Choose Health: Food, Fun, & Fitness


About Choose Health: Food, Fun, & Fitness

Choose Health: Food, Fun, & Fitness is a 6-session program that encourages healthy eating and fitness through hands-on activities and experiential education. The program targets four main topics:

  • Replacing sweetened beverages with low-fat milk and water
  • Eating more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains
  • Eating fewer high-fat and high-sugar foods
  • Playing actively 60+ minutes per day

Full lessons are 70-90 minutes, but can be shortened to 45 minutes with modifications to recipes and active games. Each lesson includes interactive nutrition activities, food preparation of a kid-friendly recipe, active games, a goal setting challenge, and a family newsletter. The scripted lessons follow the 4-A dialogue approach, which means they Anchor to past knowledge and experiences, Add new information, Apply by doing, and give an Away application to generalize to other situations.

Choose Health: Food, Fun, & Fitness is a comprehensive and tested program that aligns with Texas TEKS for 3rd – 6th grade students.

The program materials are available in both English and Spanish. Choose Health: Food, Fun, & Fitness is typically delivered by Extension agents, but teachers can be trained to deliver the program.

Program Components

  • 6 lesson plans (approximately 1 hour each)
  • 12 kid-friendly healthy recipes (2 recipes per lesson)
  • 24 active games (4 per lesson, variations for space and complexity)
  • 6 family newsletters (available in English & Spanish)
  • Goal setting in each lesson

To host a program, schools will need:

  • Space for lessons and hands-on activities
  • Cups
  • Plates, bowls
  • Napkins
  • Plastic forks/spoons
  • Cooler
  • Ziploc bags or plastic containers

Alignment with TEKS

A full summary of the TEKS by lesson is included in the curriculum. Below, the TEKS are highlighted for each grade level.

3rd Grade: Link to 3rd Grade TEKS

4th Grade: Link to 4th Grade TEKS

5th Grade: Link to 5th Grade TEKS

Additional Resources

Interested educators should connect with their county AgriLife Extension office for more information. Find their contact information here: https://counties.agrilife.org/

Additional information about the program can be found here: https://fnec.cornell.edu/for-partners/curricula/chfff/

Evidence for Choose Health: Food, Fun, & Fitness