Healthy Party Ideas: 1. Game board party 2. Bingo3. Dance party4. Have a guest speaker the kids would like 5. Scavenger hunt6. Charades 7. Show and tell 8. Have everyone bring in something and trade gifts9. Have a student lead a fitness activity10. Crafts11. Small field trip

Nicole Swingle, Dietetic Intern

Smart Snacks: ● Fat free or low fat milk● Fresh smoothies (made with no sugar added fruit and low fat or non fat yogurt) ● Fresh fruit● Fresh vegetables● Yogurt parfaits (with low fat or non fat yogurt and whole grain granola) ● Frozen fruit (no sugar added)● Dried fruit (no sugar added)● Nut or seed butter (serve with fruit or whole grain crackers)● Nuts or seeds● Trail mix ● Whole grain crackers● Low fat cheese● Hummus (serve with veggies and whole grain crackers or pita)● Whole grain pretzels ● Low fat or air popped popcorn (without butter)● Graham crackers● Small whole wheat bagels or English muffins with nut or seed butter and/or jelly● Roll ups on whole grain tortillas (turkey, cheese, etc)● Fat free or low fat pudding● Bean quesadillas with whole grain tortilla● Whole grain tortilla chips with salsa or guacamole● Whole grain cereal bars● Cottage cheese (low fat or fat free)● Make your own mini pizzas (whole wheat flatbread topped with sauce, cheese, and

veggies)

Nicole Swingle, Dietetic Intern

Alternative Ways to Reward Children:1. Prizes

a. Raffle a bigger prizeb. Give child a bookc. Stickers d. Colored pencils or pense. Stickers for younger kids

2. Show recognition a. Give kid a certificate/awardb. Birthdays: let them wear something special like a hat

Nicole Swingle, Dietetic Intern

Valentines Day Celebration:

Valentine’s Day Exercise Cards• Allow students to create Valentine cards with directions of their favoriteexercise written on the back. They may draw a picture to match.• Have students share their Valentine card with another student and havefun performing the exercises.

Cupid Says...• Played like Simon Says, have students complete the exercises thatCupid says. If the leader doesn’t say “Cupid says” before saying the action,students shouldn’t complete the action.• For example, Cupid says... ”jog in place while touching your nose!”

Feel the Beat• Teach students how to measure their heart rates.• Have them measure their heart rates at rest and after they complete exercises suchas running or jumping jacks.

Heart Melon Kabobs

Ingredients

● Toothpicks or lollipop stick● Heart-shaped cookie cutter● Cantaloupe● Other fruit options: Honeydew, kiwi, pineapple, etc.

Directions

● Take heart shaped cutter and cut out pieces of cantaloupe or fruit of choice. Place piece of fruit on toothpick or stick.

Nicole Swingle, Dietetic Intern

St. Patrick’s Day

Clover Math

Go on a clover hunt around your school. Instructstudents to gather as many clovers as possible in acertain time period. Then, back in the classroom, assigneach student a partner and ask them to:• Add up how many clovers they collected.• Determine who collected more clovers, and howmany more.• Graph as a class

Shamrock Hopscotch

Using chalk, draw a hopscotch outline on a drivewayor sidewalk. While played the same way as traditionalhopscotch, the hopscotch outline is drawn withshamrocks instead of squares and a gold coin is used inplace of a pebble.

Shamrock Chips

Use a shamrock-shaped cookie cutter to cut corn orspinach tortillas into shamrocks. Bake at 350 degrees for 10minutes. Serve with “rainbow” salsa (tomatoes, red, orange,and yellow bell peppers, corn, jalapeno, and fresh cilantroblack beans and red onions).

Irish Flag

Provide students with a variety of green, white and orangevegetables to create an Irish flag. For example: Cucumbers,broccoli, celery, cauliflower, jicama, carrots and bellpeppers. Pair with a lesson on Irish history, culture or art.

