Every Kid Healthy Week

April 20 – 24 is designated Every Kid Healthy Week, the week to celebrate and commit helping every kid be healthy. Action for Healthy Kids designates the special week to engage children, schools, child cares, and families in healthy behaviors. Each day has a special theme and lots of recommendations for taking healthy actions. You can engage with Action for Healthy Kids and let them know what healthy actions you’re taking here. And you can find and download loads of healthy action resources here.

Action for Healthy Kids has some of the most comprehensive resources to support and answer your questions during this time of quarantine and social distancing. Visit here for nutrition and physical activity resources; help in transitioning your child (and yourself) to e-learning at home; and general COVID-19 FAQs. Action for Healthy Kids is a good site to bookmark for all things kids and health – it’s a resource Jump IN turns to regularly.

More new coronavirus resources for you and your family:

It’s not about the food; it’s being in the store that is dangerous. Here’s how to minimize your risks when grocery shopping or having groceries delivered.

Five important things to know about the coronavirus.

There is concern that social distancing and quarantine may exacerbate obesity in children for a number of reasons. You can learn more here and access tools to help avoid the pitfalls.

Anyone in Indiana who is in need of child care services can reach out to Child Care Answers. Even if you are not considered an essential worker, they can help you understand your child care options and answer your questions. They are an invaluable resource for families with very young children.

And Child Care Answers has a dedicated COVID-19 resources page for child care providers and families.

Resources from our friends at Big Green

Our friends at Big Green have launched a whole bunch of tools for families, kids, and teachers that we want to share with you. You may know Big Green as the organization that sets up gardens in schools and teaches kids about gardens and raising fruits and vegetables. Now is the time to start that garden you’ve been wanting and they can help – they’ll even help you get your hands on seeds.

* Big Green at Home website with pages dedicated to families and educators. It features weekly activities, lessons, recipes, demos, and many other resources that are easy to implement with few resources.
* K-8 garden, food, and nutrition curriculum Ready, Set, Grow! is free and open-source to download.
* Big Green Educator Group on Facebook to foster collaboration amongst teachers across the nation.
* Online Food Literacy Course for Educators: If teachers are engaged in professional development during this time, we are offering this course at no cost which provides a deep dive into food, nutrition, food systems, and more. We are happy to provide more details as needed.

Policy Update:

Jump IN for Healthy Kids is happy to share that a yesterday a federal court struck down the USDA’s 2018 school meal rule that would have weakened school nutrition standards across the country. This is a victory for healthy school meals and ensures that the current school nutrition regulations stay in place. The importance of healthy school meals has taken on new urgency during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. With more than 72,000 school closures in the U.S. affecting at least 37 million children, ensuring students continue to have access to healthy school meals is more critical than ever. Thank you to all of you who took the time to sign on to the petition urging the court to preserve healthy school meal regulations for our schools. You can read more about the case here and here.