Arianna's Nutrition Expedition: Send Home "Fuel Up" and "Get Up and Play" Summer Reminders

Research shows that children gain weight twice as fast during the summer as during the school year.¹ The researchers note that it is the lack of structure in the summer that's part of the problem. Kids have more opportunities to eat, play video games and watch television than during a typical school day. In other words, summer does not necessarily square with the common vision of kids playing outside all day and eating healthy foods. Use Arianna's Nutrition Expedition™ to send kids off to the summer break with a reminder to fuel up with healthy foods and get up and play every day, including a variety of moderate and vigorous intensity activities, like biking, running, jumping and climbing. Here is how:

Create 'Five Ways We Like to Move and Fuel' Mini Posters
Talk about ways students like to be active in the summer and their favorite Five Food Group foods, and then:

Photocopy and distribute a blank Classifying Foods worksheet from Arianna's Activity 4 to each student. Have students draw a picture of themselves doing a physical activity they enjoy in the top portion of each of the vertical boxes. There should be a total of five activity drawings and each one should be different.
Next, have student draw their favorite food group foods beneath their physical activity picture in each box.
Have students take home and post their mini poster as a reminder to eat healthy and play every day!

Connect with Home — Download and send home Arianna's Smart Snacking handout that has a list of 26 nutrient-rich snack ideas and National Dairy Council^®'s June Fun Facts newsletter. The newsletter features additional snack ideas and a note about the summer weight gain study mentioned above.

Be a Role Model — Talk about ways you like to be active in the summer and your favorite foods from each food group. Teachers are among students' most important role models. Sharing your favorite Five Food Group foods and ways you stay active during the summer can serve as a motivator for kids.


	"We read the Arianna's 'Mystery' in Lesson 1 and the students loved trying to guess who stole the foods!"




	"I teach academically struggling kids and the lessons kept their attention and had them enthusiastic to learn more."




	"I would recommend this program to anyone!"

¹Source: von Hippel, PT, et al. American Journal of Public Health, 97, 696-702, 2007.

Developed by NATIONAL DAIRY COUNCIL®, Arianna's Nutrition Expedition™ is a Five-Food-Group-based, teacher-tested program that supports the USDA's MyPyramid food guidance system. See more NATIONAL DAIRY COUNCIL® nutrition education resources at www.NutritionExplorations.org