Keystone Kids Go!
Keystone Kids Go! is an initiative in Pennsylvania focused on improving young children’s nutrition and physical activity. The initiative is targeted towards early childhood practitioners from childcare, Head Start, early intervention, family literacy, and pre-kindergarten programs. Keystone Kids Go! was created by the Pennsylvania Departments of Health, Education, and Public Welfare, in partnership with:
- Tuscarora Intermediate Unit
- Penn State Cooperative Extension
- Family Literacy Programs
- Pennsylvania Nutrition Education Network
- Head Start State Collaboration Office
Keystone Kids Go! has four parts:
(1) Go Colorful! The Go Colorful! component of Keystone Kids Go! is also known as Keystone Color Me Healthy (KCMH). KCMH is based on the original Color Me Healthy program developed in North Carolina. KCMH provides early childhood practitioners with resources and materials to teach preschoolers that healthy eating and movement are fun!
(2) Go Active! Go Active! is a physical activity toolkit created to show early childhood practitioners how to increase instant, integrative, and imaginative movement in their classroom or center. The toolkit also incorporates principles from Head Start’s I Am Moving, I Am Learning initiative.
(3) Go Learn! is a special section of Keystone Kids Go! made especially to showcase the efforts of dedicated Keystone Kids Go! early childhood practitioners in Pennsylvania. Visit this section to learn about fun ways other practitioners have made Keystone Kids Go! a part of their centers or classrooms.
(4) Go Healthy! This section of Keystone Kids Go! is also known as Go Healthy! - It all Begins with You, and is designed to show early childhood practitioners how to be the best role models they can be. Look here for healthy tips and information on personal wellness. Click here to learn more about the Cook and Chefs Pilot Project!
Teachers and Care Givers! Keystone Kids Go! knows how important parents are when it comes to providing healthy food choices and movement opportunities for their children. Visit this section to learn about special projects created to involve parents in kids’ nutrition and activity.
Check out the Keystone Kids Current Activities! section. This section will provide you with the most current Keystone Kids training, projects and activities.
Important Announcement!
USDA is currently developing a video that will positively show the interaction between federal nutrition programs participants (for example the CACFP) and local farmers and/or their products. They are looking for child care sites that use locally grown produce and/or partner with local farmers in their CACFP meal service. Some examples of what they are looking for are childcare site coordinators that can talk about how they began introducing “local fresh” into their meals, the children’s and parents’ reaction, meal participation increase, etc. If they have a garden, they can speak about how they got it started and maybe share some tips on their success, etc. Ideally, there has to be a lot of participation from the kids in the video – how they like the fresh foods, what they think, or if it’s changed the way they eat at home. If you are a child care sponsor of the CACFP and want to share about how you use locally grown produce in this video, please send a brief description of your activity/example with your contact information to Cheryl Oberholser (coberholse@state.pa.us) by August 18.