This year is going to be the healthiest school year yet! Schools across the country are serving up healthier school lunches with more fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains… and FOODPLAY is coming to town! Complete with a cast of colorful characters, fantastic feats of juggling, music, magic, and audience participation, FOODPLAY, a national award-winning theater show, will be bringing its food magic to turn kids on to healthy eating and active living at the: J.O. Shulze Elementary School in Irving, TX thanks to GE Capital
While FOODPLAY makes good eating great fun, its messages are quite serious. In the last 25 years, childhood obesity rates have doubled among elementary school children and tripled among teenagers. One in three children are overweight, and less than two percent of the nation’s youth are meeting their daily nutritional requirements. Kids, on average, are drinking over 600 cans of soda and consuming more than 150 pounds of sugars a year, missing out on recommended levels of fruits, vegetables and whole grains needed for optimal health.
FOODPLAY’s fun-filled performance shines the spotlight on school nutrition and puts fruits and veggies center stage. Along with a school-wide assembly performance, schools receive extensive follow-up resources to keep the messages alive all year long. The highly spirited program helps get everyone at school – students, teachers, parents, food service, health staff, and administrators, excited and on board to work together to create healthier schools and improve children’s eating and physical activity habits.
In a spirit of fun and celebration, FOODPLAY empowers kids with the skills needed to see through TV commercials, decipher food labels, and make choices that are good for their health and the health of the planet. The show culminates in the “Super Star Snack-Attack! Game Show,” where contestants learn how to prepare their own healthy fruit and veggie snacks instead of buying junk food products at the store. As the children walk away to the beat of “Treat Your Body Right!” FOODPLAY’s message comes in loud and clear – feed healthy foods to your body, positive messages to your mind, and have fun being active every day!
“We have to fight fire with fire,” says FOODPLAY creator and Executive Director, Barbara Storper, MS, RD. A leader in children’s nutrition, Storper has reached over four million children at schools across the country with FOODPLAY, using the power of live theater to make nutrition come alive. “We need to use the same techniques advertisers use in order to get kids excited about healthy foods and healthy practices!” says Storper. “And, schools are the perfect setting to model healthy behaviors and educate students on how to make their choices healthy ones. Once kids get the facts, they become the most effective health advocates, bringing the message back home!”
Schools receive a variety of follow-up resources for students, teachers, parents, and food service to reinforce and extend the nutrition and health lessons in classroom, cafeteria, and at home all year long. A host of free materials and hands-on activities are also available to the public at: www.foodplay.com
FOODPLAY: Background Information
Proven Results – FOODPLAY Works!
FOODPLAY receives rave reviews, top national awards, and outstanding evaluations showing dramatic improvements in children’s eating and exercise habits. According to USDA-sponsored evaluations, over 75% of children reported increasing their fruit and vegetable intake, cutting down on soda and sweets, reading food labels more often, eating breakfast more regularly, and being more physically active after taking part in FOODPLAY. Educators report that FOODPLAY triggers school-wide excitement for healthy habits, getting everyone on board – students, teachers, parents, food service, health staff, and administrators, to work together to create healthy schools and healthy communities.
About FoodPlay Productions
FoodPlay Productions was founded in 1982 by nutritionist, Barbara Storper, MS, RD, under original sponsorship by the US Department of Agriculture. FOODPLAY has reached over four million children across the country, and received a host of awards including an Emmy Award when made for TV. Considered among the most effective and innovative nutrition organizations, FoodPlay Productions offers school assembly programs and produces media campaigns, video kits, children’s books, and curricula to make nutrition come alive. FoodPlay Productions’ mission is to use the power of live theater to empower kids with the skills needed to take charge of growing up healthy and fit.
For more information, free snack recipes, and tips for kids and families: http://www.foodplay.com/
Note: High-resolution images and digital press releases are available online at: http://foodplay.com/press/press-releases-image-downloads/
