An isolated road marks the way to Creedmore Elementary. When Child Nutrition Specialist, Anadeli Bautista, first arrived at the School, she was reminded about the importance of her role. The school seems like it’s in the middle of nowhere and almost forgotten. Remote locations are nothing new for the Food Bank or the CHOICES Nutrition Education Program. They are here to help encourage SNAP eligible families make smarter choices at mealtime, even if they seem detached from the city. Everyone is a priority, regardless of how close or far they may be.
The CHOICES Healthy Eating Active Time (HEAT) Club curriculum teaches the MyPlate food groups, how to classify foods into appropriate food groups, the benefits of each food group, and how to make physical activity goals. It is one of the newer classes, and the nutrition team is always looking for ways to improve them. The goal is to make each class educational and fun through games to prevent losing kids’ attention.
A recent activity added to the dairy class was the use of the classic game, tic-tac-toe, but with a small twist. Instead of using X’s and O’s, we use numbered milk cartons and yogurt bottles. The numbers match an exercise to reinforce a physical activity that helps strengthen our bones. The game also encourages balance, cardio and flexibility.
The class was divided into two teams – team Milk and team Yogurt. Team Yogurt, made up of Yosgart, Daira, and Marisabel, tied up the score with team Milk ready to close out the final round to win it all. Team Milk mistakenly placed the carton on the wrong tile, giving team Yogurt the chance to close out the game for the win! All three were ecstatic. Their victory came unexpectedly and their patience paid off.
This activity and others that are constantly used in each of the kids’ classes are brought to the table by the nutrition team to improve the curriculums and make learning about nutrition fun and worthwhile. The CHOICES program wants to reach as many families as possible one activity at a time even if they are located in an outlying area. They are not forgotten and we do it for them.
For more information or to schedule a class, contact Mary Agnew, nutrition education manager, at (512) 684-2501 or email choices@centraltexasfoodbank.org.
