An integrated nutrition and physical activity curriculum for preschool children

The purpose of this project was to create specific and easy-to-use lesson plans for preschool educators to use, which integrate components of physical activity and nutrition into the California Preschool Learning Foundations with each lesson plan. Specifically, this project provides developmentally appropriate lesson plans that fulfill the foundations for visual and performing arts (visual art, music, drama, dance), physical development (fundamental movement skills, perceptual-motor skills and movement concepts, and active physical play), and health (health habits, safety, and nutrition).;The nutrition and physical activity curriculum was created as specific lesson plans for preschool educators to use, which will integrate components of physical activity and nutrition into the California Learning Foundations with each lesson plan.;The curriculum was designed in 2 parts. First, the preschool educators are provided with 7 curriculum topics to choose from, in the form of lesson packets, via hard copy or the Internet. Second, preschool-aged children will learn about nutrition and engage in developmentally appropriate physical movements by participating in two lessons from the corresponding lesson packets. An expert-review panel examined the integrated nutrition and physical activity curriculum and the website layout prior to finalization, and revisions were completed according to the feedback and recommendations made for improvement.