My Account | Shopping Cart

Support The Trust Donate now and give the gift of education and food. Your contribution will go directly to helping others learn.

Resources Kindergarten Initiative 2006 Evaluation Report Healthy After School Snack Program Kindergarten Initiative Toolkit Snacking in Children: The Role of Urban Corner Stores A Policy-Based School Intervention to Prevent Overweight and Obesity Healthy Recipe Cards The Food Trust brochure » View all related resources

Related Programs: School Food & Beverage Reform A reform effort that works to improve the policy on vending machine snacks. Kindergarten Initiative The Kindergarten Initiative promotes healthy communities by teaching young children and their parents about food, farms and nutrition.

Learn More About The Food Trust Sign up for Fresh Times, our weekly newsletter Email: For Email Marketing you can trust

Preschool Initiative

The Preschool Initiative is a food, nutrition and physical activity program for children based on the premise that it is never too early to start building healthy habits that will last a lifetime. The program is based on The Food Trust’s successful Kindergarten Initiative, a comprehensive food and nutrition education program that brings educators, parents and community members together to encourage young children to make healthy food choices.

Preschool Initiative Toolkit

The Preschool Toolkit is designed to be a resource for preschool teachers, teachers’ aides and preschool center administrators interested in developing and providing a nutrition and physical activity program like the Preschool Initiative in their centers. We offer key components and guidelines for success and encourage centers to tailor the program to their own needs. Outside health and community organizations interested in nutrition and physical activity programming may find the last section of the toolkit helpful.

Download (all files are in pdf format):

Preschool Initiative Toolkit

Why Starting in Preschool is Important (section I)

Nutrition Fact Appendix 1 - Fruits, vegetables, milk groups

Nutrition Fact Appendix 2 - Oils, fats, added sugars

Nutrition Fact Appendix 3 - Colors of fruits and vegetables

Nutrition Fact Appendix 4 - Grains group and whole grains

Making Healthy Changes in your Preschool Center (section II)

Executive Summary of 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

HHS 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Children and Adolescents

Additional Preschool Nutrition and Physical Activity web-based resources

Teaching Nutrition and Physical Activity (section IV)

Preschool Initiative Booklist

Preschool Initiative Lesson Plans

Incorporating Local Food and Farms into your Program (section V)

Sample snack menu for Preschool Initiative Program

Gardening Lesson Resources

Gardening Books

Engaging Parents and Caregivers (section VI)

Sample Read It and Eat It Newsletter

Sample Cooking in the Classroom flier

Sample Seasonal Newsletters - Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

You can download a free pdf version of the Toolkit by clicking here. Or you can order the printed Toolkit on our Reports and Resources page.

Acknowledgments

The Preschool Initiative has been made possible through the generous support of the Claneil Foundation.The Claneil Foundation works to create healthy communities by supporting nonprofit activities that fall within the following focus areas: Hunger & Nutrition/Food System, Health and Human Services, Education and Environment.