Nicole Swingle, Dietetic Intern

Martin Luther King Jr. Day:Dream

• Read your students a portion of the ‘I Have aDream’ speech.• Divide students into groups of five, and ask them touse their bodies to spell the word DREAM.• Ask students to brainstorm other words that remindthem of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., such as Unity,Freedom or Civil Rights. Take breaks throughout theday to spell these influential words in memory of Dr.King’s legacy.

Dreamsicles

Mix 1 cup of orange juice and 1 cup low fat vanilla Greekyogurt into a popsicle mold. Freeze and enjoy!

Nicole Swingle, Dietetic Intern

Winter Celebration Day:

Musical Snowflakes• On large paper snowflakes, write a different exerciseon each snowflake.• Lay the snowflakes around the gym in a circle andhave each student start on a snowflake.• Turn on holiday music and have students walk, hop,skip, run, etc. around the circle.• Stop the music when ready. Students must completethe exercise written on their snowflake.

Simon Says-- Holiday StylePlayed like traditional Simon Says but with holidayposes. Start with our favorite poses and get creative!• Snow Angel – Make a snow angel on the floor.• Last Minute Shopping – Jog in place and make themotion of pulling items off the shelf .• Snowmen – In a group of three, have one personsit on the floor, one kneel behind them and anotherstanding behind the other two people.• Blinking Lights – Jumping Jacks

12 Days of Fitnesshttp://www.actionforhealthykids.org/tools-for-schools/find-challenges/on-the-playground-challenges/1223-fitness-circuit-course/1309

Snowflake Snowmen Make simple sandwiches using whole-grain bread, lowfatcheese and lunchmeat. Then use a snowflake-shapedcookie cutter to make fun and unique sandwich shapes.

Egg SnowmenStack two hard-boiled eggs on top of each other—you canuse a toothpick to hold them together. Use carrots to makea top hat and nose, and peppercorns for the eyes.

Nicole Swingle, Dietetic Intern

Halloween: It’s Alive• You’ll need lots of toilet paper!•Have students pair off into groups (one student willbe the mummy, one student will wrap!)• Students compete to see who can completely wraptheir mummy in toilet paper the fastest.• After the first round, students may trade places andstart another round.

Halloween Charades• Fill orange balloons with Halloween themed physicalactivities: walk like Frankenstein, flap your arms like abat, or pretend to walk through a sticky spider web.Be creative!• Allow students to pop the balloons one at a time andact out the activity on the paper for the class withoutusing any words.

Boo-nana PopsCut bananas into halves and placeonto popsicle sticks. Dip bananas inlow-fat yogurt and add toasted oatcereal to create eyes and a mouth.Freeze for 20–30 minutes and enjoy!

Veggie SkeletonCreate a fun Halloween skeleton usingveggies. Use celery sticks for armsand legs, sliced red peppers for ribs,broccoli for hands, and mushroomsand olives for a face. Be creative andenjoy this yummy creation withveggie dip or other low-fat dips.

Nicole Swingle, Dietetic Intern

Wellness Resources: 1. Non-food celebration ideas (from Alliance for a Healthier Generation):

a. https://www.healthiergeneration.org/resources/healthy-ways-to-reward-kids i. Prizes

1. Book2. Pencil3. Raffle for a prize

ii. Exercise1. Have the student lead an activity 2. Turn music on and have the kids dance

iii. Other: 1. Have a student pick a themed day. Example: Pajama day 2. Scavenger Hunt

b. https://www.greeleyschools.org/site/default.aspx? PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=14640&ViewID=7b97f7ed-8e5e-4120-848f-a8b4987d588f&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=12815&PageID=11391

i. Game ideas: Bingo, scavenger hunt, charades, gym time, extra recess time, crafts, board games.

c. http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/tools-for-schools/1249-healthy-and-active- classroom-parties --Has many different PDF links for healthy celebration ideas.

i. Bring in guest speaker for the studentsii. Have show and tell iii. Set up an obstacle courseiv. Pdfs with specific celebrations (Halloween, Thanksgiving, winter, MLK Jr

day, 100th day of school, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, End of the year)

Nicole Swingle, Dietetic Intern