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Healthy Family Events

[Insert Presenter Name]

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Families are a part of the school community!

List some of the events hosted at your school–anytime families are welcomed into the building for something special.
Describe your most well-attended event:

Time of day
Location
Activities
Food

Why do you think this event is well attended?

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Family events help us accomplish many goals:

Showcase student talents and achievements
Engage parents in their child’s learning
Create a sense of community
Have fun!
Demonstrate support for healthy habits?

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Why Healthy Family Events?

Students’ physical, emotional, and social well-being impact student success.

Healthy students perform better in school.
Healthy eating and physical activity can improve behavior at home and at school.
Students spend most of their time at home or at school—both places should support healthy habits.

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Why Healthy Family Events?

Healthy family events
Showcase the school’s commitment to student health.
Demonstrate that healthy choices can be fun and exciting!

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Ideas for Healthy Family Events

Food provided at the event
Snack bars/vending
Physical activity

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Back to School Night

Ideas for healthy food:

Tasting through nutrition services
Fruit or veggie tasting from a local farm
Fruit and veggie trays are always a hit
Serve water as your preferred beverage

Ideas for physical activity:

Classroom visits include a brain break
Visit the gym to participate in an active game

ADD�Let’s talk through some specific events that are common among schools, and how a healthy version might look:

Almost every school holds a back to school night. Food in the form of snacks, or sometimes a meal, is often provided.

Before you start buying food, talk to your school district nutrition services department. They may be willing to provide a tasting of one or more menu items during your event. Not only does this take some of the pressure off of your school to provide healthy food, but it often provides parents with a positive impress of school meals and encourages them to participate in school breakfast and lunch programs.

August and September are also a great time to enjoy food from local farms. Fresh local produce is absolutely delicious this time of year. You may be able to partner with a farm to get reduced-price produce. Could you offer samples of apples, peaches, pr cherry tomatoes?

Otherwise, make fruits and veggies the norm as snacks at these events. Talk to your local grocery store about donating or discounting ready to serve fruit and veggie trays. And there’s no reason to offer anything other than clean refreshing water as a beverage.

If families visit classrooms during the back to school night, consider asking teachers to incorporate a brain break into their presentation. Or if there is a transition between classrooms, put on some music over the intercom and encourage families to dance their way to their next destination.

Finally, can the gym be incorporated into the evening? Schedule some time into the rotation for families to enjoy free form informal activity in the gym, such as hula hooping, ball bouncing, or scarf juggling.

Alternatively, can the gym or playground be made available for kids to play with supervision while parents visit classrooms?

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Academic Nights (Math Night, Reading Night, STEM Night)

Ideas for healthy food:

Focus on fun rather than food.
Use fruits and veggies in any food-based learning activities.

Ideas for physical activity:
Have at least one station/display include an active game

Create a passport of active stations to complete.

ADD�Many schools hold family nights to share what children are learning in school, and to give parents tools to support their child’s learning. While some schools try to encourage attendance through offering food, offering unhealthy foods doesn’t support learning. Can other motivators, such as raffle prizes, be used instead of pizza or ice cream be used to encourage attendance?

If food is going to be used in any activities during the evening (example: using food as a manipulative during a math activity), consider whether fruits and veggies can be used instead of candy. An orange is the perfect tool for practicing fractions. And there are lots of books, stories, and informational texts that feature fruits and veggies–use these as examples in ELA activities.

If the event offers a series of learning stations or activities, be sure at least one of them offers a chance to be physically active. Or, create a series of physically active learning stations, and a passport to encourage families to complete them all.

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Multicultural Nights

Ideas for healthy food:

Encourage sharing fruit and vegetable recipes
Offer bite-sized samples over full sized servings.

Ideas for physical activity:
Encourage teaching games and dances from different culture.

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School Plays, Art Shows, and Sporting Events

Ideas for healthy food:
Use Maryland “SmartSnacks” Standards as a guide for what to sell at concessions: go.umd.edu/smart-snacks
Be sure water is available. Consider not selling sugar sweetened beverages.
Offer easy to serve whole fruit: apples, oranges, bananas.
Ideas for physical activity:

Include a guided stretch break for attendees at intermission or half time.

ADD�Maryland Nutrition Standards for All Foods Sold in School (also known as Smart Snacks standards) are a readily available reference that can be used as guidelines for what to sell at snack bars or concession stands. The standards are required for any food sold during the school day, but your school can also choose to apply these to foods sold at evening events. Find the standards here: https://go.umd.edu/smart-snacks

Your school food service department may be able to direct you to suppliers of Smart Snack compliant snack foods. Or ask them if they’d provide the vending at your event.

A small step every school can take is to make sure water is available at events, for free or for sale.

No matter what else you serve, having ready to eat fruit available is always a great option. Be sure all fruit is washed before selling.

While these events take lots of formats, there is usually a break in the action. Can this time be used to encourage attendees to stretch?

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Let’s Take Action!

Which event will you take on first?
Which of the ideas discussed would appeal to your school community?
Make a plan!

Who do you need to engage?
What steps will you take?
What materials do you need?

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Creating School Wide Change

What does your school need to make every family event a healthy family event?
Healthy snack ideas?
Ideas for brain breaks?
Ideas for active learning games?
Mdteachertoolkit.org has all of the above and more!

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Creating School Wide Change

Collect resources, ideas, and photos from successful events in a shared place that others can reference when planning healthy family events
Engage the PTO/PTA: parent groups run many events, or provide support to events

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Creating School Wide Change

Can policy help?
Review the school district wellness policy for existing policies regarding family events.
Establish school-level policies that further promote healthy celebrations.

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Take Action!

How will you implement healthy events at your school?

What resources would help make every family event a healthy event?