According to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Kentucky has one of the highest prevalence for pediatric obesity in the nation.  Approximately 38% of Kentucky children ages 5-10 years are considered overweight or obese according to BMI-for-age standards. Half of Kentucky’s children in limited resource families are overweight or obese.  

To address this issue of childhood obesity, the Muhlenberg County Cooperative Extension, 4-H Youth Development Agent, Family and Consumer Sciences agent, and Nutrition Education Program assistant partnered together with the Longest Elementary School first grade to provide the Literacy, Eating and Activity for Primary (LEAP) program for every first-grade student at Longest Elementary School.  The UK Cooperative Extension staff reached all students by going into each classroom.  The LEAP program includes a story with a healthy message, a physical activity, and sampling a healthy snack related to the story.  By not just offering samples but allowing the students to prepare their own snacks related to the story, students learned to read and follow the recipe.  Almost all students were willing and excited to try the nutritious snack as they had prepared it. 

The LEAP program was delivered to a total of 61 youths at Longest Elementary in Muhlenberg County, 58 students completed both the pre and post evaluations.   The NEERS data from pre-and-post evaluations indicated that 96% of students made improvement in one or more areas of the evaluation.  With 86% of youth showing more knowledge or skills necessary to choose foods consistent with Federal Dietary Guidelines.  70% of the students showed improvement in knowledge of when to wash their hands before eating. 

According to verbal surveys and student comments, students enjoyed the books, healthy activities, and especially enjoyed the samples and the accompanying snacks. Several of the students indicated that they were tasting new food for the first time, most students were willing to try the foods again if offered, and many of the students stated they would ask for the snack at home.