Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Healthy Lifestyles are Part of TOP Star Approved Daycare Centers

TOP Star is a program that targets childhood obesity in childcare facilities. Participating facilities go through a five-step process which includes self-assessment, action planning, training, reevaluation, and endorsement. Each step encompasses the level of nutrition and physical activity of children in the facilities. First, childcare facility employees participate in the self-assessment which they complete on their own. Next, TOP Star coordinators set goals with the facilities so they can identify problem areas and improve the health of their kids.

Kara Eddington, the director of Children's Classic Child Care in Ogden went over the facility's goals for nutrition and physical activity with TOP Star coordinators last month. The center has been endorsed for 3 years and strives to keep their kids healthy. Eddington explains the food program resources they use so their children can learn about nutrition and then make snacks of their own. "We love [TOP Star]. It's a really great program for children to be exposed to new foods," she says.

Future chefs learn to cook healthy foods as part of thee TOP Star program.
Photo courtesy Children's Classic Child Care in Ogden. 
Children's Classic enforces a 20-minute screen time limit per week for each child. The center encourages active playtime, especially outdoors when the weather permits. Eddington explains that kids these days are more likely to stay inside and play on their electronic devices. She says, "I definitely think children aren't being as physically active as they should be."

Eddington says that they have separated the playground into zones and an adult in charge of each one creates an activity that combines both physical activity and themes children are learning about currently. She gives the example of combining art and physical activity such as when the kids got to participate in making dinosaur footprints in the sand box.

In order to be TOP Star endorsed, childcare facility managers must participate in training. There are 2 training sessions per year. The next training takes place September 17th and 24th from 9 AM-3 PM. Individuals who attend the training receive 10 licensing credits and 10 continuing education credits. Though the training is mostly focused on those looking to get their facility endorsed, anyone is welcome to participate.

TOP Star training in March featured fun activities 
childcare workers can implement to keep the kids moving!

The training consists of six presentations including obesity prevalence and prevention in America, nutrition, physical activity, breastfeeding, personal health of childcare workers, and working with families to promote healthy weight behaviors.

After a few months of working on the goals, TOP Star coordinators go back to the facility to reevaluate and complete a second self-assessment. Based on their improvement compared to the first self-assessment, the childcare facilities can be TOP Star endorsed by the state of Utah which means they are providing proper nutrition and physical activity to their children which in turn helps to prevent childhood obesity.

The endorsement lasts for three years, and every time it expires TOP Star coordinators visit each facility again for another self-assessment, to set new goals, and to renew their endorsement if they meet criteria for proper nutrition and physical activity. TOP Star endorsement is based on a three-star rating system and each rank has a point value attached.

Weber-Morgan Health Department teams up with Davis County Health Department for the training sessions and to create a monthly newsletter for childcare providers. Topics in the newsletter include indoor play time during hot weather to get kids' hearts pumping, healthy kid-friendly recipes, and other ideas for physical activity and nutrition. Childcare providers can use these ideas to improve the health of the kids at their facilities. The newsletters are not only sent to facilities that are already endorsed, but also other facilities who are working on endorsement.

Sheri Winn, the TOP Star consultant at Weber-Morgan Health Department, works to keep up endorsements. She approaches childcare facilities and asks them if they would like to get involved. “A lot of people don’t know about TOP Star so I usually have to do the cold calls to help them learn about it,” she says.

Winn has worked with seven childcare facilities since she became the TOP Star consultant for the area and of those she has endorsed three so far and one is in the process. Overall, Sheri says this program is showing great success.

For more information visit:
Children's Classichttp://www.childrensclassic.net/ &

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