtime snack. The student also stated, “he did not want to become like Hector, he wants to be Margo smoothies and star jumps.”.

State of Childhood Obesity

https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/data/